Author: |
Jo Nesbø |
Title: |
The Redeemer |
Published: |
2005; 2009
in English |
Genre/Sub-Genre: |
Police
procedural |
Plot
summary: |
A hitman is
hired to carry out a contract killing in Oslo but the wrong victim - a
Salvation Army officer - is killed and the hitman is unable to escape from
Oslo. When the hitman realises he has murdered the wrong person, he sets out
to track down the correct victim - another Salvation Army officer. Harry Hole
and his team work desperately to identify the hitman. Corruption and corruptibility
play a significant part in the plot, along with a back-story from the Balkan
war of the 1990s. The plot has a good twist at the end. |
Overall: |
A long
complicated read at 500 pages, with multiple themes and characters. It could
have been pruned to make it tighter. The best aspect is the carrying out of
the police investigation. Nesbø seems
to throw stuff in to make the book longer and hopefully more interesting but perhaps he overdoes it. |
Plotting: |
It unfolds
rather languidly as Harry explores various avenues, occasionally throwing up
some quite exciting moments. However it only really becomes dramatic towards
the end. Some of the violence is gratuitous and adds little. The
investigative techniques as Harry unravels the truth are a strong point of
the book. |
Characterisation: |
I don’t
know much about the Salvation Army so I can’t comment on how plausible those
characters are. Most of the police characters are plausible and well know
from previous books. Harry’s new boss is an interesting man, with whom Harry
interacts in his usual disrespectful way as he strikes his own path. |
Dialogue: |
Straightforward.
Harry is toned down somewhat. |
Setting and
Description: |
I think
this is Nesbø’s weakest area -
nothing very distinctively Norwegian comes through while the portrayal of
Oslo is rather bland. |
Readability: |
Very
readable, I enjoyed working my way through it/ |
Sub-plots: |
Not
entirely necessary in my opinion. One concerns the hitman presumably to
explain why he went down that path and possibly to justify his behaviour but
it didn’t convince me. I couldn’t see the point of a sub-plot with Harry’s
ex-girlfriend. Harry’s affair with a Salvation Army lass seemed unnecessary
too other than to give him a bit more angst when she’s threatened. Another
sub-plot involving Harry’s previous boss raised interesting but unnecessary
possibilities about police corruption. |
Read
another by same author? |
Yes |