The Bat
Book Review: The Bat by Jo Nesbø ( Harry Hole crime thriller )
The Bat is a well-developed crime novel by Jo Nesbø; the first book of the Harry Hole series. The book Initiation is about Harry Hole who is a detective with strong analytical ability but a poor personal life. In the novel that would set its background in Australia, Harry investigates the gruesome murder of a young Norwegian woman called Birgitta in a small town near Sydney.
The story starts by sending Harry to Australia to work on a case with an Australian cop, Andrew Kensington. This is especially so because, as they progress through the movie, they begin to excavate a system full of deceit, immorality, and potential risks, more so if one has to do with corrupt individuals employed in a certain organization. The readers are taken through some turns and turns and the book keeps the readers at the edge of their seats all through the book.
It is however important to note that the main attraction of The Bat is Harry Hole a strong complex hero. He is not the conventional superhero, with vices, personal problems, and occasional identification crises, he gets caught between his work and his outside life. Still, Harry is undoubtedly persistent and rather smart, which makes a reader easily get involved in the story. He has a multi-dimensional character and thus the audience will have something to look into in his character.
Speaking of the setting of The Bat, it is also worth mentioning. The work might not promise anything familiar at first: the story takes place in Australia, which is quite unusual for the genre of Scandinavian noir. Nesbø describes Australia well, and a reader can see both Sydney – the megalopolis and small, lonely towns. The difference between the variant setting of Australia and the TV world of criminality puts an interesting twist on the story.
Thus, one can also sense that Nesbø’s writing is constantly training its readers’ attention and keeps up the pace. In The Bat, he certainly made use of suspense mastery in a very effective manner. There is mystery, action, and quite striking turns of events at every step of the plot. However, one thing that I realized while reading the book is that at one point you think that you have the climax figured out, Nesbø has the last twist to keep you on the edge of your seat. What I particularly appreciated is the increasing level of suspense characteristic of this book: it is almost impossible to put this book down.
Despite the fact, that the book can be considered fiction, it also contains hints of Post-traumatic stress disorder and human interrelations. The persons are rich, and their relations resemble real life. The substance of the story makes the novel not only a crime one but also a rather emotionally strong story.
Nevertheless, some of the readers may be confronted with the problem that the novel is not very constant, early chapters for instance are slow. However, once the pace of the story is established it can be very difficult to not continue reading.
To sum up, I have to note that The Bat is a perfect read to start with Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole series. It is a dark thrilling mystery that will suit any crime novel lover. The Bat has an interesting movie plot with multifaceted characters, a strong feeling of suspense, and an accurate description of Australia that will attract readers to read other books in the series. In summary, for those who are fans of crime thrillers with a lot of turns and radical unexpected changes, it is rather to reading
