Generally I enjoy Nesbo for pushing out of formula a bit, often by just taking things farther than I'd expect in a very grim way. But this book has far too many attempts at misdirection in the exact same manner, and it's irritating - frankly in the first instance, but certainly by the fourth. I don't know what the point is, maybe to make it feel like a thriller, or to work in adaptation, but it just feels lazy.

My favorite Nesbo story is the one where my friend pronounced his name in American to a Scandinavian speaker. I hope that person recovered eventually. ( )

Throughout this book, Nesbø has characters omit things so you as a reader don't find out. Repeatedly. At the beginning of the book, a character lies in a coma in hospital. Despite ever character actually knowing who it is, when the characters *think* about him, they omit the name in their own minds. "Maybe i should check on the man in the hospital." Not "maybe i should check on Peter Parker." This was obviously done to lead the reader on into thinking the man in the hospital is someone else. There are at least 4 situations that i can quickly recall where Nesbø uses this technique, including right at the end where Nesbø uses the same cheap manipulative techniques to deceive the reader about the purpose of a visit to a church. By then, the reader has to have caught on to the technique. I was merely tired and annoyed, wishing we could get on with it. ( )

Now that I've read all or most of the Harry Hole series, I've realized that I like them a lot, and really hope there will be more. He's a pretty unusual policeman - he's had severe drinking problems, yet he's the one who solves the really hard cases. But you never know what's going to happen - will he fail and turn to drinking? Will he catch the perp only to find that he was totally wrong? Will he be killed? It seems like all of the above have happened at one time or another, but then, things are never what they seem in his books, and that's one thing that makes them really interesting. ( )

Pretty good Harry Hole book ( )

Best Harry Hole book to date. It will have you on the edge of your seat. ( )