Macbeth

It's disappointing to report that this entry in this intriguing series of Shakespeare plots rewritten by modern masters just doesn't work, at least in this audio version. Narrator Euan Morton's use of an aggressively glottal Scottish accent for the entire text, not just dialogue, distracts from the narrative badly. Worse, Nesbo's strength is noir thriller plotting, and this plot is not his. He's made Macbeth, Banquo, and the rest into police detectives jockeying for career advancement while at war with a drug lord called Hecate. The weird sisters are junkie hookers, okay fine, but can you call Macbeth's girlfriend "Lady" without laughing? Nesbo's tale is a murder story, but Shakespeare's is a tragedy of a human condition, and Morton certainly doesn't help Nesbo approach that. B.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

January 29, 2018
In this ambitious entry in the Hogarth Shakespeare series, bestseller Nesbø (The Thirst and 10 other Harry Hole novels) transmutes Macbeth into a crime novel set in 1970s Scotland. Macbeth heads the SWAT team in a dreary city called Capitol, determined to take down criminal gangs and to clean up the corrupt local government, a goal shared by Duncan, Capitol’s upstanding police chief. But local drug kingpin Hecate wants to be rid of Duncan and schemes to put Macbeth, something of an outsider and an addict to a drug called “brew,” in charge. Hecate sends Macbeth three sisters (the witches in Shakespeare’s original), who foretell his future: that he will be head of the Organised Crime Unit and then chief commissioner. Macbeth is promoted to the first post by Duncan, and “Lady,” Macbeth’s consort and a local casino magnate, has the manipulative wiles to ensure Macbeth does whatever it takes to eliminate Duncan and rule the city. The themes will resonate well with contemporary readers, but, at nearly 500 pages, the story feels bloated. It’s a clever reengineering of one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, but may disappoint Nesbø’s fan base.