Jo Nesbø and a perfect thriller

Just recently I have developed a sort of interest in Scandinavian crime stories and thrillers. No biggie, the classics are still on, but at times one just craves for something less complicated, and yet entertaining and well written. Yes, I went through Stieg Larsson (though just the first two parts of "Millenium") and I read some of Mankell's work that includes Kurt Wallander. But once I had a look at Nesbø's biography, I just couldn't resist and simply had to read something of his.

The author is in fact a curious case himself. First, he graduated from Norwegian School of Economics, worked as a stockbroker for some time, then left it to become a freelance journalist, meanwhile playing in his rock band Di Derre (supposedly extremely popular in Norway). Apart from that, he was a talented football player, if it had not been for a knee injury he might have been a player of his favourite Tottenham Hotspur. His international writing career has started in 1997, when his first novel "The Bat" ("Flaggermusmannen") was published, and has been since Norway's No 1 bestseller. Also, it is the first book of the series that has Harry Hole as a main protagonist. The book, under the name "Człowiek-nietoperz" has been first published in Poland in 2005, but only after several new books and international acclaim, Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie decided to re-publish it, and it premiered on October 17, 2012.

The books I read of Nesbø's however, include two of his later works, namely "Snowman" ("Pierwszy śnieg" - "Snømannen") from 2007 and later also "The Redbreast" ("Czerwone gardło" - "Rødstrupe") from 2000. And I think the first one was even better, which is a very good omen for the future. Recommended!