Jo Nesbo, The Redbreast

The Redbreast

Jo Nesbro

In 1999 Norwegian Police Inspector Harry Hole is assigned to the Norwegian Security Service undercover surveillance of the neo-Nazis as a form of punishment for embarrassing the brass. The recovering alcoholic knows this will be tedious but also realizes until he is forgiven he must contend with the ennui of watching skinheads act like pompous bullying idiots in Oslo and cannot use a drink as badly as he needs one to dull the boredom.

However, the firing of a rare gun wakes him out of his stupor. His junior partner Ellen Gjelten links the weapon to vicious Neo-Nazi Sverre Olsen and WW II as murder in 1944 ties to a diabolical assassination plot in 1999 with only Hole in the way of preventing the first step of a brilliant plan created over five decades ago.

The story line never loses its fast-paced while switching eras back and forth between 1944/46 and 1999. Police procedural fans will appreciate the 1999 obstinate efforts of acrimonious Hole, ignoring the brass and to a degree his partner, in order to prevent a catastrophe that could be his nation's second darkest hour. However, the fascination in the tale is back in WW II where author Jo Nesbro paints a dark dismal picture of much of Norway sympathetic with the Nazis and that tie still exists with a Neo-Nazi crowd.

Harriet Klausner