The Bat (Harry Hole #1)

  The Bat is Jo Nesbo's first novel from the well known Harry Hole series. The storyline is set in Australia where Harry Hole is sent to solve the mystery surrounding the murder of a young Norwegian girl called, Inger Holter.

  Although an outcast, Harry becomes essential to the Australian police investigation as he points out a series of unsolved rape and murder cases similar to the one of Inger Holter. The victims were usually young blond women. As Inger has a number of admirers, every one close to her becomes automatically a suspect. When a circus performer is brutally murdered followed by another young woman Harry gets trapped in a race against time to stop the gruesome murderer on the run from striking again.

  As The Bat was written in 1997, we come across a very young Harry Hole. When the story begins, he is barely in his 30s, and already an alcoholic. Unfortunately though this is the only common aspect young Harry Hole bears with the Harry Hole of the future. As inexperienced Harry Hole as a detective seems, equally inexperienced seems Jo Nesbo as a writer. The atmoshpere of mystery and darkness that characterizes the rest of the series remains barely visible and the lack of twists, plots and subplots makes the story rather dull.

  This is definitely not the best Jo Nesbo's novel, but any fan of the series should read it in order to have a more intergrated image of the events and stories that made Harry Hole the person he is today.

Rating: 3/5

Posted in: crime,jo nesbo,Mystery and Thriller