I don't know why I read this novel. It came in the mail from the library, and I can't remember if I requested it for myself or for my husband. I vaguely recall reading a review in the newspaper, but not what exactly about it intrigued me. So as I dug in, repeatedly asking myself, "Why am I reading this?" I thought this would be my first post about a book I didn't like. But I guess I'm a bit of an easy audience. The book ended up being totally absorbing and may start a new trend in my reading: European mystery novels ("The Girl Who... ", here I come.)
So this novel was written in 2000 and is the third in a series, but I'd never heard of it because it was only translated into English in 2006. It has won several awards, including one aptly named "The Best Norwegian Crime Novel Of All Time." How's that for specific? The book follows a detective named Harry Hole (not aptly named), a recovering and sometimes relapsing alcoholic, as he investigates a series of murders involving modern Neo-Nazis and former Norwegian soldiers who fought for Germany in World War II. For a serial book, this one starts off right in the middle of the action and catches you up on the essentials of the characters when you need to know. In fact, if it didn't keep mentioning something that happened in Australia, I wouldn't have known it was part of a series. The author also uses that style of jumping back and forth in time and point of view, for which I am a complete sucker. Because this is a mystery, I would just start to think I was figuring something out, and then the setting would change in the next section and I would lose my ideas. I re-read the opening sequences of this book three times, and the final time I found some subtle foreshadowing about the way the mystery is solved.
Also, this is another example of a book teaching me about culture and history. My heritage is Norwegian and I thought I knew a good deal about Norway, but apparently not as much about current Norwegian culture, and nothing about Norwegian involvement in World War II. That part of the book reminded me of "A Very Long Engagement," which is about World War I but also centers on the confusion of the trenches and missing soldiers. The two books are incredibly different in other ways, but both transport me to another world. There were some downsides in that for this book, however, mostly because it was written for a Norwegian audience. There were official acronyms I didn't understand and lots of cultural references I didn't follow. Plus there was some really weird wording at times, and I'm still not sure if it's the way Nesbo writes or the way it was translated.
I will likely be reading more Harry Hole and Girls Who Kicked Stuff in the future (even if that sounds creepy). But not right away, because I've noticed my severe lack of non-fiction reading lately. I read three memoirs in June and nothing but novels since then, so I'm going back to The Duchess to give her another try. And I've also got the newest Isabel Allende whispering to me in seductive Spanish accents from my bedside table. But I'll get back to the Scandinavian crime dramas sooner or later, because this one was very intriguing and a nice break from my norm.
PS- Do you like the new design? I like that it fills the screen more. Less scrolling.
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