Bookreporter.com - NEMESIS by Jo Nesbo

NEMESIS
Jo Nesbo
Harper
Thriller
ISBN: 9780061655500

One doesn’t immediately think of Norway as a hotbed of crime, particularly of the violent nature. Jo Nesbo is apparently on a one-man crusade to educate the rest of us on that score. His mystery novels featuring Oslo Police Detective Harry Hole contain more than enough cunning and violence to keep Hole’s American cousins in Chicago and New York busy and American aficionados of mystery fiction reading. Hole is a somewhat flawed but ultimately endearing personality. He is not especially popular with his law enforcement colleagues, and the feeling is mutual. What cannot be denied is that his ability to think outside the procedural box leads to the resolution of baffling cases. Toss in an extremely subtle sense of humor that permeates the narrative (is “Bjarne Moller,” Hole’s superior officer, a play on the name “Barney Miller”?), and you have an engrossing read that is addictive from beginning to end.

NEMESIS spins out along two fascinating and equally perplexing tracks, both of which concern Hole. The first involves a bank robbery that concludes with the cold-blooded murder of a cashier. The woman is forced to count to 25 by a masked gunman who executes her when he does not have his money by the time she is finished. Hole is assigned to the case task force due to the killing that occurred; the unit is headed up, however, by PAS Rune Ivarsson, a smarmy investigator whose dislike for Hole is exceeded only by Hole’s mutual feelings for him. Hole is assisted by Beate Lonn, a rookie with a distinguished family legacy within the Oslo Police Force and an extremely unique talent: she is able to recognize and recall virtually every face she has ever seen. Lonn has a number of other investigative skills as well --- lip reading, for one --- and early on provides an important clue that is key to the resolution of the case that occurs practically at the very end of the book.

But the journey between beginning and end is a compelling and unforgettable one that takes Hole and Lonn to South America for an Ian Fleming-like confrontation with a pair of baddies that seems to solve the case. Even more importantly, though, they are introduced to a fascinating villain --- or, if you choose, an anti-hero --- named Raskol. An enigmatic gypsy who is by turns (and occasionally simultaneously) Hole’s reluctant ally and very worthy adversary, Raskol is not only invaluable in resolving the homicide case but also serves as an unexpected nexus for the other mystery of the novel.

One element of Hole’s tumultuous personal life appears to be on the cusp of resolution in NEMESIS. Hole’s significant other is in Russia at the start of the book, attempting to resolve a custody issue concerning her son. While she is gone, Hole receives a call from Anna Bethsen, a woman with whom Hole had a short but extremely intense relationship several years previously. She invites Hole to dinner; though reluctant, he accepts her invitation. Hole awakens a half-day later, with his cell phone missing and with no memory as to what has occurred. Bethsen is then found dead in her bedroom, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Tom Waaler, another longtime adversary of Hole’s, is assigned to the case and initially concludes that it is a suicide.

However, Hole begins receiving cryptic emails that reveal a knowledge of the death, and of Hole’s relationship with her, that only the killer would be aware of. He commences his own investigation, one that attracts Waaler’s attention and enables him to quickly draw the conclusion that the suicide was in fact a murder, with Hole being his prime suspect. Waaler, as readers of Nesbo’s previous works know, hides his own terrible secrets, and moving Hole out of the way would be a blessing for him. Pursued by his own police force, he must uncover not only the truth behind his former lover’s untimely end but also solve a murder case that apparently has already been closed.

Nesbo’s plotting is complex but sure-footed, and his handling of the narrative makes following the twists and turns fascinating rather than puzzling. His characterization of virtually everyone who walks onto the pages of the book, from Hole to the pimply-faced tosser working at a 7-Eleven, is first-rate, memorable and, yes, delightful, notwithstanding the grim subject matter. And while complete in itself, NEMESIS leaves a couple of plot lines dangling in such a clever manner that you’ll be waiting, impatiently so, for the next installment.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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