This Nesbø novel (2009) is a good example of why I don’t like the Harry Hole books.

Too complicated. Too dark. No characters to cheer for ➙ certainly not Harry.

There are better Jo Nesbø books, of course. Skip this one.

Following the traumatic Snowman case, former police inspector Harry Hole has exiled himself in Hong Kong.

Kaja Solness, a new Norwegian Crime Squad officer, tracks down Hole and asks for his help investigating possible serial killings in Oslo.

Hole is convinced to return when told that his father, Olav, is seriously ill and will not live much longer.

He returns to Norway to find that the Crime Squad is in the middle of a power struggle with Kripos and its power-hungry head, Mikael Bellman, who seeks to put his agency in sole charge of the country’s murder cases.

Hole finds himself the target of Bellman’s hostility, though Bellman is keen to take credit for the results of Hole’s work. …