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The Redbreast
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The Redbreast
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The Redbreast
Audiobook16 hours

The Redbreast

Written by Jo Nesbo

Narrated by Robin Sachs

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

1944: Daniel, a soldier, legendary among the Norwegians fighting the advance of Bolshevism on the Russian front, is killed. Two years later, a wounded soldier wakes up in a Vienna hospital. He becomes involved with a young nurse, the consequences of which will ripple forward to the turn of the next century.

1999: Harry Hole, alone again after having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; fairly mundane until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. Ellen Gjelten, his partner, makes a startling discovery. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. In a quest that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. He will be both winner and loser by the novel's nail-biting conclusion.

The Redbreast won the Glass Key prize for the best Nordic crime novel when it was first published, and was subsequently voted Norway's best crime novel. The Devil's Star, Nesbø's first novel featuring Harry Hole to be translated into English, marked Nesbø as a writer to watch in the ever more fashionable world of Nordic crime.


From the Trade Paperback edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 26, 2011
ISBN9780307933669
Unavailable
The Redbreast
Author

Jo Nesbo

A musician, songwriter, and economist, Jo Nesbø is also one of Europe’s most acclaimed crime writers, and is the winner of the Glass Key Award, northern Europe’s most prestigious crime-fiction prize, for his first novel featuring Police Detective Harry Hole. Nesbø lives in Oslo.

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Reviews for The Redbreast

Rating: 3.8193032936870996 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,093 ratings81 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is my introduction to the Harry Hole series about which there has been much acclaim. I can understand that now. Hole is just complicated enough to be interesting. He’s a bit of a loner but he’s not antisocial. In fact he may have found someone to share his life with in this book; we’ll have to see where that leads.The book starts with Hole and his partner standing security for the American President’s trip to Oslo to try to broker a peace between Israel and Palestine. Harry sees a figure in a toll booth which is supposed to be empty. It may be an American secret service agent but they weren’t informed anyone would be coming. So Harry approaches the booth waiting for Ellen to honk the horn to tell him it is a secret service agent but the President’s cavalcade is at the booth and Harry can’t hold off any longer. He shoots the person a second before the horn blares to signal it is an American agent. The agent lives and the Americans admit that they were at fault. There’s no public announcement but the Powers that Be figure it won’t be long until someone finds out. They decide to remove Hole from the Oslo police and give him a promotion as a government inspector in a department that looks into threats to security. Hole is assigned to examine incoming reports and pass on any he thinks may be credible which essentially means all of them. However one report deals with a very expensive rifle being smuggled into Norway and Harry asks to be able to examine this report himself. This leads him to chase down surviving men who joined the Nazis after Norway was taken over. One of them is probably the person who ordered the rifle and Hole believes it is going to be used in an assassination. He just has to find out which ex-soldier it is and what the target is. In an interesting plot twist the reader also is privy to the ex-soldier’s thoughts as he goes about getting the rifle and setting up a spot to fire from. However the reader never knows who the man is because he is always just called The Old Man. There is quite a bit of background about the Norwegians fighting with the Germans on the Eastern Front which was interesting. Apparently some Dutch also joined the German army. We always hear about the brave members of the Resistance during the war but this is the first I’ve really read anything about people who collaborated with the Germans.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So far my favorite in the Harry Hole series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Definitely not my favorite in the series. It seemed to drag for me
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If this had been my first Jo Nesbo novel, it would have been my last. Still not sure, out of the three or four names of the "bad guy" which was his real one. Fine book for a Norwegian who's quite familiar with the WWiI fighting in Norway and likes to take notes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Unexpected twists and turns. I would have liked Rakel to be a bit more clever, to avoid the situation she finds herself in. A few loose ends were left, that I expect to be built upon in the next novel. Harry Hole is a great character. I don't read a lot of thrillers, but I enjoy Nesbo's work. I'm of Norwegian ancestry, and the cultural, historical, and setting tidbits are much appreciated.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I found this book fairly chaotic and ok, it almost all came together in the end, but I was just glad to finish it. Not a bad book but not one I would recommend. Far to grim for my liking. I only persisted till the end to count it as Nordic Noir for the popsugar reading challenge, otherwise, I would have DFN'd it at 100 pages or so.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Just started. Norwegian police procedural. Jumps all over from 1999 to Leningrad, 1942! But pretty well-written, certainly interesting, and totally wondering what's going on.
    Finished and liked it very much. It does all come together, though quite complicated and hard for me to keep the characters straight. Something happens in the middle of the book and it's some of the most moving writing ever. Very powerful. Also, 90% of the chapters have fabulous last lines. Will definitely read more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A detective thriller set in Norway which takes us back to the World War II Eastern Front and Quislings to solve a series of crimes revolving around neo-Nazis. It reminds us perhaps that harmless-looking little old men may have a very violent past and may not have lost all the skills and attitudes that they picked up in darker times.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A third good Harry Hole mystery, with the usual very dark elements. He sure knows how to make the skin crawl, that's for sure.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    [Cross-posted to Knite Writes]I have to say the reader consensus on this series is correct -- it really doesn't get good until Book 3. I previously reviewed Cockroaches, the second Harry Hole book, after DNFing The Bat, the first in series, and I mentioned that I would give this series a chance to get on its legs. Well, it finally has, and I'm glad I stuck around long enough for it to get there.I really enjoyed the colorful cast of characters in this book. We have cops, politicians, ex-soldiers, Neo-Nazis, and an array of other interesting secondary characters that really keep this book going at all times. While there are a few lulls in the plot here and there, the characters keep the story running strong, and the most interesting aspect of the book is how tightly interconnected all these characters are, how the actions and motivations of one affect the others, cause chain reactions that will reverberate in character development for many books to come.The plot of this book, in full, wasn't too shabby either. It did get a bit slow every now and then, but the characters managed to keep me immersed in the novel even when the events around them weren't particularly interesting. Overall, this book shapes up to be a great murder mystery, one built through a rich and well-researched history of Norway and World War II, although it does take some time to build -- but once it hits that final mad dash toward the climax, it really reels you in.That said, there were few a things here and there that annoyed me. The author pulls one of those phone call scenes where a character doesn't reveal crucial information -- for no supportable reason -- in order to keep that information hidden from the protagonist long enough to artificially escalate a conflict between the protagonist and a major antagonist. I hate that trope -- the "unfinished" or "too vague" phone call -- because it so often requires a perfectly intelligent character to act several grades dumber than usual in order for it to work properly. As in this case.I think that was the one event that annoyed me most in this book, that stupid phone call.Other than that, I thought the plot could have played out stronger, especially in the middle, where it dragged, and I think the book could have gone without so much heavy-handed foreshadowing and questionable use of dramatic irony.But, all in all, it was a pretty good read, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Although I love the whole Harry Hole series, I think that this may have been the best-written one of those I've read so far. LOVE!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As I suspected, a mystery was my first completed book of 2015. Harry Hole gets himself into a mess again, with diplomatic overtones, but this is in Norway for a change. He's still fighting the bottle, and because of the aforementioned mess he's moved to another staff and promoted to disguise the mix-up. But he's already on the track of an unusual gun, identified by shell casings, that could only be meant as a weapon of assassination. Who bought it, when will it be used, and why?Nesbo takes the reader back to World War II and the era of Quisling and the Norwegian volunteers against the Soviet Union on the eastern front. The fighting, the trenches, the cameraderie are vivid. In that icy horror, Nesbo gives the reader the clues that Harry has to dig out 50 years later.In the midst of it all, Harry actually falls in love. But the web of his lover, the history of the war, and the menace of that gun are very tangled. I almost had the answer before Harry did - I knew who he was looking for before he did, but I couldn't figure out the present day identity of the man in time. All in all, excellent.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A long, complex, but satisfying thriller. I like this author, but this was not his very best.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Need to add a bit of an extra star because it was very good. Plenty of complexity and a mastery of the short chapter which keeps the pace going beautifully. I had to look the author up as I couldn't decide whether the writer was a man or woman and that intrigued me. Although the detective is a man and women as well as men get killed I could still imagine the author might be a woman, a welcome absence of misogyny. I usually steer clear of war related books but with the centenary of the first world war coming up this year, I have found myself reading a number of books dealing fictionally with the aftermath of the two 'world' wars. The Norwegians fighting on the German eastern front made it all the more interesting as normally english texts only look from the perspective of the Norwegian resistance, and reading only 2 years after the Fascist Brevick massacre the book deals with very topical issues.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oh, but this guy is good! Jo Nesbo isn't just the "new Stieg Larrson" as the cover proclaims. After all, Larrson wrote only one really good novel - his first. I lost count of Nesbo's outpout after forty! Now, I haven't read them all. Yet. But so far so good. Nesbo writes plots that twist and turn. You think the mystery is all sorted, then you notice a thick wad of unread pages remain under your right thumb and, sure enough, there are more surprises to come. Nesbo is also very good at wrapping up loose ends in a way that doesn't leave you wondering on the one hand, or feeling patronised on the other.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really liked this book. I have always been a sucker for books set in places like Norway or Russia, and particularly for books written in those countries. I can't explain why but they always seem great to me.

    This book is really interesting and has a great plot. It is actually the third book in the Harry Hole series, but the first to be translated into English (or so I was told). The book centers around the main character Harry Hole as he works several different cases all surrounding a soldier of WWII getting revenge on old comrades. There is also some conspiracies, a bit of romance (very light, and barely written about. This is a detective/crime novel not a romance), and a bit of discussion about history.

    The book goes a mile a minute and i didn't fully grasp what was going on until the very end, which is a big plus in my book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've read almost all the Harry Hole books and now that I've read #1 & 2am going back to fill in a couple I missed. This one, admittedly, did get off to a very slow start and I wondered if it would ever turn into a real thriller. But it did, and how! The beginning has alternating chapters of Harry in the present with Norwegian soldiers fighting on the WWII Eastern front for the Nazis. Very interesting perspective. This is the book that features Harry's partner Ellen and it was great to get to know her and here is the beginning of his romance with Rakel. So though having a slow start, this is the defining book that really sets up the running story line that continues on from here. I've read the next book so will be finishing up with #5.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Any book that requires last miinute, long journal entries to explain the plot is taking a shortcut.

    I can hear the editor after he reads the manuscript. "I can't figure out what was going on. You must make it clearer for the reader." Nesbo wants to work on the next book, so he sticks in a quick confesional explanation as the shooter's journal. Easier than a long rewrite.

    I want to walk through the mystery, not get a wrapup that explains everything in the last pages.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Harry Hole is in Norway this time, and when he gets "mysteriously" promoted to Inspector in another division, he's put on to a Neo-Nazi case that's going nowhere. But then his old partner is found beaten to a pulp, right after she rang him about something extremely important to do with a rare type of gun being illegally imported in to Norway and he's racing against time to try and find it-and its owner.


    The Harry Hole books are great reads. They're fast-paced, wonderfully written (or translated) and keep your attention for hours. But they can be read straight through in a day and aren't specifically engaging, though I am early-on in the series so I'm sure Mr Nesbo got better with age and experience.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The book was a lot different than the first two. I think it had more depth, less horrid scenes and much more romanticism (of old times and new). The little surprises the author uses fascinates me the most. For example what Uriah did to the tree and how was explained later. The format with the messages to Helen's answering machine after her death was brilliant. The truth is that it was a little slow at the beginning probably because of the narration of Uriah in the WWII. The plot is really complex and you don't get to guess the killer. I think the ending was perfect. Some loose ends to pick up on next installment. Finally the way Nesbo portrayed the political situation in his country during the WWII and the consequences afterwards is captivating and I respected the fact that he took no stand on the matter but left the reader make his own conclusions.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although a good book it is not Nesbo's best.I am greatful I read some of his other novels prior to Redbreast as I probably would not have bothered to read anymore if this had been my first exposure to Nesbo and I would have missed out on some of the most bizarre killings and wonderful thrillers written.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    While longer than I typically like in a mystery, this Norwegian thriller/mystery kept me engaged and guessing right up to the end and did so without drowning me in depressing grit and gore so common in many contemporary mysteries. So why didn't I rate it higher than 3 stars? Primarily because of the fact that after 500+ pages, certain aspects of the plot were left unresolved and I don't like that in my mysteries. To be specific, I HATE the fact that the author has told us that Tom Waaler is a corrupt cop responsible for the death of Harry's former partner Ellen and then left that in the wind. No suspicions, nothing. Why show this to us then? To make sure that we read future books? It wasn't strictly necessary for this book...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A well-written mystery which kept me engaged from the first page to the last. Dark and filled with shocks, twists and turns, and certain unresolved plot developments, which will hopefully be resolved later in the series, I will definitely be reading more of these books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    i was a bit skeptical when i started reading this book as this was my first JO NESBO... and fairly enoough the starting was very slow so i thought that i had got myself a bad deal...bt soon as the pages lept turning the mystrey started building and at one point of time the mystry bcame so fanatical that i had to suppress a huge urge to gt to the final pages and know what the mystry was...

    so all in all it was a good read..
    and the way nesbo has connected n convrtd the story...itz a definit pageturnr
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It has been pointed out that, though everyone was shocked and horrified by the tragedy that happened in Oslo, people who read Scandinavian mysteries were possibly less surprised than others. This is one of the books that deals with the anti-immigrant, neo-Nazi trends in Northern Europe. Nesbo's a good writer; the plot is creatively intricate; and there are worthy asides such as: "No actions are in themselves symptoms of sickness. You have to look at the context within which these actions are performed." Find out where that musing leads...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There is something about these Norwegian and Swedish writers that is so fantastically dark that it is absolutely amazing. The Redbreast is technically the third installment of the Detective Harry Hole series but the first two have not been translated in English yet so it's the first one for me.

    This story was absolutely phenomenal. Det. Harry Hole is an awesome character with insecurties and strengths. I am going to love when the first two novels are translated into English because I can get more depth into his psyche. Nesbo crafted a very complex story with many POVs yet it was surprisingly simplistic. Not in a bad way either.

    I loved this book and I cannot wait to read the next one.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The third in the Harry Hole series but the first I read and I must say it made me curious the rest of the series. Good characters, great story interweaving with happenings in the WWII at Stalingrad. A very enjoyable read indeed....
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This series came highly recommended by a few of my reader friends. I have to say, this story started out great, moving from past to present, introducing interesting characters on the way. The beginning chapters were great and held my interest, but the middle chapters were a bit long and the author took forever to wrap up the story. Harry Hole is a lovable character, but not the best or the most intelligent or witty; Even weak and lack self control in a lot of aspects, if you ask me. I like his short-term partner, Ellen, much better; although she was killed off right after she appeared. Her chemistry with Harry would have much potential.

    I found that The Redbreast is not the first Harry Hole book, but was the first to be available in the US. I wonder if I would have loved his character a bit more if I started reading from the first of the story or reading the original version without translation. I did purchased the rest of the series up to The Snowman. I will probably finish the series in the future, but it definitely will not be on the top of my list.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great mystery writing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am happy to read that others beside me were not thrilled by this book. It was ok, but the plot was too convoluted: multiple personality disorder, Nazi's, world war flashbacks, and so on. Despite the short chapters, the book did not have much momentum. And the denouement was disappointing. I would read another Harry Hole book, but I wish it would be half as long.