Knife

Jo Nesbo has lost his mojo as far as I'm concerned. This is a perfectly adequate thriller but dull and overlong.
The worst aspect of Nesbo's writing is his adherence to misdirection. It worked beautifully in the earlier Harry Hole books but is now over-used. Without spoiling the plot, there are two rather large conclusions you are encouraged to arrive at by the author, yet if you've ever read any of his other books you immediately know they are untrue.
Misdirection only works if you are misdirected, otherwise it's a tedious device that detracts from your enjoyment of the novel.
Also there are only so many times Harry can "die," suffer unbearable tragedies and disappear into alcoholic oblivion. Either the character needs reinventing or show more Nesbo should move on to another leading character. show less

Der fast schon glückliche Harry Hole aus Band 11 ist nun ganz unten: Seine geliebte Rakel, sein Lebensinhalt, hat ihn aus dem Haus geworfen und eine Versöhnung scheint nicht in Sicht. Und dann trifft ihn ein Schicksalsschlag, wie es schlimmer nicht sein kann. Er reisst sich zusammen und tut das, was er am Besten kann: Ermitteln. Doch je weiter er kommt, umso schlimmer wird es.
Ich bin ein begeisterter Hole-Fan, habe alle Bände gelesen und mich sehr auf dieses Buch gefreut. Nun weiss ich: Ich hätte das nicht tun sollen. Die Enttäuschung wäre vermutlich nicht so groß ausgefallen. Denn dies ist mit Abstand das schwächste Buch dieser Reihe. Statt eines spannenden Kriminalfalles, bei dessen Ermittlungen ein bestimmtes Thema show more ausführlich an die Lesenden gebracht wird wie es sonst der Fall ist, geht es dieses Mal fast ausschliesslich um Harry Holes privates Umfeld und seine Befindlichkeiten. Endlos werden seine selbstzerstörerischen Gedanken wiedergegeben, die nicht gerade zur Spannung beitragen. Dazu kommen derart abstruse Konstellationen, dass ich mich immer wieder fragte, was der Autor wohl beim Schreiben geraucht hat. Beispielsweise ein über 70jähriger, der in drei Minuten junge Frauen in der Öffentlichkeit vergewaltigt, um sich fortzupflanzen. Oder ein extremer Alkoholiker, den die Frauen auch über Jahre hinweg nur so anhimmeln, egal in welchem Zustand er sich befindet. Das ist Alles so unglaubwürdig und verschroben, dass ich kaum glauben kann, dass es vom selben Autor kommt wie die vorherigen zwölf Bände.
Die Lösung des Ganzen ist wie gewohnt überraschend, auch wenn hier ziemlich mit der Holzhammermethode dargelegt wird: Jede und Jeder kann zum kaltblütigen Mörder werden. Zudem ist es sicherlich auch so geplant, dass es eine weitere Fortsetzung um und mit Harry Hole geben wird, so offen wie dieses Ende ist.
Dann bleibt nur zu hoffen, dass Harry Hole in Version 13 Punkt 0 wieder wie ein Phönix aus der Asche auftaucht. show less

Ok let's be honest Harry Hole is a cliche detective, and there are many similarities between him and Ian Rankin's great creation Rebus. They both like working outside the law, they are happy to use unconventional methods to achieve results. Alcohol and cigarettes fuel their ambition, and the odd female liaison allows them a place of sanctuary where their wounded egos can be massaged. Rebus of course is now retired ( well not really) and he is some 17 years Harry’s senior. But we as readers of crime fiction love them, we forgive them their foibles knowing that their astute ability to catch the “baddies” will always make them heroes in our eyes!

Knife is an edge of the seat thriller and it may be some 600+ pages long (paperback) but show more every reading minute is pure pleasure. Harry’s old criminal rival Svein Finne is once more back on his patch and seeking revenge for the detective who incarcerated him. Young women are being raped and Finne is high on the list of suspects. However one chilling moment at the start, a brilliant piece of writing by Nesbo, changes the direction of the story, and sends Harry once again into deep sorrow and depression ably helped by his always on hand, good friend Jim Beam. To say much more about the plot would spoil the pleasure that awaits you, dear reader. There are many red herrings, and false leads as Nesbo plays with you, giving you a false sense of satisfaction only to slap you in the face when you realize that the person you suspected is nothing more than an innocent bystander.
The writing is taut, using few words but always adding a sense of sadness and drama and possibly a little humour……..
“Harry had been happy. But happiness is like heroin; once you've tasted it, once you’ve found out that happiness exists, you will never be entirely happy with an ordinary life without happiness again”.......
“ For every cigarette you smoke, God takes an hour away from you...and gives it to Keith Richards”....
“Of course. Imagine that you feel like killing someone, but can’t make yourself do it. So you need help. From fate. And if the dice tells you to kill, fate bears the responsibility; it liberates you and your free will. Do you see? All it takes is a throw of the dice”....
“Then it was as if Harry’s smile suddenly shattered, like the morning ice in October, and Bjorn found himself looking into the black depths of desperate pain again. As if Harry had merely wanted to taste happiness. And had spat it out again.”.....

Wonderful storytelling from the true king of Scandi crime noir. Highly, highly recommended. show less

Oh, Nesbo's taken us all on one hell of a journey with Harry Hole, the finest detective in Oslo. Knowing that Knife is, in all probability, Hole's last book lends it a poignant note. Thestory opens with a bang! Harry's been dumped by Rakel. Whaaat! Why did that happen? After all these years of putting up with his alcoholism, intensity, even the Snowman, Rakel gives him the boot. Things resolve a bit and, then, you're hit with another Wham! Rakel's dead. Whaaaat!The book is amazingly written with Harry focussing so much on Sveine he misses the clues in front of him. And the end. Oh. It's a whopper. I did not see that coming at all. Sweet, innocent Holm. Nooooo! Though the story does make sense. But why, why did Nesbo do this? He does show more leave us with a few potential prospects to choose for Harry, but I wanted him to be with Rakel forever. Oh, well. Tragedies do tend to stay with us. I love you, Harry Hole. show less

Knife is the twelfth book in Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. I have to say, I think it's one of the best.

Harry is drinking again - it's a reaction to his wife Rakel kicking him out. But he's s been given another chance with the Oslo Police and is now assigned to cold cases. He finds a few that can possibly be tied to a heinous criminal he put behind bars ten years ago. The man has just been released. But before Harry can get into that investigation, his world is rocked by the murder of someone close to him. (Faithful readers - you will be very surprised, as was I) And though he shouldn't be anywhere near the case, there is no stopping Harry Hole.

I love square peg, round hole lead characters and Harry is most definitely that. He's a dark, show more dangerous, conflicted and complicated protagonist I can't get enough of.

Nesbo's descriptions of place conjure up vivid pictures of the settings. As with most of Nesbo's books, social commentary on the state of politics, corruptions, crime and the social welfare of Norway is woven into the plot. Harry's philosophizing will have you stopping to think.

Nesbo's plotting is intricate and multi-layered with many threads. How those threads are joined changes many times over the course of Harry's investigation. I absolutely bought in to the offered possibilities, only to be found wrong. Harry's memory is fallible due to the drinking. He often can't remember whole chunks of time. But his deductive reasoning is second to none. I was stunned as the book headed towards the final whodunit. Didn't see that coming! I love being unable to predict where a tale is going to go. Nesbo has surprised me with almost every book. And the ending? Oh, it leaves the door open for another Harry book!

The book is translated from Norwegian by Neil Smith. It's been done very well, reading smoothly with no choppiness or stilted feeling.

Those new to Harry Hole may want to start with an earlier book to truly get to know Harry and how life has led him to this time and place.

(And anyone with a hard copy of Knife - have a look at the author photo on the back - Nesbo is exactly how I picture Harry) show less

I always look forward to the latest instalment in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbø. He is an author whose books I will purchase in hardcover as soon as they are published. Knife is the 12th book and it does not disappoint.

Rakel, Harry’s wife, has thrown him out of the house so Harry has returned to drinking. One morning he wakes up with blood on his clothes but with no memory of the night before; this amnesia is problematic because during that night a loved one was murdered. Harry sobers up and sets out to find the person responsible.

Throughout the novel, there are a number of plausible suspects. For instance, one suspect is Svein Finne, a serial rapist who has recently been released and wants revenge on Harry who killed his son. show more Just when the reader is convinced as to the identity of the killer, he/she proves to have an alibi. I was certain I knew the murderer but I was wrong.

The revelation which comes at the end is shocking. I never suspected this person at all. What is great about the book is that all the clues are there. It’s not that Nesbø withholds information; it’s just that the reader may not pick up on the clues because they are so subtly mentioned.

The book is layered in that there are several subplots. Besides the main case, there’s the background of Rakel’s boss whom Harry comes to know, a man suffering from PTSD. We learn about his experiences as a member of the Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan. There’s a sub-plot involving Dagney Jensen who is raped by Svein Finne. There’s a sub-plot involving Johan Krohn, Finne’s lawyer. In the end, all the stories connect in a very satisfying way.

Nesbø writes in such a way that passages can be interpreted in more than one way. For instance, one character says to another, “’You shouldn’t have told anyone what you saw . . . That’s why I have to kill you. You wouldn’t forget. I wouldn’t forget’” (236). The impression is that the speaker is going to kill someone to protect himself from further revelations that might implicate him in some crime. But that is not the case. This technique is used several times.

The one issue I have is the number of women who fall in love with Harry. He’s a troubled alcoholic depressive and is notorious for self-destructive behaviour, yet women keep falling in love with him. There’s Rakel, of course, but there are three other women in the novel who have romantic feelings for this emotionally damaged man.

This book can be read as a standalone, but reading previous novels gives a lot of important background which gives an added dimension to this book. Several of the characters who appear are introduced much earlier in the series.

A mystery or police procedural is not a book I would normally re-read, but this is one that is worth re-reading.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). show less

Harry Hole book # 12

Hole is a legend in the Oslo police force and is notorious for his heavy drinking and by now his wife Rakel had enough and has kicked out, Harry is on his own.

“Knife”, is another dark twisted mystery by Nesbo. The opening scenes involve an old man at a hunting shop, a gruesome sexual assault and Hole waking up with blood on himself after a drunken night at a bar but even before he sobers up, he is hit by a tornado Rakel has been murdered. His colleagues want him to stay out of the case because they can’t rule him out as her killer. The preliminary evidence points to Svein Finne, a long career rapist and murderer. Staying out of this case is not an option,“ The only thing Harry can do is investigate murders show more and drink”.....and he will do just that....

This story takes most of 450 pages or so in order to tell us how these moments fit into the puzzle, so be patient it is a long and heavy read.....in the final 100 pages the many disparate threads are so cleverly pulled that it is hard to stop reading. “Knife” is real Nesbo and this story has everything I have come to expect by him: a layered plot, a gritty atmosphere, an immerse pacing, plenty of red herrings and our beloved trouble detective. This has to be Nesbo’s darkest story and the most emotionally affective. It is told with a razor- sharp prose and is populated by fully shaped psychologically believable characters.

Knife is brutal, raw and nerve wrecking. show less