The Bat

A Harry Hole Thriller, Book 1

By: Jo Nesbø

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

The thrilling first book in the best-selling Harry Hole series, never before published in English.

Harry is out of his depth.

Detective Harry Hole is meant to keep out of trouble. A young Norwegian girl taking a gap year in Sydney has been murdered, and Harry has been sent to Australia to assist in any way he can.

He's not supposed to get too involved.

When the team unearths a string of unsolved murders and disappearances, nothing will stop Harry from finding out the truth. The hunt for a serial killer is on, but the murderer will talk only to Harry.

He might just be the next victim.

Appearing in English for the first time, The Bat is the legendary first novel from the worldwide phenomenon Jo Nesbo.

©2012 Jo Nesbo (P)2012 Random House Audiobooks

Started out great, wound up a mess.

The first half of this book was very good. A good police mystery, with a detective out of place in a foreign land. Then the entire thing fell into one big mess. The plot wandered, I kept thinking where is this going? Get to the point. Then it wandered back to the main story idea, but never really recaptured the focus of the first half of the book. I was hoping to find a new series to follow, but this is not it.

UNEVEN STORY

What disappointed you about The Bat?

I couldn't relate to Harry Hole at all. His tormented soul didn't evoke my sympathy and the story didn't ring true . . . there was no need for so many secrets to be kept.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jo Nesbo again?

Probably not.

Would you be willing to try another one of Sean Barrett’s performances?

Probably not. He came up with some strange accents and at times mixed up the characters' voices. A disturbing performance.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Some of the Aboriginal stories and descriptions/historical details were interesting as written by a non-Australian.

Any additional comments?

This is the first of a series and I'm surprised that the character has taken off. I can only assume that the books get better as Jo Nesbo gets going. Nevertheless, I'm not going to waste any more of my points finding out.

Not the best story

Did not like narrarration and story much. His other books are much better than this one.

Not for me!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The book wa just too drawn out! I couldn't even finish it. Stopped listening after about 25% done.

My first and last

Would you try another book from Jo Nesbo and/or Sean Barrett?

Sean Barrett...YES

Jo Nesbo....NEVER

What was most disappointing about Jo Nesbo’s story?

I bought the book based on the sample reading and the book description. I read ten chapters and not once did I hear anything even reminiscent of the sample reading...except for that one excerpt which was at the very beginning. What I heard was a severely depressed Norwegian detective in Australia with an Aboriginal sidekick (how likely is this?). In the book it was miserable, but I did hear plenty of whining about the plight of the Aboriginals, like I want to hear this in a supposed suspense novel. Oh, and the first ten chapters was peopled by hippies, homos and transvestites. Never again for Nesbo.

What does Sean Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Sean Barrett has a fantastic voice and further does a marvelous job with the various accents in the book. It was my first time to hear him and I would consider, in the future, any book performed by Barrett.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None

Any additional comments?

I would like a refund of my credit.