Tangled Web UK Review March 2009
Nemesis by
Jo Nesbo
pbk out September 08
(Vintage)
at £6.99
Jo Nesbo has fast developed an outstanding reputation as a crime novelist. Norwegian, he is one of a growing number of compelling Scandinavian writers. In stages a musician and economist, his first novel won the prize of best Norwegian crime novel of 1997. His detective - Harry Hole - is now well established, and developing with each novel.
In Nemesis, Harry has a new girl-friend, who is in Moscow fighting for the custody of her son, Oleg. Back in Oslo, Harry gets a phone call from an ex-girlfriend, Anna Bethsen, and cannot resist calling on her. Afterwards, he wakes up with a head-ache, and no recollection of what happened the night before. As a recovering alcoholic, he puts this down to drink. But then later he finds that Anna has apparently committed suicide. He is not convinced, and treats it as murder, even though he could be incriminated. Especially as his mobile was lost in the apartment of the dead woman. He is urged on in his private investigation by taunting messages, and by his own nemesis - fellow officer Tom Waaler.
Meanwhile, he is involved in the hunt for a bank robber, who has killed a cashier who didn’t hand over the money quickly enough. Further raids take place before Hole begins to piece together the convoluted story of the cashier, her insane husband, and a known bank robber. In his investigation, he is helped by a new assistant, Beate Lonn, who has the advantage of a photographic memory for faces. Along the way, Hole is drawn into the shadowy world of the gypsies, of whom Anna Bethsen was a member.
Nesbo once again excels in teasing out a convoluted trail of possible motives, and suspicious characters in an intertwined plot that has Hole himself on the run at one point. We are never quite sure who is the prime suspect, as motive after motive is revealed, and the storyline drives on. Nesbo leads the reader down blind alleys, and into dead ends, but never leaves him there. All his characters are fully developed, and the world they inhabit well drawn, even though the place names are unfamiliar to anyone outside Norway. The "Chinese box" denouement, where one apparent conclusion is peeled away to reveal a newer, more accurate one, may be a little irksome at the end. The tale may be too layered at this stage as Nesbo has exhausted his reader with a multi-textured story. But perseverance brings its own reward in the end. The story is compelling and hugely entertaining.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online
