Shan Kelly
Police is the 10th novel by Norwegian rock star-turned-crime writer Jo Nesbo, now considered one of the top crime writers in the world. His hero Harry Hole – pronounced “Holy” – doesn’t appear until almost half way through the 500-page tome when a team of detectives beg Harry to help them catch a serial cop killer.
Police is a brilliant showcase of modern life in Oslo, where women and men work long hours and relationships are made tricky by divorce and distance.
Infidelity and hard drug use have seeped into the fabric of this oil-rich society and poisoned some of those at the top.
Nesbo shows us a wonderful Oslo, and how the investigators balance gruesome jobs with complicated family lives.
He masterfully cranks the suspense as some likeable characters end up chopped into tiny pieces. It’s not all brutality and horror, though. Harry is a 40-something “kidult” who likes having fun, but wrestles with commitment and alcohol issues.
The plot twists are rapid and gut-wrenching. Such mastery may explain why Nesbo’s novels have sold 50 million copies.
thereview@thenational.ae
