Jo Nesbø: The bat (2012, Random House Canada)
374 pages
English language
Published Dec. 7, 2012 by Random House Canada.
Before Harry took on the neo-Nazi gangs of Oslo, before he met Rakel, before The Snowman tried to take everything he held dear, he went to Australia. Harry Hole is sent to Sydney to investigate the murder of Inger Holter, a young Norwegian girl, who was working in a bar. Initially sidelined as an outsider, Harry becomes central to the Australian police investigation when they start to notice a number of unsolved rape and murder cases around the country. The victims were usually young blondes. Inger had a number of admirers, each with his own share of secrets, but there is no obvious suspect, and the pattern of the other crimes seems impossible to crack. Then a circus performer is brutally murdered followed by yet another young woman. Harry is in a race against time to stop highly intelligent killer, who is bent on total destruction.
I’d love to say the main reason I didn’t like this book was the translation, which was absolutely horrendous, but the story itself was extremely dated in ways that were quite uncomfortable to read through.
Primarily though the translation was what kept me out of sync. There were moments where it genuinely felt like I was reading through a thesaurus. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it did not fit the tone or voice of the story at all.
