Posted on: 06/20/11

This book's jacket says that author Nesbo is a Norwegian musician and composer.  This helps explain why this book reads like listening to a great piece of Classical music.  The plot is multi-layered, as if recorded on a sound stage using talented musicians interpreting the score.  
 
Nesbo is a grand conductor.  A multitude of characters is no deterrent.  Each uniquely adds to  the coloring of this story.  In some series, reading in chronological order is paramount.  Not with Nesbo.  Back-story be damned.  He has so much to say and say well, that each book stands on its own.   If anything, each book leaves the reader wanting more - the ultimate compliment for anyone that creates art.
 
The hero is Harry Hole.  He's an Oslo Police Inspector with more baggage than a train porter with six arms.  He is a recovering alcoholic who falls on and off the wagon more times than a toddler trying to hold onto a Radio Flyer racing on a rock pile.   He is tragic and sympathetic.  He's a person that is in need of being smacked upside the head at times, just to get his attention.  He is unlucky with women to a fault.  The fault is that women close to him all seem to die.  
 
In this book, Harry is juggling several investigations; some assigned, some assumed.  It doesn't help his peace of mind that he is trying to prevent becoming the prime suspect in one of these investigations.  
 
Harry Hole is a trapeze artist who is presently plodding through life without a safety net.  Readers should plan on getting to the circus tent early and bring plenty of popcorn.
 
The act at center stage is remarkable, if not death-defying.