Book review: Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

Some time ago I bought "Readbrest" by Jo Nesbo really cheep. It was translated into Croatian and less then $5 in my local grocery store. A lot of pages, so I said, why not. It's been a while since I read crime historical thriller anyways.

The book is one of many about Harry Hole, Norwegian police officer, this time chasing after a possible assassin who bought a very expensive but somehow he is driven to discover that it's all connected with some WW2 military men 50 years ago.


As I went to UK for a conference I took a book thinking I would finish it just by waiting on airports and check-ins. I guess I was wrong. For some reason the book was so slow to read. And I was  a bit annoyed as well. Some chapters were so short, as in, one page long/short, but every single chapter had a precise date, location and year assigned, so you actually had to turn back each time just to make sure you know when are things happening in history.

I guess short chapters were intended to speed up the whole story, but it just didn't work for me. And I must say that it was only the last 150 pages that held me awake last night to finish the book and find out things. I guess because of Norwegian names that I had hard time remembering, especially as most of them had long last names which all sounded alike to me, I had hard time remembering who the players in the game were.

When the end finally came, it was a bit disappointing how the plot unraveled. But I guess one of the reasons is becasue Jo Nesbo has a whole series on Harry Hole, so he can always finish it later.

At the very end of the book, there's a short autobiography of Nesbo and all the awards he got, and I must say, I didn't understand why. Don't get me wrong, I'm no way an authority in the world of writing, historical novels or Norwegian history, but I can't say I was so impressed by the book to understand why it would get him the best book award.

But, I will try to get another one of Jo Nesbo books to see if I'll feel the same after reading it.

Hope you find this review helpful.

take care,
D