Cockroaches: A Detective Hole Novel (2)

At last all ten novels of the Harry Hole saga are translated into English! Throughout the series many references are made to Harry's time in Bangkok, and here it finally is -- and very enjoyable too. With a cast of interesting characters both on the police force and as suspects, and an exotic locale that is as hot as Oslo is cold, this was a very entertaining case, with great dialogue, a few essential Hole-isms and an actual physical description of Inspector Hole. My only hesitation in recommending this book is the disturbing and persistent thread of child pornography that runs through it. Be warned. The title refers to the idea that child pornographers are like cockroaches, in that for every one you see there are ten more hidden.The Norwegian ambassador to Thailand has been found stabbed in a brothel and Harry, barely functional after his sojourn to Australian (in book one, The Bat), is sent by high-ups to come to a hasty conclusion and put a stop to scandal. These guys obviously don't know Harry Hole very well. He gets on with the people worth getting on with, and despite his demons, he's still the smartest guy in any room, but he doesn't have much respect for authority, you'd have to say.Now that this book, the second in the series, is translated we have all ten Harry Hole books available, and that is a good thing. Nesbo is my favorite Scandinavian author, and I intend to read the whole series in order next summer. Hole is a terrific character, and I look forward to seeing his literary evolution. I hope there will be more.In order the series is: The Bat, Cockroaches, The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, The Snowman, The Leopard, Phantom, Police.

I confess that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It’s the second in Jo Nesbo’s series featuring Norwegian homicide detective Harry Hole, and as those who follow the series know, for whatever reason, Nesbo’s publishers did not release the books in order here in the U.S. Rather, they jumped into the middle of the series first. I assumed that this was because they felt that the first couple of books were not as good as the latter ones and so wanted to put Nesbo’s (and Harry’s) best foot forward first.The first book in the series, The Bat, was finally released here last year and seemed to confirm the suspicion. It’s a solid effort, and not bad for a first book, but it’s not up to the standards of the later ones. I expected the same from Cockroaches, which was finally released here last month, but as I suggested above, I was surprised by how much I liked it.The book opens when Norway’s ambassador to Thailand is found stabbed to death in a sleazy motel in Bangkok, while apparently awaiting the arrival of a young prostitute. This is not the sort of thing that reflects favorably on an ambassador or on the government that posted him to Thailand. The Powers That Be in the Norwegian government are much more concerned about avoiding a scandal than they are in finding the guilty party, but they have to put up a good front.To accomplish these ends, the government assigns Detective Harry Hole to go to Bangkok and assist the locals in the investigation. Hole has just gained some notoriety for solving a difficult case involving the death of a Norwegian citizen in Australia and thus to all outward appearances, seems an ideal choice. At the moment, however, Harry can most often be found in an alcoholic daze and not at his detecting best. The expectation is that Harry will go to Thailand for a few days, drink himself into a stupor, and allow the locals to sweep the whole embarrassing incident under the rug.Of course, as everyone who’s ever read a crime novel understands, that’s not about to happen. Our intrepid hero will instead sober up and pursue the case to the ends of the earth, or at least to the ends of Thailand, no matter where the chips may fall. And in the process, of course, he will exasperate the hell out of his superiors.The ambassador’s death turns out to be a murky and complex case, involving a large cast of intriguing and well-drawn characters. Hole is a great protagonist, and there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns. There are also a lot of interesting insights into the people, culture and geography of Thailand. The story moves along at a good clip, and all in all, it was a very entertaining read. As I suggested in my review of The Bat, it does seem a little odd that a series involving a Norwegian detective would begin with two books set in foreign countries, but in the end, I enjoyed them both and am relieved that I can finally read all of the books in this series in order. I’m going to enjoy Harry’s journey.

Interestingly, I did not finish reading the first book in this series — because it was terrible — and usually that would be the end of a series for me. But, I did my research on the Harry Hole series and discovered that, almost unanimously, fans don’t think the series gets good until book three. (Which may or may not be why the first two books weren’t translated until VERY recently.) Regardless, I decided to stick with this series and check out book two before I moved on to the books that are generally accepted as being the “real” start of Nesbø’s well-written detective series.And it wasn’t too bad.But it wasn’t great either.The biggest downside to this book is that the plot is occasionally hard to follow. There’s a lot of jumping from hour to hour, day to day, location to location with very little transition effort between scenes and chapters. And because there are so many characters (most of them minor) and so many places (with Thai names), the sudden shifts can be rather jarring and difficult to keep track of. Now, one could say Nesbø doesn’t waste time, true, but when the actual murder mystery is as complicated as Nesbø’s are, struggling to follow the movements of the protagonist can be very irritating, especially when you reach key scenes in the book.On the upside, as mentioned, the murder mystery itself is well plotted and well executed. All the red herrings are there. All the subtle foreshadowing and carefully hidden clues. Nesbø stuffs so many clues that are obvious in hindsight ONLY into his story that it’s pretty incredible the book isn’t full of plot holes. Obviously, Nesbø is an excellent plotter when it comes to the core of his stories. And really, that’s what makes this book satisfying in the end, despite its shortcomings structure-wise. The actual mystery is truly difficult to unravel ahead of time, and you always feel challenged throughout the book to try and figure out the answers before Harry does.(And generally, you won’t. The twists and turns will still surprise you. By the time you hit the last page, you won’t be able to call the plot “predictable”, no matter what you thought a hundred pages back.)Character-wise, too, I think Nesbø succeeds on many fronts. He brings in a large and diverse cast whose roles are all important in some way to the core story but who aren’t solely created for it. They have lives and backstories that are mentioned as necessary but don’t overwhelm the main story. Nesbø achieves a good balance with his characters — they all advance the plot without butting in too much or too often. And Harry, as the protagonist, is an interesting guy to follow — an interesting guy with MAJOR issues that always affect the plot in interesting ways.I think Cockroaches is a definite improvement over The Bat, which I couldn’t bring myself to finish. Structurally, though, it still has a few issues and can be hard to follow at times. I look forward to see how much Nesbø improved between this book and The Redbreast, which fans of the series generally consider to be where the author hits his stride.Overall, a decent read.

Excellent read from Jo Nesbo

Je suis content de mon achat.La livraison n à pas été au top (lettre suivie que j ai dû aller chercher à la poste, alors que l agent colissimo pouvait glisser le bouquin dans son enveloppe par la fente de la BAL). Je demanderai un envoi en Pick-up, si disponible, la prochaine fois.

Perfect! and a great book too.

Muy buen lobro para los aficionados a la novela negra y de detectives, con grandes personajes

Set in Bangkok and with Harry Hole in the lead, this is another gripping thriller by Jo Nesbo. This is the second book in the Harry Hole thriller and does justice to the hype around this character and the author. The story is fast-paced and spellbinding. I have been reading it for the last 5 days and have finished it only yesterday and I cannot get enough of the thrill.PS: Do read the first Harry Hole book, The Bat, before you start with this. Even though the stories are not related, many of the small characters are and it would make a huge difference in the ambience it creates in your mind.