THE BAT by Jo Nesbo

Finished Sa 5/4/19

This is a trade paperback that I got on Amazon and received on Mo 4/15/19. I had seen the film, 'THE SNOWMAN' and ordered the book by Jo Nesbo.

'THE BAT' is the first in the Harry Hole (pronounced:Harry  Hoo-Leh, Harry's Australian police comrades call him Harry Holy) series.

At GoodReads someone posted that the title would actually be 'The Batman' from Swedish, but it couldn't be used because of copyright issues with the famous comic book series.

Harry is invited to Sydney, Australia because a Swedish news anchor was murdered. She was believed to have been killed by a serial killer.
Harry is living in the Kings Cross section of the city. This is the 'red light' district.

Harry meets a red headed girlfriend, Brigitta.

Many plot twists and it was a little hard to follow.
Harry is befriended by an Aboriginal police detective, Andrew.

At the start of the novel Harry is sober, although he has an alcoholic past. He begins drinking heavily as the novel unfolds.

This man is a friend of the killer. Toowoomba. Both Andrew and the killer had a background in amateur boxing (similar to Golden Gloves).

They are also involved with members of a traveling circus act. A number of the clowns are gay and are early suspects.

I probably should have read this faster because I kept losing steam when I went back to it. I still like the series, but it's not as good as Ian Rankin or John D. McDonald, and nowhere close to Michael Connelly. But, maybe the series will pick up since this is only the first novel. ( A reader commented  that the first two in the series are the weakest)


The plot from wikipedia:

"The story revolves around the Norwegian police officer Harry Hole, who is sent to Sydney, Australia to serve as an attaché for the Australian police's investigation into the murder of a young female Norwegian celebrity, Inger Holter. Her boyfriend, Evans White, is initially approached as a suspect. Hole is assisted by Aboriginal colleague Andrew Kensington; together they find out that they are dealing with a serial killer who strangles blonde women. Hole befriends a red haired Swede named Birgitta. As the story becomes more complex, Harry struggles to find the killer and becomes more alcoholic. There are more back stories about Harry's past and culture in Australia".

The novel's page in wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat_(novel)