Nemesis

By: Jo Nesbø

Narrated by: Thor Knai

Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Captured on closed-circuit television: A man walks into an Oslo bank, puts a gun to a cashier’s head, and tells her to count to 25. When he doesn’t get his money fast enough, he pulls the trigger. The young woman dies—and two million Norwegian kroner disappear without a trace.

After a drunken evening with his former girlfriend, Anna Bethsen, Police Detective Harry Hole wakes up at home with a headache, no cell phone, and no memory of the past 12 hours. That same day, Anna is found shot dead in her bedroom, making Hole a prime suspect in an investigation led by his hated adversary, Tom Waaler.

Meanwhile, the bank robberies continue with unparalleled savagery, sending rogue detective Hole from the streets of Oslo to steaming Brazil in a race to close two cases and clear his name. But Waaler isn’t finished with his longtime nemesis quite yet.

©2002 Jo Nesbø (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Nesbo manages the unlikely feat of exploring the inner life of his lead character in the thorough and compelling manner one associates with, say, Ruth Rendell, while at the same time juggling multiple, interlocking plot strands as dexterously as David Hewson. No doubt about it: Nesbo belongs on every crime-fiction fan’s A-list." ( Booklist)

Great Book, Great Narrator

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

Seat Edge Thriller

Any additional comments?

Lots of comments from listeners being critical of Thor Knai and praising Robin Sachs. For those of you out there who have not listened to Knai or Sachs. Knai is Norwegian, he speaks Norwegian, Swedish and English, and his pronunciation is correct, so for example Harry Hole, the protagonist, is pronounced "who-la" with correct Norwegian pronunciation NOT "Hole" as Sachs reads in his narrated books. All I can say is that for anyone familiar with the Norwegian language, Knai is accurate and listening to Sachs is torture. Why the producer of the books chose a Brit from London to read a Norwegian book without at least getting the diction correct is beyond me. I guess they figured most English listeners would not know the difference between correct Norwegian pronunciation and what they served up with Sachs. To do justice to Nesbo, they should re release all the titles with a native speaker, or at least English speaker who is fluent in Norwegian so the pronunciation is correct.

Nemesis is very good, the narration is poor

Ok, it seems that the other reviewer were correct. I think if I had heard Thor Knai first, it wouldn't have been so bad, but I didn't, I listened to The Redbreast first and Robin Sachs is really really good. The biggest problem was the switching between some sort of Norwegian accent, a Texas accent, plain American accent, back to a poor German accent. These accents really were problematic because they sort of took you out of the story. If it had been read in a plain American accent it would have been fine.
The story was really good. As long as I could sort of disconnect from the voice and just listen to the words I liked it. But, this may be a good one to read yourself.

Terrible narrator

His voices are either so distracting or completely the same so you cannot follow who is saying what. Add to that he calls Harry Holah instead of Hole which is what we have heard for three books. He is too young and sounds too American. Why change narrators in the middle of the series?

Story is always good, but narrators make or break an audible book.

Mysteries upon mysteries

Great Harry Hole adventure. I had a bit of a hard time keeping track of all the characters but enjoyed listening to the quiet parts as well as the parts that put you on edge, fearing what will happen next. Definitely will be working my way through the rest of the series.

Narrator makes a huge difference!

What didn’t you like about Thor Knai’s performance?

Thor sounds way too young to play the hard-bitten Harry Hole. I've listened to all the other books in the Harry Hole series and I urge audible.com to stick to the same narrator when they do a series, if at all possible. I can barely continue to listen to this one because the change is so jarring!

Bad, bad narrator

Would you try another book from Jo Nesbø and/or Thor Knai?

I would try another book from Jo Nesbo but only if it was narrated by someone other than Thor Knai. I listened to Redbreast and it was a good listen although I think sometimes it loses something in the translation.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was good. It keeps you guessing.

How could the performance have been better?

Thor Knai needs to understand punctuation. He reads as if there is a comma after every five words. He sounds as if he's in fifth grade, nervously reading in front of the whole class. I will never buy another Audible book narrated by him.

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

Perhaps

Complex story, makes you think

This was the 3rd Nesbo I’ve listened to and I love the plot twists and turns and continuing mysteries from prior books. I didn’t like the narrator as much this time and had a bit of trouble following the names. Only one character had a distinguishing voice from any other and it was a bit weird that Waller sounded like a cowboy! Sometimes I had difficulty following jumps in action from one chapter or plot line to another because of this and lack of pauses to indicate a change in venue. Maybe the book is written this way. I think I may need to read the next one!

Remarkable Mystery, Fantastic Writing

This is an astonishingly good mystery. It's true the reader is vastly different than the other Harry Hole books, but Thor Knai is no slouch.

hyperbolic criticism?

I'm a Nesbo fan. Have been from the first. I also think Robin Sachs is a great narrator. I am often guided by my fellow listener's reviews, and therefore didn't download Nemesis after reading...."tragic" "worst narrator in all of audible" and a number of equally heated condemnations of Thor Knai"s efforts for many months.
But now, having listened to it, I wonder if these reviews were written by Mr. Sach's kids? Whatever happened to "I prefer Mr. Sach's narration, but Mr. Knai is good also"? I suspect that Knai may have pronounced the unfamiliar words more accurately. But I could deal with that.
I loved the book. The story rules, as always, Mr. Nesbo. You are inventive, suprising and a heck of a lot of fun to listen to.

Another Great Jo Nesbo Audiobook

I wish there were 50 books in this series. I am struggling with something new to say about Jo Nesbo and his incredible talent. If I go back to my other Nesbo reviews, I find I am repetitive with words like brilliant, unique, scary, great characters and a wonderful main character, Harry Hole.

All of those descriptions are the same with this book, yet every book in the series is so different. All of them have a very full story, twists that make you gasp and heart-thumping action. I laugh, get mad and get a tear in the eye from very moving and emotional scenes. To me, these books remind me why I love to read so much. As I get closer and closer to reading all of his books, I get worried that few authors will be able to grab me in the same way. So, Mr. Nesbo, please -- write faster!!

Now, nothing is ever perfect. I do agree that Thor Knai was not a good narrator after the incredible performances of Sean Barrett and Robin Sachs in previous books. By the way, I was sick to hear about Robin Sachs' death this year. His work as an actor and narrator was stunning. What a great loss.

Lastly, you will need to pay close attention as the story is very complex and required re-listening to lots of passages. The names and places began to sound alike, but you need to keep it all straight. It is worth the effort.

Enjoy!