The Bat

The Bat - Jo Nesbo
“In traditional crime fiction every detective with any self-respect has an unfailing nose for when people are lying. It’s bullshit! Human nature is a vast impenetrable forest which no one can know in its entirety. Not even a mother knows her child’s deepest secrets."

I can't remember how I came across this series or why I decided to add this to my tbr shelf but I am glad that I did. Before I started reading this I didn't know just how much the name 'Harry Hole' would make me giggle. Thank God there was a misunderstanding and everyone thought Harry's last name was pronounced 'Holy' or the immature child in me would have really been distracted.

 

I can't say that I liked Harry all throughout the book. Harry is definitely a good detective. I liked him the most when he was actually being a detective and not falling apart at the seams. Once he started drinking I began to lose a little interest in the story. Quite frankly there was little to no purpose for most of the binge drinking and blackouts. The middle of the book spent way too much time concentrating on that.

 

I had a couple of theories on who I thought was the murderer. I was pleased to have been wrong with every guess that I made. I was definitely surprised by who it was but wasn't all that satisfied with why they did it. I did like how the book managed to weave some Australian folklore into the story.

 

About halfway through this book I wasn't sure if I wanted to continuing reading any more books of this series but ultimately at the end to give the second book a chance.