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

Harry Hole's backstory.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Bat to be better than the print version?

An excellent narrorator does a wonderful job of giving voice to Harry as well as the Austrailian characters.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Our first introduction to Harry and as is typical of Nesbo's writing we are thrown right in. An excellent book that gave more background to Harry than any other of the series. Highly recommend!!

Nearly perfect

Any additional comments?

It's a crime story with a victim/s and "who-did-it" but as such it is 95 % perfect. Sean Barrett does a great job narrating.

another great Harry Hole mystery

If you could sum up The Bat in three words, what would they be?

another great Nesbo

What other book might you compare The Bat to and why?

The Snowman same characters, different story, earlier Harry Hole

What about Sean Barrett’s performance did you like?

I thought he handled the Norwegian and Australian accents well.

Any additional comments?

thoroughly enjoyed it

Good but a bit slow

Tis was my first book in the Harry Hole series. I thought it was good overall but it seemed to drag at times. This could have been in part die to the author and part due to the narration. I liked it enough that eventually I will choose another in the series to take a stab at.

Different narrator equally entertaining

I decided to listen to this because it's the first in the series. I've either listened to or read about four others. I wanted to get sense of where the character had come from. The story was, as with the others in the series very good and the performance was excellent. I love that the narrator could "do" the accents well.

As with the other Hole books there were twists and turns to the story which kept it entertaining. Worth the credit

Love Harry Hole, even in reverse order....

The kind of tragically flawed protagonist Jo Nesbo creates in this series.

Great Narrator, okay story

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I was very impressed by the narration. Very impressed indeed. The story itself was good but not as meaty as I would have liked. I liked the characters but wasn't invested in them. I was looking for something along the lines of Stieg Larsson or Jussi Adler-Olsen so my expectations were rather high.

Well worth it

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

I would recommend others this book. Really well read and I really liked the aboriginals stories.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I would say yes. Still there were moments I thought it went a bit to slow

Have you listened to any of Sean Barrett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never listened to him before. Thought he did well.

The Bat by Jo Nesbo--greaat story-poor delivery

What did you like best about The Bat? What did you like least?

THe story line was great--a real detailed description of the culture of Australia coupled with Harry Hole's excellent detective work. The major characters were well developed and the plot was excellent and, as usual, well presented by Nesbo

What other book might you compare The Bat to and why?

This one is in the midst of the remainder of the Harry Hole novels--I enjoyed the local detail and sociological description of Australia. Others may think it was too detailed.

How could the performance have been better?

Too many different characters presented by changes in audible tone. the deeper basetones were unrecognizable when blended with a Norwegan accent on a drunk or anattempt to convey a Australian accent on a woman. I lost some of the detail of the story. Performance was not good

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Probably--I think I will get the book and read it also

Any additional comments?

Disapointing because of poor performance

A very fine prequel

Having read all of the other Harry Hole novels, this first story fills in some of the mysteries that I encountered in Jo Nesbø’s later work.

This is not only a gripping crime story, it is also an Australian history lesson, travelogue and culture class. And a love story. The characters are wonderful, the dialogue insightful and pace methodical.

Let me compliment the Trinity that makes these audio books so special. First the brilliant writing of Jo Nesbø. He deserves the success he’s achieved.
Then, the the masterful translation by Don Bartlett. It is remarkable to hear the clever twists of English and wordplay that I do not suppose a literal translation from Norwegian would yield.
And finally the wonderful narration of Sean Barrett. He brings the characters to life and makes me forget that there is a narrator. I only heard the story.