Instead Nesbo does it with bravura writing, by inexorably drawing us into a complex world, a fascinating character, a perplexing mystery, and making it almost impossible to look away. Usually that is a result of nonstop action or riveting suspense. This book takes almost seventeen hours to listen to. The Devil’s Star, Nesbø’s first novel featuring Harry Hole to be translated into English, marked Nesbø as a writer to watch in the ever more fashionable world of Nordic crime. 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. He will be both winner and loser by the novel’s nail-biting conclusion. In a quest that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer.

Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Ellen Gjelten, his partner, makes a startling discovery. 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.

He becomes involved with a young nurse, the consequences of which will ripple forward to the turn of the next century.ġ999: 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.

Two years later, a wounded soldier wakes up in a Vienna hospital. 1944: Daniel, a soldier, legendary among the Norwegians fighting the advance of Bolshevism on the Russian front, is killed.

The redbreast by jo nesbø