The Harry Hole thread.

[BritishHobo]

This is the thing, really. On a general level, what I love most about the series is the very serialised nature of it; watching the effects of his career take their toll on Harry. Seeing him get more and more fucked up, and swing wildly back and forth between happy and settled, and self-destructive, alone and completely fucked off his face. I've always liked that whenever you start another book, you could be getting a very different Harry to the one before. And the ongoing subplots and storylines really enhance the standalone mysteries.

Fuck I'm so excited for The Thirst. I'm not sure I've ever felt as invested in a fictional character as Harry. I

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wept like a fucking baby when I thought that he'd died at the end of Phantom, and again just at the image of Oleg sat by his bed in hospital, struggling with withdrawal.

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[BritishHobo]

Jo Nesbo's doing a mini-tour of Waterstones' in April with Q&As and signings. I'm unsure if I'm going yet because I'm a bit hard up for cash and Cheap Trick are also doing a UK tour, which must sadly take precedence.

The line-up is here though: https://www.waterstones.com/events/search?author=10400

[Serge]

Yeah, most events just before my payday/the Nottingham meet/Record Store Day, so all of those take precedence. Less than a month until the book, though!

[amputeeporn]

I've read The Thirst - just picked it up to have a look at and, obviously, tore through it in two days. The hardback's a lovely thing, with gorgeous end-papers which are a map of Oslo.

No spoilers:

A good, and *very* Oslo Harry novel. I think as I read it I kept hoping/expecting it to *explode* into something else entirely. Mainly because of the three year gap - I'd sort of hoped he'd been building up crazy and it would all burst out.

But, of course, it's not as though Nesbo's not been writing otherwise. As such, it feels like a strong addition to the series and, as I say, I tore through it - but probably not quite up there with the best.

Tonally similar to Phantom and Police which have felt to me like a conscious row-back from the insane excesses of The Leopard.

This isn't a spoiler at all but I know some people are sensitive:

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The novel closes out nicely, no cliff-hanger nonsense, but leaves what feels like *a lot* of irons in the fire. Definitely setting up further adventures.

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[mothman]

I've made it as far as Nemesis now. I'm finding it hard going. Having Harry lose somebody important to him, always female and one per book, is getting to be a bit ridiculous. See also: his falling off the wagon at plot-convenient moments.

[BritishHobo]

It's Harry Hole day, you mothers!

Well. It's not. But my Waterstones has put them out for sale already, so I'm assuming yours has too.

[Serge]

No. Because for some reason, we didn't get a fucking delivery today! We were due 20-odd boxes, and I was rubbing my trousers with Vic Reeves style anticipation that Harry would be lurking in there somewhere, but the delivery just didn't turn up. And in any case, I've still got 200 pages of 'Scarred For Life' to get through, which at the rate I'm doing it, means I won't get around to Mr Harry until the weekend.

[Serge]

And now yes! It turned up yesterday, and today is payday. And I'm really soaring through 'Scarred For Life' with an eye to finishing it today so I can start 'The Thirst' tomorrow (my day off.) Plans.

Jo was on BBC Breakfast this morning, talking about 'The Thirst' (he's got a couple of events in London today, too.) Thankfully, he didn't give away any spoilers, though he did mention that

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he has got a plot arc for Harry worked out, and that there is definitely going to be 'an ending'. Though then again, that's what he said 'Police' was, so.....

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[Serge]

After the flimsy 'Blood On Snow' and 'Midnight Sun', I am reassured by the very bulk of 'The Thirst'.

[BritishHobo]

Wonderful, isn't it?

Ah I've missed this. Hoping to storm to the end today even though it means no more Harry, for a while at least. Beautiful rollercoaster ride.

[BritishHobo]

Done! Argh, so many thoughts.

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Crime aside, that was a tense book. The threat of everything going tits up for Harry is there at every turn.
It's absurd how invested I've become in him as a character, so his increasing presence in drinking holes and the glance at a Jim Beam bottle had me sweating on the edge of my seat more than anything involved in the case.

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Speaking of which, it

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as ever felt such a natural follow-on from the previous book, and Valentin's role in the story plus getting to see the payoff to him following Aurora into the toilet feels all the more satisfying for the real-time gap between books (not least because just before release I re-read this post and the four following it - looking back, I'm not sure I had the faintest idea Valentin was the stalker). Beautifully demented plot that kept me baffled and gasping right to the end, stuffed with Jo's trademark bait-and-switch 'who is the anonymous figure' trickery. It's a delight to see Katrine, Bjorne, Stale, Oystein and so on again, and the new cast of characters are just as compelling.
As ever, Harry's world feels like a living, breathing one, and it's a delight to visit its characters again.

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Not least of whom is

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Truls, increasingly my favourite non-Harry character in the whole series.
My soft spot for him, already huge, has only grown bigger, and the idea of seeing him develop further in another book, actually giving a shit about his job, and potentially scrounging up some self-respect too, makes me very happy.

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Your spoiler quote, Serge,

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gives me a fuckload of joy. Even​ though Harry's already had his happy ending,
the idea of getting another sequence of books sounds wonderful. The Thirst sets up a potential​ new series very well, long or short. There's still a lot of loose-ends, most importantly Bellman's continued rise - and doubtless there's some dark, dark, fucked-up Jim-Beam-drenched times coming for Harry before Nesbo bows out again.

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On the strength of this,

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bring it on.

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[Serge]

I'm only 200 pages in, so I'm not going to read what's behind the spoilers in that post until I finish, but......this book is terrible so far.

[BritishHobo]

Aw, no! Sorry to hear that.

I mean (and sorry for going full spoiler again) I can see why -

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the whole vampire thing was pretty out-there for me, and I really didn't get on with the big climactic showdown (nor the contrived WILL RAKEL DIE?! tension).

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Those three things especially made me feel like Jo had gone back to exactly the kind of

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bloody, action-movie thrills that dragged The Leopard down (and which he's supposed to have said he regrets).

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In some ways I did ask myself whether it could ever be worth returning to that world after Police, but overall I did love being back there. I hope it picks up for you at least.

[Serge]

Again, I'll respond properly when I've finished - very spoilerphobic! - but at this stage, I really don't give a shit about the story or what happens to any of the characters, which is a bad sign. Maybe it'll turn around, but the thought of another 300 or so pages in this vein is not exactly lifting my mood.

[amputeeporn]

My review lies somewhere between BritishHobo and Serge.

Fine book, glad I read it, but basically just another Harry. I think part of the problem is that literally every book is a serial killer thriller. Not even Patterson goes for broke that often...

[Serge]

It did pick up after my rather grumpy earlier posts, but on the whole, I found it a major disappointment. Although I have read neither, I have heard that some fans of the Sherlock Holmes and Rebus books feel like any books which follow a point where the author has stated 'this is the end' but then carried on for whatever reason never feel quite the same, as if the author is going through the motions a little to please those fans who just want more of that character. Given that we still don't know the story behind what happened to 'The Kidnapping', I can't help feeling that after that ambitious tale collapsed, Nesbo has just gone back to something he feels safe with.

On the downside:

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I really didn't give a fuck about the killer. The increasing levels of...it's him! No...he's the man behind the man! No...HE'S THE MAN BEHIND THE MAN BEHIND THE MAN!' started to wear me down. Although I didn't predict it was Hallstein Smith, the amount of weight Nesbo was throwing behind making you try to think that Steffens was a wrong 'un immediately ruled him out in my book. I also knew when they found the body of Lenny Hell that he had nothing to do with it.

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Too much bait and switch. The amount of times one section will end with a character doing something and then the next trying to make you think things have gone tits-up for that character before the 'Aah...do you see?' reveal that he's talking about another one also got incresingly old. Plus, yet another attempt to make us think that Harry had died at the end of the book.

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Too many pop culture references. We get it Jo, you're a middle aged man who wants to let us know how hard and cool your record collection is, but puh-lease! At least it never got as heavy-handed as George Pelecanos trying to crowbar a Hold Steady reference into one of his books - I love ol' George, but his attempts at appearing down with the kids rarely come off.

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The open ending in which a geriatric serial rapist is (presumably) being directed toward Rakel. For fuck's sake.

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And yeah, as BritishHobo mentioned, the 'will Rakel die?' stuff went on too long, and served no function other than as a plot point - she suddenly gets better when it doesn't really matter any more.

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On the upside:

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Harry does have some great moments. The relationship with Oleg feels natural, and led nicely into the Steffens/Wyller reconciliation at the end.

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Although I initially was disappointed by Truls, as it seemed like his shot at redemption from the end of 'Police' was being pissed away in order to turn him back into a rat bastard, his character did get that shot in the end, and it was truly satisfying. As was Bellman's comeuppance - I had thought that a lot of the Bellman stuff seemed like padding which could have been removed from the book without affecting the plot, but the 'Dead Zone'-esque cowardice at the end was a nice touch.

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I mean, I will inevitably read whatever comes next, but my expectations will be lowered.

[BritishHobo]

Aye, the bait-and-switch gets ridiculous. Has it always been this way? I remember it happening a lot in Police, but it's never been something I thought of as a key part of his writing style, whereas in The Thirst it now feels like his main gimmick. It does get frustrating, because everytime it happens it jars me, and I get taken out of the story to think 'well this and this is leading me to think that Anders is the one who's come into the room, so it mustn't be...'

One other thing I didn't like was

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the first half of the book uses Katrine's point of view a lot and delves into her feelings about Bjorn and their breakup... then she sort of disappears and at the end she rocks up, back with Bjorn and pregnant all of a sudden.

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In an odd way I would rather have just revisited the characters, because I enjoyed that more than the ultimately bland mystery. Although I did find myself unexpectedly

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moved by the death of the Jealousy Bar owner.

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[Serge]

Another problem I have is that it seems to be a recurring thing for the villains to be deliberately aiming their ire at Harry - in a way, it's become the same problem as everyone in the Universe knowing who The Doctor is (a problem that 'Doctor Who' doesn't really need, but that Moffat seems to be keen on) and having to have the story revolving around that. I'd rather see a story where it's just some random bastard who doesn't have a personal vendetta against Harry.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, the vengeful serial killer is an irritatingly generic tack to take - and all the villains seeming to draw to Rakel like moths to a flame is pretty redundant given she's already in life-threatening condition in hospital. It's unimaginative as a way to build tension, just keep chucking Rakel in front of buses.

This got a proper drubbing in the latest issue of Private Eye, for showing that 'Scandi Noir' is 'a busted flush'; although the reviewer loses points for opening with a musing on the surname 'Hole' that seems to fundamentally misunderstand the books were written in Norwegian.

[Serge]

Hmmm....I think one duff book fron Nesbo doesn't mean that the whole Scandi-noir genre is up the spout. I've got 'The Crow Girl' and 'I'm Travelling Alone' on my 'to read' pile, both of which seem to be doing well and getting good reviews, and the next Millennium book is getting plenty of press (despite having one of the worst titles ever.)

[confettiinmyhair]

It's an unusual book in that the ending feels very rushed and sped up. It's like Nesbo lost his trail of thought, the pacing is a big problem in 'The Thirst', and odd from an author who is usually good for producing page turners. I felt like I'd missed 100 pages in the final part of the book.

I didn't predict the main villain either, so I'll give Nesbo some credit for at least surprising me. My concern would be that if this was the first Harry Hole book you read it wouldn't necessarily inspire you to read any more of Harry's adventures.

[BritishHobo]

Well, here it is! The trailer for the first ever Harry Hole film. Fair play, it looks beautiful. I wonder if they're going to keep the killer the same.

I've just learned that Blood on Snow is also being adapted, and will be Tobey Maguire's directorial debut. Hmm.

[BritishHobo]

Finally got around to starting 'Knife'. It's the longest I've ever waited to start a Harry Hole book - partly a general lack of motivation, but also because the enthusiasm's faded a little bit. It had such a good ending in 'Police', now I'm wondering how much further the series will go. I've always loved with this series the way Harry's situation fluctuates, but at this point, two books after that closure, it feels a bit exhausting getting another 'off the wagon' opening. It's realistic I guess, but it's a bit of a bummer. Will we still be following Harry in his eighties, getting pissed on his own?

It's fucking weird thinking I won't get to speak to Serge about it. Always loved chatting to him in this thread. Although given his thoughts on The Thirst, I reckon he would have hated it even more. The issue identified in this thread with The Thirst (Rakel basically being used as a damsel in distress over and over) comes to the fore in Knife in a way that I think may genuinely be a bit of a shark jump, and really emphasises that carrying on past Police might have knackered things. I mean, killing Rakel? And doing the 'oooooh, Harry woke up hungover with no memory and blood on his hands' thing the series already did in Nemesis? Come on. Either Nesbo has bumped off Rakel for want of an exciting plot, or (I suspect) he's going to pull his biggest bait-and-switch ever, and it's not actually her. Neither option is great, and both make me wish I'd just left Harry behind at the end of Police. Maybe continued the series with a focus on Truls or someone.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Haha all reading and talking about book with character called Harry Hole

[Hank Venture]

Well, here it is! The trailer for the first ever Harry Hole film. Fair play, it looks beautiful. I wonder if they're going to keep the killer the same.

I've just learned that Blood on Snow is also being adapted, and will be Tobey Maguire's directorial debut. Hmm.

One of the worst movies I've ever seen, and it gets almost nothing right about Norway. Weird, as it's directed by a Swede. But rumours has it that Fassbender used it as an excuse to shag his way through Norway's acting scene and barely showed up on set.

[BritishHobo]

Absolute dog's cock, that film was. Utter gash. Barely even comprehensible as an adaptation, let alone as a film by itself. If rumours are correct I think they didn't even get to shoot the whole script, which is just crazy.

Still not sure how I'm feeling about Knife. It's a weird set-up, so far at least as you essentially are told who the killer is right from the start - likely there'll be a big twist halfway through, but in terms of set-up it's very different to not having any clue.

[BritishHobo]

Not finishing Knife. Only about forty-odd pages from the end, but I can't bring myself to do it. What a pointlessly horrible book. Just nasty, cruel butchering and destruction of all the characters developed over the course of the series. I mean, lovely Bjorn, Harry's long-time pal, kills Rakel, built so well through the series as his saviour and soulmate, because lovely Bjorn's son is actually Harry's after Harry either cheated on Rakel with Katrine, or was raped by Katrine?! Fucking hell. I've never known a series so comprehensively trample so many fondly-constructed things in such a mean-spirited way for the sake of keeping the drama going.

Upthread there's some discussion from Marc about The Thirst, and how books that come after a comprehensive end to the series (Sherlock Holmes, in his example) never quite seem the same. He was right, and this book emphasises that a thousand-fold. Such a perfect ending in Police, as close to a satisfying end as possible, and this is what he revives it to do? Why?! Compared to this, The Thirst looks like Toy Story 2.

I mean, christ. I just feel deflated by it.

[NurseNugent]

Not finishing Knife. Only about forty-odd pages from the end, but I can't bring myself to do it. What a pointlessly horrible book. Just nasty, cruel butchering and destruction of all the characters developed over the course of the series. I mean, lovely Bjorn, Harry's long-time pal, kills Rakel, built so well through the series as his saviour and soulmate, because lovely Bjorn's son is actually Harry's after Harry either cheated on Rakel with Katrine, or was raped by Katrine?! Fucking hell. I've never known a series so comprehensively trample so many fondly-constructed things in such a mean-spirited way for the sake of keeping the drama going.

Upthread there's some discussion from Marc about The Thirst, and how books that come after a comprehensive end to the series (Sherlock Holmes, in his example) never quite seem the same. He was right, and this book emphasises that a thousand-fold. Such a perfect ending in Police, as close to a satisfying end as possible, and this is what he revives it to do? Why?! Compared to this, The Thirst looks like Toy Story 2.

I mean, christ. I just feel deflated by it.

I'm in total agreement, I've never felt so angry and let down by a book. I bought a copy for my mum as we have both enjoyed the earlier books, though I didn't finish The Bat, and then after I'd read it called her to say don't read it. I don't know if she has, she's talking to me so probably not.

[BritishHobo]

This is going to sound comedically overdramatic, like I'm trying to do a Big Internet Rant, but I sincerely mean it - this is the first time in my life that I have come even a fraction of the way towards understanding (whilst still not agreeing with) how nerds on reddit feel when they theatrically say Star Wars or Ghostbusters, and thus their childhood, have been ruined. I was fine with the book being a bit duff, albeit a bit disappointed, and slightly annoyed by the fact that every female character in the book, including several long-term characters, all seemed to be there purely to talk about fancying and loving Harry. I would have been underwhelmed but fine with some random murder mystery that didn't really add anything to the series. But the Rakel murder, and fucking Bjørn, and the ugly affair baby twist really got to me in a way I didn't expect. I don't think I've ever gotten as invested in a fictional universe as this one. I remember just crying like a fucking idiot when it seemed like Harry had died at the end of Phantom - and again when Oleg is sat by his hospital bed, going through withdrawal. The development of that relationship with Rakel and Oleg across so many books is so incredible and meaningful, as are Harry's friendships with various colleagues like Bjørn and Katrine. The way that Knife trampled on those relationships in service of so pointless a plot seems so small and grubby after all of that. Genuinely, unexpectedly gutted.

The book is getting rave reviews across the board, from critics, on Amazon and Goodreads. I don't get it.

Let's hope for your mum's sake she got the message in time.