The Bat

Jo Nesbo is an author I’ve had on my tbr for a very long time but you know how it is - so many books, so little time. So when I saw The Bat on Netgalley, it seemed like a great chance to check it out especially as this is the first book in the series.

The book begins with Norwegian detective and protagonist, Harry Hole, in Australia hunting the killer of a young girl from Norway, He clearly feels out of his depth as he tries to acclimate himself to the country and not just to all the sun and heat. He is partnered with an Aboriginal detective who introduces him to a bit of the culture including some Aboriginal folklore. As they dig deeper into the mystery of the girl's death, they discover other similar murders and suspect they're up show more against a serial killer. But the more they discover, the more Harry begins to suspect his partner is holding something back. When another murder occurs, one much too close, Harry goes into a drunken tailspin and, with little time left before he has to return home, he fears this may be the one that gets away.

The Bat starts out a little slow as the reader has to acclimate themselves to this new country as much as Harry but once it got going, I found myself engrossed in the tale. This a very dark and twisty mystery. Harry is your archetypal Scandinoir hero - damaged, somewhat morally ambiguous and fatalistic. He is a good detective but willing to risk not only his own safety but that of the woman he has fallen in love with, to solve the case.

I did have some problems with the book. I found Harry’s relapse into heavy drinking slowed the story down somewhat. Also, although I didn’t guess the culprit, I found his motivation hard to accept. And the ending seemed more suited to a B-flick disaster movie than a noir mystery.

Still, despite these criticisms, I really enjoyed the book. I found the mystery intriguing and the references to Aboriginal myths fascinating. The references to their history were also interesting but sorrowful especially as they mirrored the history of First Nations in Canada. Overall, a good introduction to the series and I will definitely be looking for more by Nesbo in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

Jo Nesbo left me hanging at the end of the previous Harry Hole novel - Phantom. Phantom was the 9th book in this Scandinavian series that features the conflicted and complicated Detective Hole. But the first book - The Bat - that introduces us to Harry is only now newly released in North America. You can bet I jumped at the chance to read it!

Harry is sent to Australia to assist with a murder investigation as the victim was a Norwegian national. But the local cops define 'assist' differently.

"What you're gonna do is watch carefully while we haul the bastard in, tell the Norwegian press along the way what a wonderful job we're doing together - making sure we don't offend anyone at the Norwegian embassy, or relatives, - and otherwise enjoy show more a break and send a card or two to your dear Chief Constable."

Harry is not the focus of the first part of the book. Instead we are introduced to Aussie detective Andrew, who has a sense of where he wants the investigation to go. Andrew was a strong personality and I felt slightly overwhelmed by this character. Nesbo weaves much Aboriginal history and lore into the narrative, which I found really interesting. It also added much to the plot.

Harry and his personality begin to emerge slowly as the book progresses. I was hoping that Nesbo would allow us some insight as to where Harry's tortured psyche springs from and I wasn't disappointed. And, as the case develops, the Harry that I've come to enjoy so much emerges. The character of Harry has been refined and darkened and sharpened over the course of the next eight books, but in The Bat we meet a raw, wounded version of the detective to come. One with "a weakness for living."

But, what hasn't changed is Nesbo's plotting. The Bat is an excellent detective novel that provided a 'kept me guessing' plot with lots of suspects to choose from. Reading the first in this series just confirmed why I have Jo Nesbo and Harry Hole on my must read list. Nesbo combines fantastic characters, great plotting, lots of action and suspense and yes, social commentary into addictive reads. show less

I have been collecting these books for years, not sure why other than they were recommended to me and they sounded gritty and fun. Also, I was perhaps caught up in the wave of Steig Larsson and all things Scandinavian? Either way, I've amassed quite a collection so I figured it was time to start reading them. As a stickler for reading a series in order, I knew the first two weren't available in the US for quite sometime, and I knew they aren't known for being nearly as good as the rest of the series. Having been burned lately with reading an authors "best book" and reading more of their catalog to find that one "best book" must have been a fluke because the rest aren't great....I started at the beginning, you can only go up from there, show more right?
Harry Hole is exactly what I want in a gritty police procedural. The sarcasm dripping all over this book had me laughing out loud many times and all the dialog was just *chef's kiss*. I wasn't expecting the "spice" but I guess I should have since that does seem to creep in to pretty much every police/detective novel. A little gruesome in crime scene depiction, but not aggressively so. I think it bears mentioning that when you read it, you have to do so from a lens of this was written many years ago, in a different language, depicting different cultures and their nuances. There is quite a bit of racism, especially with regards to the Australian aborigines and the apparent "dislike" of them from back in the "Australia is a prison" days. There's some not great language in regards to sex workers, as well as a bit of fat phobia from one character. The LGBTQIA+ representation is great, however, and they explain that Australia has a huge gay culture because many people from the Outback flock to the cities for acceptance since their farm families don't accept them. So yeah, there's a little bit of everything in this book. I wasn't offended by any of it because it is more of a statement of the time and some mentalities, rather than the author being any kind of bigot. Also, Harry isn't the offensive one, in fact, a lot of it is being explained to him by the Australian police he's working with and observing. If he was I might rethink continuing the series, but as of now, I'm very much looking forward to more Harry Hole. show less

Apparently, the first two books in this series are outliers: not set in Harry Hole's (pronounced Hoo-leh) native Norway and not initially translated into English. I decided to start in chronological order and this first installment left me reeling.

Harry is sent to Australia to assist in the investigation of the rape and murder of a Norwegian actress (who was working as a waitress in Sydney). His Australian partner on the case is a seasoned detective with Aboriginal ancestry and a very interesting past. Jo Nesbø clearly did some research on Australian Aboriginal culture and history, which he wanted to share in this debut novel. Mostly, it works.

Harry, an alcoholic in remission, quickly finds himself enmeshed in a serial killer case, show more following red herrings, and involved with a young Swedish woman who worked with the murder victim. Needless to say, the crime isn't solved quickly and cleanly, and Harry doesn't get his sober HEA.

I can see where this series is going from the second half of this book which is basically one long bender with semi-sober moments where Harry gets shit done and I'm not sure if I'm up for an entire 12 book (so far) series of that. I'll at least give the next book (set in Thailand) a try. show less

Olyan sok vevőnek dicsértem már Nesbo-t, hogy gondoltam, épp ideje elolvasni valamit tőle. Annyit mindenesetre elmondhatok, hogy nincs bűntudatom, amiért megvetettem velük.

A Denevérember Harry Hole első kalandja, ami rögvest a világ túlsó felére repít minket (és őt) – Ausztráliába. Ennek a történet szempontjából számos előnye van: egyfelől Nesbo-nek módja nyílik egzotikus környezetben játszatni hősét, másfelől meg elkerüli, hogy a feltétlenül szükségesnél több honfitársát kelljen kinyírnia. Hiába, ilyen szemérmes a szerző – ekkor még. Egy darabig komolyan úgy véltem, hogy a „Skandináv krimik” részleg helyett véletlenül az „Útirajzok” polcról emeltem le valamit, mert a show more bűnügyi vonal az ausztrál társadalom- és kultúrtörténet, valamint a romantikus szál mögött lecsúszott a dobogóról, és csak a tisztes negyedik helyen árválkodott. Mondjuk én ezt korlátozottan bántam, mert amúgy sincs szoros kapcsolat köztem és a krimizsáner között, másfelől meg Nesbo valóban remekül ír – logikus, gördülékeny, szórakoztató, kellemesen fanyar, és ami külön bravúr: képes kevés leírással, dialógusokon keresztül izgalmas, szerethető figurákat teremteni, köztük is elsősorban magát Harry Hole-t, akinek legalább annyit kell birkóznia saját különbejáratú démonaival, mint az éppen aktuális sorozatgyilkossal. Aztán úgy a 200. oldalon elindul a hullámvasút: az író röhögve letaszít minket a pincébe, mi meg egyre gyorsabban gurulunk lefelé a lépcsőn. És itt lett számomra nyilvánvaló, milyen tudatos volt Nesbo részéről, hogy annyit cseverészett velünk mindenféle marginális kérdésről: nem csak arról van szó, hogy elaltatott minket, hanem meg kellett teremtenie a kulisszákat, időt kellett hagynia, hogy szereplő és szereplő, szereplő és olvasó megkedvelje egymást, és létrejöjjön az a térélmény, amikor az olvasó már nem ragaszkodik ahhoz a téveszméhez, hogy a könyv és a valóság két teljesen különböző dolog. Mert így van tétje az egésznek. Így fáj az olvasónak igazán, ha az író egyszer csak elkezdi lerombolni a törékeny harmóniát, amit addig fáradságos munkával felépít – azzal, hogy elveszi tőlünk azt, amit és akit megszerettünk. És ezt Nesbo pazarul csinálja.

(És egy ordas SPOILER, zárszó gyanánt.) Ami viszont szerintem kapitális hiba, és haragudtam is érte: Hole szívszerelmét, Birgittát akarja csalinak felhasználni, hogy elkapja a gyanúsítottat. Azon túl, hogy szerintem ilyet épeszű ember nem csinál, alig hiszem, hogy az ausztrál rendőrség szolgálati szabályzata nyitott az ilyen amatőr húzásokra. Hát tényleg nem volt egész Sydney-ben olyan rendőrnő, aki alkalmas lett volna erre? show less

The Bat
Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole books are ubiquitous. I doubt airport bookshops are allowed to operate without them. So when I found myself in the mood for some more Scandi-Noir, I decided to make Harry Hole's acquaintance.

I'm compulsive about starting series from the beginning, so I bought "The Bat" which has "The First Harry Hole Thriller" written on the cover. This turned out to be a piece of marketing slickness - true but designed to mislead. It turns out that "The Redbreast" was the first Harry Hole book to be published. "The Bat" was published thirteen years later. It's called the first book because the events in it pre-date those in "The Redbreast". If I'd realised that, I'd have read the books in the order that they were published show more because it allows me to see how the writer's style changes as the years pass.

It also turned out that I hadn't bought a Scandi-Noir book. Harry Hole is Norwegian but "The Bat" is set in Australia and has much more to do with the shadows cast by Australian racism than with moody Northern skies.

Still, "The Bat" was worth reading, mainly for Jo Nesbo's storytelling ability. I found the plot a little stilted. It all made sense but I really didn't care that much. I doubt Jo Nesbo did either. His main focus was on exposing Harry Hole's Norwegian sensibilities to the myths of the aboriginal Dreamtime and what they tell us of "the dark forest of the human soul". The tales are well told, slipping into my memory and finding a home there without leaving me feeling lectured at. It seemed to me that the plot is constructed to showcase these tales.

Harry Hole is an alcoholic. I sighed when I read that, it's such a cliché for a policeman, yet it's not a cliché in Jo Nesbo's hands. He doesn't use alcoholism as an accessory to dress an otherwise dull character. Nesbo shows what being an alcoholic means. Harry Hole disappears into a bottle and stays there, drowning in grief and self-pity, for a significant part of the book.

I couldn't find much to like about Harry Hole but then, he can't find much to like about himself.

I found a lot to like about Jo Nesbo's writing. That is enough for me to keep on with this series and to be glad that I read "The Bat"

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Sean Barrett, who did an excellent job, especially with all the accents required. show less

3.75 stars. this is extremely well written for what i expect of a thriller. i always wonder when it's in translation about the original and the translator, but this seems like quality on both sides.

just before starting this i'd heard that nesbo has said that this first book in the series, as far as he is concerned, could be tossed. that people could start with the second. i don't know if he really said that or not, but maybe it set me up to have low expectations. because i don't see why he'd say that - this is a solid story and it's well done, and i found myself liking it quite a bit. it's got it's share of misses or mistakes, but fewer than others of this genre that i've read.

i really enjoyed the dreamtime stories and the cultural show more aspects he brought to the australian part of this story. i thought those stories were interesting and tied in nicely to the plot, and seemed respectfully done from my white american perspective. i thought the characters pretty well drawn (definitely better than in an average macho thriller), the dialogue and story believable, and the writing really good. i think this is an excellent start to a series, especially if it only gets better from here. and he didn't take the easy way out and have harry save birgitta in the end, although as a reader i was hoping he'd get to her in time; it was better for the story and more realistic that she was murdered. he didn't make the choice that many authors would have there at the end, and i appreciate that. i keep coming back to it, but the writing is very strong here, and that is enough for me almost no matter the story or topic, and he manages to do well with the story, too, so i definitely find myself wanting to read more of his books. show less