Nemesis, by Jo Nesbo (Review of Nemesis based on the Norwegian version. Spring 2008.) The bank robber points an AG3 at the head of a female employee of a bank in Oslo. He wants the money within 25 seconds. It takes thirty-one. He shoots the hostage. Video of the robbery is the only clue Inspector Harry Hole and his colleague Beate Lonn has to go on in Nemesis. Grainy CCTV footage shows a man walking into a bank, and executing his hostage. Harry Hole, the tired policeman who drinks too much too often, spends a weekend studying the video. The female employee was six seconds too slow, and she had to die? That's the theory. But why do six seconds matter that much? Then, while Harry's current girlfriend is away in Russia, an old flame gets in touch. Hole says yes. A mistake. Too much to drink, blackout, and the ex dead in the bed - shot. Hole is in trouble. Yet again. And now Harry begins to receive threatening e-mails. Is someone trying to frame him? As well, the bank robberies continue. Hole and Lonn seek advice from the infamous bank robber Raskol. Nemesis is the third book in the series about Harry Hole (fourth in Norwegian, the sequence in the translations is off) by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo, one of the biggest stars of Scandinavian crime fiction for the moment. We know Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole by now. And we like him. He is a fighter. The story Jo Nesbo tells in Nemesis is exciting and complicated. The various threads are elegantly intertwined. The plot is full of stunning twists and turns. Nesbo's descriptions are sometimes cynical, sometimes ironic, and sometimes emphatic. Nemesis is extremely well written. It goes down like ice cream - time stands still in the company of Inspector Harry Hole! Nemesis by Jo Nesbo is available. Order from: amazon (US): Nemesis amazon (UK): Nemesis.

About Jo Nesbo Jo Nesbo (Nesbø) is a musician, songwriter, economist, and one of Europe's most critically acclaimed and successful crime writers today. His first novel featuring Police Detective Harry Hole was an instant hit in Norway, winning the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel—the most prestigious crime-writing award in Northern Europe. In 2004, The Redbreast was voted the "Best Norwegian Crime Novel Ever Written" by members of Norwegian book clubs. Here is a link to the Salomonsson Agency's' Jo Nesbo website. Jo Nesbø lives in Oslo. Bibliography (Adult fiction) (English title and year of publication, Norwegian title and year of publication in parentheses. * means it is a Harry Hole novel) (Flaggermusmannen - 1997)* The Cockroaches - (Kakerlakkene - 1998)* The Redbreast - 2006 (Rødstrupe - 2000)* (Karusellmusikk - 2001, short stories) Nemesis - 2008 (Sorgenfri - 2002)* The Devil's Star - 2005 (Marekors - 2003)* The Redeemer - (Frelseren - 2005)* The Snowman - (Snømannen - 2007)*

The Devil's Star, by Jo Nesbo

(Original title Marekors.) Jo Nesbo (Norwegian name Nesbø), author of the best-selling series featuring Detective Harry Hole, has won many prizes for his novels, including the Glass Key, the Riverton Prize and the Norwegian Bookclub's prize for best ever Norwegian crime novel. His first novel published in English was The Devil's Star, which has sold more than 100,000 copies in Norway alone.

The key character in Nesbo's books, introduced in The Devil's Star, is detective Harry Hole: an angry, drinking, near alcholic, and off-the-rails detective who wants to play the game by his own rules.

It's a sweltering summer in Oslo when a young woman is found murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off, and beneath her eyelid is a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five pointed star.

Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with Tom Waaler - a colleague Harry suspects of running an arms smuggling gang and of having murdered his partner - and initially Harry Hole refuses to become involved. But he is already on notice to quit the force and is left with no choice but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and go to work.

Five days later, a man reports his wife missing. When her severed finger is found wearing a ring mounted with the same star-shaped red diamond, it seems Oslo has a serial killer on its hands. The case in The Devil's Star revolves around a riddle of fives: five points to the star, five fingers on the hand, and every fifth day a new victim to be counted. In his pursuit of the truth behind both mysteries, Harry Hole unwittingly finds himself on the run from the police and forced to make difficult decisions about his future as a detective.

The Devil's Star is an exciting and entertaining book, a great crime novel by an exciting new author! The plot is superb, the action intriguing, inspector Harry Hole has plenty to deal with, and the story is told in a fascinating and appealing manner as well.

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The Redbreast, by Jo Nesbo

The Redbreast won the Glass Key prize for the best Nordic crime novel when it was first published, and was subsequently voted Norway's best crime novel. This book was actually published prior to The Devil's Star in Norwegian, and we recommended you read this one first.

The Redbreast has two parallel story lines, one starting during World War II, with Norwegians fighting for the Germans in Russia. The other story line in The Redbreast is present, and takes place among neo-Nazis in Oslo. One of them is on trial for a vicious, unprovoked attack with a baseball bat on a Vietnamese restaurant owner, but is freed on a technicality.

Detective Harry Hole, alone again after having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; fairly mundane until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. A rare, high-caliber rifle, favored by assassins, has been smuggled into the country. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Harry suspects a connection. In an investigation that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. And more and more the two story lines are drawn together - what is happening today has roots in the old, almost forgotten history of World War II in Norway.

The Redbreast in some way resembles Henning Mankell's early Wallander novel,The White Lioness. Both feature leading men who are cops, both have a South African connection, and both involve racism, assassination, and weapons that are the tools of professional assassins.

The Redbreast is well written, very exciting, and has humor as well. In Redbreast, Jo Nesbo is able to make us understand some of the troubling aspects of Nazism in Norway, and does a great job of weaving together past and present. His hero, Inspector Harry Hole, is very real and an interesting character. An entertaining but also illuminating crime book from a very talented author that makes time disappear while you are reading it.

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If you like Jo Nesbo, you may also want to have a look at Henning Mankell's The White Lioness.