Phantom

Book 286. Phantom. Jo Nesbo. I read this in Spain. Out of sequence. Complicated. Got my characters a bit mixed up because I read a good chunk on the plane going out but then didn't pick it up again for 10 days. Vivid descriptions of drug use/needles/rats/sex scenes mean the reader needs a strong stomach. A bit/lot unbelievably at how much decision making someone can have in the split second of having their throat slit but addictive and entertaining.

My favorite of the entire series!

It's so poignant. Despite being essentially a murder mystery, Phantom creates havoc with the reader's emotions, especially if they've been following Harry for some time. Oleg's grown up and the way he's turned out is no surprise given all that he's seen and faced.

While I had Cato pinned as Mr. Dubai the minute he entered the story, the journey through the book was hauntingly beautiful. And the end, oh the end was gut-twisting, superb!

Note: There are no spoilers for this book.

This is the latest police detective thriller in the Harry Hole series, and it brings back a number of characters from earlier books. On the surface it is a dark, gritty tale about competing drug gangs in Oslo, but the story goes much, much deeper. The roiling passions spilling out from those who are involved suggest there may be more to the murders being committed than competition for territory. Harry, though ostensibly no longer on the police force, has his own reasons to get in the investigation. Being a policeman is something Harry has difficulty giving up, even when it’s a life or death matter.

Discussion: As usual, Nesbo gives us clues throughout that we should have picked up, if only we show more had known where to look! Surely, we think, as we metaphorically pace back and forth in our minds from the tension, Harry can see what we cannot! But as even Harry admits (in perhaps a meta comment on the book), our brains are always willing to see only the consoling answers needed by our hearts. All of the characters fall prey to this fallacy.

Phantom is structured, in an important way, like James Joyces’ Finnegans Wake, which is to say, among other things, it is quite clever. It also is driven by the same Biblical and Shakespearian themes that characterize Joyce’s Ulysses. Intentionally or not, Nesbo has created a story that touches upon major chords of the human psyche. This is not just a superficial crime thriller.

Additionally, amidst the Dante-esque tour of Oslo’s drug underworld, Nesbo intersperses flights of literary beauty that shine glimmers of light on subterranean Oslo and its environs:

"The long, slim feminine legs of the pine trees rose into the skirt of green that cast hazy afternoon shadows across the gravel in front of the house.”

"Harry focused on the spruce trees. The little colour remaining was quickly sucked out of them, and now they stood like ranks of black uniformed silhouette-guardsmen. Then he heard her come over, felt her hand under his arm, her head against his shoulder, her hot cheek through his linen suit, and breathed in the perfume of her hair. … [She] had started crying and buried her face in his neck. The tears warmed his skin as they ran down inside his shirt, over his chest, over his heart.”

Evaluation: OMG. The mix of hope and love and pain broke my heart, all the way through, and left me absolutely bowled over. This is a must-read for fans of the Harry Hole series! Not recommended as a standalone – one should be aware of Harry’s story from at least The Snowman onward. show less

A thriller. It twists and turns like the death knife some Russian mafioso would stick in your belly.
You cannot put Phantom down. You cannot stop--just like with the drug everyone craves in Oslo, the mystery drug that starts with an "orgasm" (Nesbø's description) when you shoot it in your arm. Phantom acts slower. But keeps you up late.

The whole book is so much bigger than my get-up-groggy-and-hit-the-john life, the one that we all lead. The characters' lives would kill me in a day (It kills most of them too-but takes longer) -- Detective Hole, the Russian mafia and Mr. Dubai, the druggies on the street, even old soggy Norway with its shooting-gallery protuberance, the one built for the Oslo Opera House.

I had to go into detox for a show more couple of days, so I am putting down the book and reading a slow, plodder--the History of the British Empire. Then I go back and do a little Nesbø. I don't want to OD on it. show less

At times I could barely breathe reading this and at other times I could barely manage to read it, being needle-phobic. Nesbø doesn't waste a word in his plotting or description of drug addiction. Like some of its main characters this has left me craving & clawing to get my hands on the next installment of this compelling series. Harry Hole like Kurt Wallander may well be the most heroic and flawed of policemen, as he lurches between hope and pessimism, ideals and pragmatism.

Phantom is the first Harry Hole and the first Jo Nesbo novel I’ve read. He lives up to the hype. Nordic crime fiction seems to share a sort of dark and moody atmosphere. Nesbo has that too, but he also has more action and intensity than some of the other Nordic novelists I’ve read. Having not read any Harry Hole books before, I felt I was able to pick up on the character and his background rather quickly. Reading earlier novels in the series would be helpful and perhaps enrich the experience, but it is not necessary to read them in order to enjoy this book..

Harry Hole is an outstanding character. Dark, brooding, and trapped by his policeman nature that doesn’t allow him to pursue his own happiness. He recognizes that there are any show more number of choices along the way, but he always picks the one that drags him in deeper and leads him closer to the truth.

Nesbo paints a grim and unforgiving picture of Oslo and particularly the drug scene there. Harry Hole’s outlook is nearly as dark. He knows he has a blind spot for Rakel and Oleg, the woman he left behind and her son, but he fights through it to find the truth behind the murder Oleg has been accused of. His own alcoholic past leaves him few friends among his former police colleagues upon whom he can rely. Where others are willing to accept easy answers, Harry keeps pushing, no matter the personal cost.

Phantom is an intense book, and the last half of the book rushes at you with a series of twists and turns that keeps you guessing and a shocking ending that will stick with you long after you put the book down. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book show less

Nach drei Jahren kehrt Harry Hole nach Oslo zurück - doch nicht ganz freiwillig. Oleg, der Sohn Rakels, die Liebe seines Lebens, sitzt im Gefängnis, angeklagt wegen Mordes. Und die Beweislage scheint eindeutig. Doch Harry kann es nicht glauben, beginnt auf eigene Faust zu ermitteln und landet in einem Verwirrspiel ohnegleichen. Es geht um Drogen, Korruption, Machthunger, Gier, Sucht und nichtzuletzt um Liebe. Harry wirbelt ein fein austariertes System von Politik und Drogenmilieu durcheinander und stößt in ein Wespennest. Doch es kommt noch schlimmer...
Wie schon üblich ;-) ist es ein bis ans bittere Ende spannender Krimi, der es einem schwer macht das Buch zuzuschlagen, bevor man die letzte Seite gelesen hat. Es gibt jede Menge show more unvorhergesehene Wendungen, wenn vielleicht auch nicht immer ganz so überraschend, da man durch die vorhergehenden Bände schon ein Gespür dafür hat, dass gerade das Unwahrscheinlichste häufig die Lösung darstellt. Doch auch das verblüffenste Ereignis fügt sich logisch und nachvollziehbar in die Geschehnisse ein, sodass an keiner Stelle das Gefühl auftaucht, hier wurde etwas mühevoll konstruiert. Harrys immer wiederkehrenden Kämpfe gegen seine Sucht, seine Schlußfolgerungen die diesen Fall letztendlich lösen, seine daraus resultierende Vorgehensweise - alles fügt sich überzeugend zu einem Ganzen. Lediglich seine fast schon übermenschlichen Überlebensfähigkeiten lassen ein wenig Kopfschütteln zu, aber - sie machen Hoffnung auf den zehnten Band...
Fazit: Für Action- und Krimiliebhaber ist dieses Buch ein Muss. Nicht ganz unblutig, aber mit viel Raum für tiefergehende Darstellungen einzelner Personen. Und man muss die vorhergehenden Bände nicht gelesen haben, um der Geschichte folgen zu können, doch hilft es, die Beziehungen der Protagonisten untereinander besser zu verstehen. show less