The Bat is the first book in the Scandinavian crime series starring Harry Hole, a Norwegian policeman who, inevitably, has a few demons rattling around from his past - only some of whom, I suspect, surface in this tale. I have heard people gushing about Jo Nesbo for a good while and have been keen to try him out, and I have not been disappointed. The action starts with our hero flying out to Australia to work with the Sydney police following the murder of a Norwegian TV star. Harry is teamed up with Andrew, an aboriginal officer and they form a bond from the get go. They start to follow up on any leads they can find, which takes Harry into the soon-to-become welcoming arms of a Swedish barmaid who knew the victim. Is this simply a case of a violent drug dealing boyfriend taking it out on the nearest person one night, or have we got a serial killer on the loose? As things turn darker, the action is interspersed with cultural pointers aimed at helping Harry (and us) understand the two distinct Australia's in terms of ethnicity - both from the point of view of past and the present. There are some really interesting characters, well fleshed out and fully rounded, so much so that, when something happens to them, it is really shocking. Plenty of twists and turns keep the reader guessing, and whilst there are some grisly bits (the good old Great White Shark makes a spectacular cameo), there are plenty of lighter moments too to create a good balance. I liked Harry, despite his self-destructive tendencies, and I am eagerly anticipating the next book, which I'm kind of hoping is based in his home country! I will also be tempted to continue this series via the audio book route, which is how I read this first one - as I really enjoyed listening to this with the fantastic narration of Sean Barrett - who is rapidly becoming my go to narrator!
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 386 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; unabridged audio CD; ebook.
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