They need to ask each other stupid questions about how they do their own jobs so that Nesbø can show off to his readers that real police officers don’t behave like that.

With special thanks to the person who placed it in the hotel used book library that enabled me to read it while on holiday last week. That’s all there is to it because the novel unravels the investigation into this death — which, given that this is a Harry Hole novel, could be the work of a serial killer and rapist (who is seemingly into blonde-haired women).Harry jumps on the case, seemingly none too excited to be there, bringing into questions why he was the one sent on this mission, but nonetheless being as good a detective as he can be. Harry learns of Andrews history as a boxer when he takes Harry to see a boxing match of the Jim Chivers boxing team. I don’t know how long this project will take me given that I get free books all the time from publishers and then also review books for a trade publication on top of having a day job (and I’m trying to now have something of a social life). Instead it reads like an inner dialogue he’s having with himself where Toowoomba takes the role of Nesbø the Curious and Hole plays Nesbø the Ignorant. Had the weather been a little worse the waves would definitely have carried her out, but instead she lay among the rocks until she was found.

The British and American publishers chose to start by translating the later books, set in Oslo, and only after these became very popular came around to publishing the first book, set in Australia.There must have been a civil service discount and it was probably the hotel’s smallest room, Harry reflected. Not to spoil things, but Harry gets into a barfight and isn’t reamed out by his superiors for doing so, which felt a bit unrealistic. I enjoyed it in places but in others where the author rambles off into overlong stories concerning Aboriginal culture, it kind of lost me a bit.

The first thing I learned from the novel was that, in Jo Nesbø’s head, and who am I to doubt that he’s correct, Norwegians and Australians alike are casually racist. I also learned that Harry Hole is part of the grand tradition of slightly dysfunctional policemen who fall with embarrassing haste for women they have only just met and know nothing about. Our hero, Inspector Hole, here aged 32, has been sent to Sydney, Australia, by his Norwegian police department to investigate the murder of a young twentysomething woman who was visiting the country and was a minor celebrity back home in Norway. Throughout the book we begin to get some back story on Harry, including his abstinence from alcohol. We also learn that Harry realized his problems with alcohol while he was drinking on duty, he was drunk his partner was in the car with them, and they sped off to chase a suspect.That fits my thoughts on Jo Nesbø’s character Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad perfectly. However, that’s also what makes the character of Harry Hole so appealing: he’s talented because of his flaws.

I was wondering whether sir was the right mode of address to a superior officer in this country, or whether it was a little too'. A young Norwegian girl on a gap year in Sydney has been murdered, and Harry has been sent to Australia to assist in any way he can.

So you’ve been sent here to assist us with our investigation into the murder of Inger Holter, a Norwegian citizen with a permit to work in Australia.