You can't keep great white sharks in captivity*. That was silly, and easy to find with minor research, and how am I supposed to take anything else seriously?

In non-shark problems, I realize this was published a million years ago (1997), but yikes. Cannot say I recommend in this year of two thousand and twenty three.

*Monterey Bay Aquarium had a research program in the mid-2000s, and the longest they could keep one was for 198 days. I was privileged enough to see one while it was there, but you just can't keep them alive in captivity. They get aggressive, and don't eat, and die. ( )

There are many things to criticize in this novel, but I think the biggest is that the main thread of the storyline gets really submerged and lost for a lot of pages. This had way too much sentimentality, foolishness, and stupidity to be considered a good Nordic Noir – or even just a general noir – story.

Everything about this novel seems like a caricature and irrelevant. I honestly do not know anyone who would enjoy this. Readers deserve better. This is not well-written and the crime story is the side story compared with the main character’s endless stream of issues. ( )

A Norwegian woman is murdered in Australia. So of course The Aussies call in ace Norwegian detective Harry Hole to help them catch the killer. He meets a Swedish woman and immediately begins a relationship with her. And just to show her how much she means to him, he asks her to act as bait to help him catch the killer. Both the girlfriend and the Australian authorities actually agree to this. Sounds kinda far fetched, doesn't it ? Sure did to me. But that being said, still an enjoyable read. There is just something about Harry. He's a tortured, but very fascinating soul. And I'm Looking forward to reading more of his adventures. ( )

„Obavezna lektira za svakog poklonika neodoljive katastrofe zvane Hari Hule. Iako vas hronološka promena može zbuniti, ona će priči dodati sloj dramske ironije, povećati napetost i osnažiti je.“ Booklist

Premijerno pojavljivanje Nesbeovog inspektora Harija Hulea koje će vas oduševiti.

Kriminalistička policija u Oslu šalje inspektora Harija Hulea u Sidnej da prati istragu jednog ubistva. Hari ima odrešene ruke da pomogne u istrazi, ali i jasno naređenje da se kloni nevolja. Žrtva je dvadesettrogodišnja Norvežanka, relativno poznata ličnost u svojoj domovini. Hari, međutim, nije rođeni posmatrač, pa se brzo sprijateljuje s detektivom koji radi na slučaju, kao i sa jednom svedokinjom. Kako istraga odmiče, oni otkrivaju da je to ubistvo samo poslednje u nizu nerasvetljenih zločina psihopate koji plete svoju mrežu širom Australije. Kako se približavaju ubici, u Hariju raste strepnja da niko nije bezbedan, a ponajmanje oni koji istražuju ove zločine.

Roman Slepi miš dobio je 1997. nagradu Riverton najprestižniju za kriminalistički žanr u Norveškoj, kao i nordijsku nagradu Stakleni ključ za najbolji nordijski kriminalistički roman u 1998. godini.

„Slepi miš je plod početničke euforije, priča koja nosi obeležja mesta u kojem je nastala kako u geografskom smislu, tako i u kontekstu mog života. Nedavno sam je naglas čitao na radiju i donekle sam strepeo od vlastitih početničkih grešaka, ali me je prijatno iznenadila svežina i odvažnost tog poduhvata.“ Ju Nesbe

„Već u prvom kriminalističkom romanu Nesbe izaziva klišee žanra nemilosrdno ih razlažući i komponujući neke nove rifove... Na veliko zadovoljstvo, već ovde uočavamo organski oblik koji je Nesbe imao pred očima i na samom početku svog stvaralaštva.“ The Independent

„Čudesan je ovaj susret s mlađim, pričljivijim Harijem... Nesbe je vrstan pisac koji odmerenim tempom vodi radnju ka vrhuncu, ne bi li vas potom pustio da se sunovratite u sasvim neočekivan rasplet.“ Scottish Express

I have heard about Jo Nesbo and his Inspector Harry Hole series, and often wanted to try ti, but kept putting it off. I was given a free copy from NetGalley of this, the first book in the series. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. These Nordic noir books are written in Jo Nesbo's Norwegian, and have been translated into English, and the series is very popular all over the world. Harry Hole is a flawed detective, but a very good one. In this book he has been dispatched to Sydney, Australia to investigate the murder of an ex-pat Norwegian woman. Harry arrives in Sydney with a bang, so to speak. He is never one to sit on the sidelines and observe, and the Sydney police force soon discover they have a maverick on their hands, but a maverick who gets things done, and isn't afraid to go anywhere after a killer. Harry has many personal demons. He makes friends and enemies easily, and gets drawn into a pile of danger before he's even been in Sydney for 24 hours. This is a fast-paced thriller that never lets up until the end. I like Harry, and I liked his hard-hitting style, but i found the book a little confusing, especially in the last half. It jumped around quite a bit, and that is why I knocked my review down to three stars. I think I would like to continue the series after reading this very strong introduction. ( )