Cockroaches

The Second Inspector Harry Hole Novel

By: Jo Nesbø

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this installment of the New York Times bestselling series, Inspector Harry Hole heads to Thailand to investigate the murder of a Norweigian ambassador.

"Nesbø never lets a page go by without making characters and situations vivid."—Houston Chronicle

“I can’t think of anyone who makes my skin crawl like Nesbo."—The New York Times Book Review

When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a Bangkok brothel, Inspector Harry Hole is dispatched from Oslo to help hush up the case. But once he arrives Harry discovers that this case is about much more than one random murder. There is something else, something more pervasive, scrabbling around behind the scenes. Or, put another way, for every cockroach you see in your hotel room, there are hundreds behind the walls. Surrounded by round-the-clock traffic noise, Harry wanders the streets of Bangkok lined with go-go bars, temples, opium dens, and tourist traps, trying to piece together the story of the ambassador’s death even though no one asked him to, and no one wants him to—not even Harry himself.

Don't miss Jo Nesbo's new thriller, Killing Moon, coming soon!

©2014 Jo Nesbo (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Nesbø never lets a page go by without making characters and situations vivid."—Houston Chronicle

"The world is dark and frozen, according to Nordic noir, and so is the human heart. But it's the magic Nesbø works with the genre's tropes that matters.... [He] might be my favorite of the lot."—Michael Robbins, Chicago Tribune

"Satisfyingly twisty.... A compelling, hard-edged thriller."—Booklist

Early in Nesbos development of holes character

Plenty of excitement and suspense. Fans of Harry Hole will find him a somewhat different character. Still I'm glad this part of the series is available. Enjoyable. Depiction of Bangkok is somewhat out of date but not importantly.
Perhaps Harry needs to go back.

john lee - poor narrator

John lee's affected performance made it impossible for me to get passed chapter 13. I like Nesbo a lot, but Lee seemed to think he was reading The King's Speech and ruined the story.
Ann Gordon

Not as good as his later work ...

Any additional comments?

If i understand correctly, this is only the second in the Harry Hole series. I've read all the others, and have been addicted to the characters and plots. I'm a big Baltic Noir fan and Nesbo doesn't disappoint. Except for the first two in the Harry Hole series. This one and the one before (set in Australia) just didn't work for me. I was disappointed big time.

Harry Hole, the drunk Norwegian policeman!

In his first Harry Hole novel, The Bat, he is in Australia. The Bat was a good novel but Hole's alcohol and family problems were a distraction. Cockroaches starts off at home in Norway and moves on to Thailand. It's a good story, but Hole's alcohol problems are distractions that take up too many pages. So I gave Nesbo and Harry Hole one more chance with Book 3, The Redbreast. Again I found a good story, but also found the time taken with Hole's alcohol and personal problems detracted from the novel.

I have since read printed copies of Book 5, Devil's Star, and Book 10, Police. Both were excellent detective novels as were The Bat, Cockroaches, and The Redbreast. But all suffered to varying degrees from grossly excessive time taken away from the cop story to Hole's problems.

Despite thee quality of the crime stories being excellent, I cannot recommend Nesbo's Harry Hole series.

Just okay...

They mystery was okay. The story was okay. Nothing was that exciting.

Lee gave a solid read.

Overdramatic narration

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd recommend it to a Jo Nesbo fan, but for someone who isn't already hooked on Harry Hole, I'd not necessarily recommend.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Cockroaches?

Some grisly torture scenes.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Lee?

Someone who doesn't ham up every line. I've enjoyed his renditions of other Nesbo books (as well as other authors'), but this narration was quite annoying.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Any additional comments?

This was one of the least gripping Harry Hole novels, but still a decently good listen.

Love this writer

I love the complexity of this author’s stories. My only problem is the names CB of the characters. Since they are Norwegian, it is very hard to keep track of who the characters are. Harry Hole (snigger) is easy but then you throw in others, it is hard. But I won’t give up because story’s are great!!!

Close to just being okay

Because of the originality and richness of characters this beats a "just okay" review. Will start on book 3 immediately because I really want to believe the Hole hype. =)

Older Stories in the Series Good Too

The Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo is the only series I have taken the time to listen too. A friend got me started with number six when I didn't know it was a series. After listening to number one, I've been waiting for this second in the series to come out on audio before listening to others in the series. Nesbo's development of characters and his ability to keep me guessing up to the end makes for very satisfying listening.

Nesbo, the king of crime fiction

Would be 5 stars all the way, no is 5 stars all the way. Read the hard copy long ago, loved it, listened to the audio, loved it. If you like gritty crime, Nesbo is for you. Both this and the Bat are less polished than the following books, but reading all of them is a must ( and in sequence is ideal).