Phantom

Starred review from August 27, 2012
In Nesbøâs deeply moving seventh Harry Hole novel to be published in the U.S. (after 2011âs The Leopard), Harry returns to Oslo from Hong Kong to help his estranged 18-year-old son, Oleg, who has fallen in with a group of drug users and is now accused of fatally shooting another teenager, Gusto Hanssen. Both Gusto and Oleg were pushing a new street drug in Oslo, a synthetic heroin known as violin, for a mysterious man known only as Dubai. Operating both under the radar and with the covert help of his remaining friends on the force, Harry delves into the world of drugs in Norway, from corner selling to an importation scheme that involves airline pilots. Harry uncovers a web of corruption that ensnares the very police force he abandoned three years earlier. This is Harryâs most personal case, and yet Nesbø never allows Harryâs paternal feelings for Oleg cloud his need for truth, however costly that pursuit may be. Agent: Salomonsson Agency.

January 28, 2013
Harry Hole returns in this ninth Scandinavian mystery from bestselling author Nesbø. After a three-year, self-imposed absence, former police detective Hole is drawn back to Oslo when the son of the woman he loves is arrested for the murder of a low-level drug dealer. Though he may no longer have a badge, Hole is still a formidable investigator, and he’s soon hunting for the truth behind the dealer’s death—a truth that could very easily get him, or someone close to him, killed. Narrator Robin Sachs hits all the right notes in his reading of this stark thriller, but it’s his richly nuanced portrayal of Harry Hole that is most memorable. It would be easy to make Hole a bleak, depressing, one-note character, but Sachs digs deeper into the material and perfectly captures Hole, presenting him as a man who lives every day with a sense of sadness, loss, and regret, but whose belief in justice and loyalty keeps him moving forward. Sachs and Nesbø make a fine match, and listeners are the beneficiaries of their partnership. A Knopf hardcover.