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The Harry Hole thread.

Started by BritishHobo, September 16, 2013, 09:04:52 PM

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BritishHobo

Well then. Fassbender in talks to play Harry Hole in The Snowman.

Serge

Ooh! That could be good. Of course, he's still not quite tall enough. But then, not many actors are. Ron Perlman is too old to play Harry now, I suppose. Looks like they may be setting it in Norway, too - apparently, Nesbø would be ok with the idea of them transferring the action elsewhere, but I bloody wouldn't be.

If they make a trilogy of film adaptations then I'd go The Snowman, The Redbreast and then Police. Even though that messes with the chronology of the novels.

BritishHobo

In WHSmiths today picking up the new Stephen King[nb]They're persisting with their horseshit idea of splashing a bit of purple on the colour and passing that off as a 'Collector's Edition EXCLUSIVE TO WHSmith', as they do with every bloody Stephen King book these days. Does it have a cat on the front? GIVE THE CAT PURPLE EYES. Does part of the plot hinge on a blue fucking umbrella? MAKE THE UMBRELLA PURPLE[/nb] and noticed one of the staff plonking Midnight Sun on the shelves, so I've grabbed that and all. Didn't think it was out til the end of the month.

Not started it yet, but I've had a brief look over it. At 214 pages it clocks in at a fucking hair's breadth longer than Blood on Snow. There's also no mention whatsoever of Tom Johanson or The Kidnapping, so it remains totally up in the air how they intend to handle that.

BritishHobo

Done a bit of googling, and it would appear these books were published under Jo's name in Norway, and all. So fuck knows.

BritishHobo

Done. Weird one, that. I'd expected
Spoiler alert
given the focus on an employee of The Fisherman, that as the first one dealt with the defeat of Hoffmann, the other crime lord, this would do a similar thing and round out the story. In the end, any drug war/bloody final battle stuff just faded away in favour of a story about his redemption in faith/love. I really enjoyed it, but I can't say the redemption thing really worked, because Jon at all times was painted as a good guy; he only got into fixing for the Fisherman to earn money for his cancer-ridden daughter, and even then he never actually killed anyone because he couldn't bring himself to do it. His only 'crime' is betraying a drug lord which, again, he does because he doesn't want to take anyone's life. Which means he's just a watered down Olav from Blood on Snow, really. The whole 'fixer redeemed by a woman he falls in love with' thing is basically copied over exactly from the first book, only this time the fixer's never really done anything bad.
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Does that mean the story continues? Has The Kidnapping been shelved? I'd been looking forward to a proper, thick Nesbo book next.

Serge

I'm still waiting for 'Blood On Snow' to come out in paperback, so christ knows when I'll get around to 'Midnight Sun'!

Serge

Quote from: BritishHobo on September 09, 2015, 08:35:04 PMWell then. Fassbender in talks to play Harry Hole in The Snowman.

Looks like it's confirmed now. To be filmed in Norway, and also starring, er, Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson as Katrine Bratt and Charlotte Gainsbourg in an undisclosed role. Would be nice to see some actual Norwegians in there too. Directed by Tomas Alfredson, which is a worry for me, as I thought his version of 'Tinker, Tailor...' was fucking abysmal. We'll see.

Serge

And so, three years after absolutely the last final Harry Hole book ever....an announcement about, er, a new Harry Hole book.

QuoteThe new Harry Hole thriller, coming May 2017

There's a new killer on the streets and he's out for blood... A woman is found murdered after an internet date. The marks left on her body show the police that they will be dealing with a particularly vicious case.

Harry Hole makes a return in Jo Nesbo's thrilling new novel.

....though we do have to wait eight months for the English language version. Don't know what happened to 'The Kidnapping'.

BritishHobo

YES. I saw this in a database in Penguin Random House last week (well - it was called 'Untitled Harry Hole Novel' and devoid of any other information due to an embargo), and the urge to message you was very hard to resist. There's also to be a 20th anniversary edition of The Bat in January.

I'm pretty excited. I can't believe it's been three years, it doesn't feel that long. But I do remember, while it worked as ending, Police leaving a few loose ends that could easily be picked up. Fuck it, I could never say no to more Harry.

Serge

Hmmm...'The Bat' is my least favourite Harry book, and I'm not sure what a 20th Anniversary edition would entail beyond a fancy new cover. I'll be saving my pennies for 'The Thirst', I think....!

BritishHobo

Aye, I can't seem to find any details on what the differences would actually be. It's especially odd given the fact that here, The Bat didn't even come out until about five years ago.[nb]Four, according to Wiki. 2012.[/nb] We'll be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of a book we only recently read.

Then of course, Michael Fassbender inexplicably doing The Snowman next autumn. Thought the series was long dead, now it's all happening.

BritishHobo

Been reading about the film adaptation of The Snowman, it's got an eclectic cast. On top of UK Simmons as Arve Støp and Val Kilmer as Gert Rafto, the film is also going to feature Toby Jones and Anne Reid.

I do think it's a shame they've gone English with it instead of making it with Norwegians (this tendency to take the popular fad of Scandinavian crime dramas and filter out Scandinavian aspects, as with the remakes of Dragon Tattoo and The Killing and The Bridge and so on, is bizarre). Still very excited though.

Serge

I suppose with the Hollywood version coming first that there will be little chance of a Norwegian version afterwards. The far superior Swedish version of 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' (and the rest of the Millennium trilogy) didn't have that to compete with upon its initial release. It is an interesting cast - Chloe Sevigny, too, and Ronan Vibert - and of course I'll go and see it anyway.....

Sgt. Duckie

So picked up Cockroaches and The Leopard in the charity shop, going to start with Cockroaches. My first foray into the Nesbo/Hole world. I guess it would be unwise to read The Leopard afterwards, considering the order of the series?

Serge

Yeah, definitely don't read 'The Leopard' before 'The Snowman'! 'Cockroaches' is really the first book with the real Harry in - I get the feeling that when Nesbo wrote 'The Bat', he wasn't expecing to use the character again, so Harry is a bit of an identikit 'troubled detective' in that, not quite the man he becomes later.


Sgt. Duckie

Quote from: Serge on January 16, 2017, 03:03:20 PM
Yeah, definitely don't read 'The Leopard' before 'The Snowman'! 'Cockroaches' is really the first book with the real Harry in - I get the feeling that when Nesbo wrote 'The Bat', he wasn't expecing to use the character again, so Harry is a bit of an identikit 'troubled detective' in that, not quite the man he becomes later.

Cheers

Serge

Quote from: BritishHobo on September 20, 2016, 10:53:39 AMThere's also to be a 20th anniversary edition of The Bat in January.

I meant to mention that this turned up at the shop yesterday - they've basically given it a new cover which looks like a negative of the old one:



...and it has a new 2 page introduction by Nesbo. Probably not worth anybody buying it unless they don't already own it.

I've read the books completely out of order. The most recent one I read was 'The Bat'. I'm going to avoid spoilers but was interesting to notice the early structure of the Hole books which Nesbo actually sticks quite rigidly to in the subsequent books. I actually think that 'The Bat' is the book which actually captures Harry Hole's alcoholism the best.

Any word of when we might see a trailer for 'The Snowman' adaptation?

amputeeporn

It's definitely all in the can - but not released until Christmas time (I think). So I'd imagine we have a few months to wait yet.

In fact, I guess we'll get the new Harry novel before the film, which is exciting!

I was lucky enough to visit the set of Snowman and Fass looked amazing as Harry. Also the whole thing had just the right kind of washed-out, gritty aesthetic you'd hope for.


Serge

Quote from: confettiinmyhair on January 25, 2017, 05:57:22 PMI've read the books completely out of order. The most recent one I read was 'The Bat'.

'The Bat' and 'Cockroaches' were about the last two I read, I think. Which is a shame, as he gives away the name of the killer from 'The Bat' in 'The Snowman', so I already knew going in whodunnit and waited for them to show up. He's usually pretty good at not spoiling previous books - although there are references to The Snowman in the next book ('The Leopard'), the name of the killer is never given. Although I think there are some references to previous books in 'Police', so save that one for last.

mothman

I've jus recently started reading these, and I'm halfway through The Bat. I'm following the order in Wikipedia, so not in order of publication/writing. It feels a bit odd because you have what is obviously meant to be an established character and in his earliest case.. he's off in Australia. I do like Scandinoir (if that's really a thing, and HH qualifies) and so I'll stick with it...

(I've not read any other posts in this thread to avoid spoilers)

Serge

In their original Norwegian versions, they were written and published in the right order, but for some reason the British translations weren't - if I'm reading the Wikipedia page right, the first one published in the UK was 'The Devil's Star', which is bizarre, because even within the series, that book is the last part of a loose trilogy that starts with 'The Redbreast' and 'Nemesis', which seem to be the next two published, and then they carried on translating them roughly in order for a few years until they finally got around to doing the first two (which I seem to remember get listed in the books as his 'early cases', as if they don't form a part of the Harry Hole series in their own right.)

It is bizarre that the first two are set outside of Norway, something he rarely does again in future books (
Spoiler alert
'The Leopard'
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being an exception, with parts set in
Spoiler alert
Africa
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), but I did get the feeling when I read 'The Bat' that he wasn't necesarily thinking of re-using Harry when he wrote it, which is why I think he comes across as a slightly generic troubled cop in that compared to the Harry of the later books. It's really with 'Nemesis' that the series hits its stride for me.

mothman

Overall The Bat did strike me as a bit generic. Yes, you've been to Oz on holiday and read a couple of books on Aborigines. Jolly good. But the killer's motivations are daft and the whole
Spoiler alert
dead girlfriend storyline, well... never use your girlfriend as bait! It never ends well. And police in Australia aren't completely incompetent, they'd never sign off on such a plan.
[close]

amputeeporn

Quote from: confettiinmyhair on January 26, 2017, 06:21:31 PM
Tell us more!

Really v little to tell!

It was a one day set visit: what was amazing was watching Fassbender work. We watched them rework a scene over several hours. Harry was at his desk talking over the case with a female colleague. First take, they went from the script. Second, they start to loosen it up. Third, Fass is really digging into it, pulling out bad lines, replacing them. Fourth, he's injecting more physical movement - ways to make the information stand out and feel more dynamic.

And it just went on until by the end it looked like a really smooth, natural but informative conversation - I was really impressed with the amount of work he/they put into this short scene. Was amazing to see some of the process that goes into making a film (harder work than I'd imagined).

They were filming in the university in Oslo. They'd also set up a staircase for Harry's flat there (made to look as though it's the exit) and we saw Fass come and go up/down there a few times.

He looked great as Harry. Tough but grungy and slightly weird. Fairly sure he was smoking too.

Talking to the producers they seemed to really get it - saying they'd intentionally ramped up the existential fear elements and reduced the procedural ones.

As I say, the aesthetic looked just right - Tinker Tailor esque (no surprise as it's the same director and producers I think) - which I think will make the almost-horror elements shine.

BritishHobo

Cheers, really interesting! Wonder what their plan is with regards to possible sequels.

amputeeporn

Interestingly they were canvassing opinion. I don't think they/the room felt excited about The Leopard as it's kind of a less exciting but larger scale Snowman type story. Great to rattle through in a few reads but maybe not worth spending years with a team filming it?

I'd imagine they'd go Police or this new one, The Thirst, but they certainly hadn't counted out earlier stories.

BritishHobo

It's good to hear they've not discounted going back. I suppose it will depend on how certain threads are dealt with in the film - Rakel and Oleg for example, which in the books is a subplot we've already followed for a good while, but here will be our first introduction. I'd like to see the films flesh that out more before doing Phantom and then Police.

It'd also be nice to see them do the Waaler storyline.

Serge

Of course, fucking about with the chronology of the books is going to mean that
Spoiler alert
they're going to have to keep track of Harry's many injuries over the course of the series. Doesn't he lose a finger in 'The Snowman'? And his face is ruined in 'The Leopard'.
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EDIT: If the film is successful enough to get sequels, of course....