The Redbreast

By: Jo Nesbø

Narrated by: Robin Sachs

Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2007 Jo Nesbo (P)2011 Random House Audio

Again Nesbø enthrall's

Well written and again a great story from Masterfull Nesbø. Harry is probably at his most likable in this one... for others around him that is, his is just always awesome for the reader. Sax's reading performance is sublimely labored in the right places. what a voice.

I enjoy books set in another country

This one is set in Norway,,,,I love Harry Hole..the rather rough and troubled central police
inspector. I enjoy the narrator..I'm reading more of the series.

Fine story that is difficult to follow

I purchased both the Kindle version and audio version of this book, and I'm glad I did. This story was very difficult to follow with only the audio book. I believe it was difficult to follow for these reasons: 1) the beginning of the story jumps around to different time periods with no explanation why or early assistance understanding how the story's pieces fit together, 2) for an American reader, the Norwegian names are difficult to differentiate when spoken, so it takes quite a while to keep the characters straight. This markedly increases the difficulties caused by #1. Seeing the names written in the Kindle version helped a great deal, and 3) because of #1 and #2, if you are doing anything else while listening and lose your concentration for a second, you can miss very important details of the plot.

I did enjoy the book, found the story to be well crafted, and finished it. I'm certain that without the written version to refer to, I would have given up early on.

Harry Hole does it again

I did solve the who done it before Harry. So I only gave it 4 stars. Narration was excellent.

Different For Nesbo, But Still Great

If you're like me then you found this book because you read the Snowman, loved it, and decided to read the whole series. And then, like me, this review is meaningless to you. You will buy it, without finishing the review, you will listen to it. You will love it. And then you'll buy the next one. So let me validate that decision. Do it. Buy the book. Buy the series. You'll LOVE it.

There, glad that's over with. The rest of you, then, have not read any of the Harry Hole series and have found that while there were two written before the Redbreast, this is the first on Audible. So you're wondering if, given the series' incomplete nature, it's worth reading. I'm glad you asked! YES, YES, YES, YES. It's worth it. This is an amazing series that only gets better with time.

In essence, the series is about a middle aged detective named Harry Hole who is lonely, sad and a recovering alcoholic. Not many people like him, but - as you would expect from a detective series - he's wonderful at his job. He better be, he has nothing else in his life. This book finds him involved with neo-natzis, brutal murders and a sad history with Norwegian solders who fought on the wrong side in WWII. We bounce through time as a tale of dispair and modern day aggression takes hold of your throat. And it doesn't let go.

As I said when i reviewed the Snowman. This series doesn't try and re-invent the wheel (a brilliant but disturbed detective, a series of murders, an investigation in the proverbial heart of darkness). You've seen this stuff before. What Jo Nesbo does is take these cliches and does them better, with more intelligence and more humanity and more depth than you've ever seen before. It's a wonderful series. And it begins here. So you might as well get started.

Outstanding

This was my first Nesbo book, and I had to immediately buy The Snowman. There are a lot of characters and it can be confusing (especially because the names are Norwegian so not ones American listeners are necessarily used to). But it's worth it. A terrific story by a great storyteller.

A great new thriller

This is the first in a series featuring police offer, Harry Hole (pronouced Harry Hula, although Robin Sachs English pronouciation leaves it as Hole) this complex tale switches between World War II on the Eastern Front in the 1940's and present day weaving together a tale of revenge and corruption that will leave you guessing until the end. Stay with the series, Nemesis, book 2 is awesome.

wonderfully slow burn of a mystery!

it takes a type of high caliber, underpraised writing and a certain enchanting but fallible character to have the sort of cult following jo nesbo's harry hole possesses. reviewers sing the praises of nesbo's investigators harry hole series, and all insist anyone interested in meeting harry start with the redbreast, the first book of the series to be translated from the original norwegian.

my interested had been piqued by the leopard and the devil's star, both serial killer huntdowns further along in the series, and i was hesitant to dive into the historical fiction novel which the redbreast's summary seemed to described.

and there is historical fiction -- the novel alternates between past and present tense, the stories of the past seemingly unconnected to the present day mystery in such a way that i felt lost and considered giving up on the book about 1/3 of the way through. life is too short for long winded tales, right?

somewhere about half way through, though, i felt the redbreast coming together and knitting me up into its story-- i began to see a side of harry hole that made me understand him and the avid readers who sing his praises as a flawed but fascinating character, and even though the pace of the writing hadn't necessarily quickened, my interest in it had. the big reveal was, like it is in any good mystery, well worth the wait it took to get there.

i was very happy to meet harry in the redbreast, and i'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series (or what has been translated of it) now.

final thought -- i often wonder if jo nesbo is irritated at claims of being "the next stieg larsson" as is on the cover of this book -- the girl with the dragon tattoo wasn't published in sweden until 2005. jo nesbo was winning awards in 1997. i often wonder if nordic crime writers love or hate the girl with the dragon tattoo series, and how much it seems to make all other writing from their area fall in its shadow.

Just NOT a great story line

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No I would not. it was too lengthy and kept jumping from one time period to another in short spurts ... I did not like that at all. It makes it really hard to listen and to the story line.. dragging. on.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jo Nesbø again?

Oh yes. LOVE the Snowman.

What about Robin Sachs’s performance did you like?

All of it. such a wonderful energy to his voice.

Do you think The Redbreast needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Nope.... its too long and dragging as it is ..

Begin Harry Hole Series HERE

If you’re unfamiliar with Jo Nesbø and his no-nonsense main protagonist, Harry Hole, I highly recommend starting the series with The Redbreast — It’s Nesbø’s first true masterpiece. The writing is superb, the plot is entirely distinctive and remarkably well executed, and Robin Sachs’s narration is outstanding (at 1.1x or 1.2x speed). Bravo!