Nesbo’s ‘The Leopard’ typically riveting

I read “The Leopard” only after a friend handed it to me; it was the first of the works of Norwegian author Jo Nesbo I had encountered.

Within a few short weeks, however, I had ordered the rest of Nesbo’s books on my Kindle. This is one riveting mystery writer. “Fiendishly compelling,” The New York Times Book Review wrote, and that Nesbo most definitely is.

“The Leopard” is the latest of Nesbo’s novels featuring Harry Hole, a detective who is — guess what? — flawed. But Hole isn’t a dime-a-dozen flawed detective; this is a man who could make the worst of them look like amateurs.

What keeps Hole’s tenuous hold on his Crime Squad job is that while he’s among the worst of human beings (in an almost purely self-destructive way), he’s among the best of detectives. And so he’s snagged by a once-and-future co-worker out of the Hong Kong heroin hell where he’s obviously on a fast track to the grave, whether intentionally or not. The aim: to return Hole to Norway to help solve the latest gruesome murder case to bedevil that peaceful land.  

But even Hole’s brilliance pales in comparison to that of the man who gave him life. As in all of his books, in “Leopard” Nesbo keeps multiple plots in action at all times, and manages to bring all of them to believable conclusions.

Who knew Norway's fertile ground was capable of soaking up so much blood?