Redeemer by Jo Nesbo - book review

Yet another one on the Harry hole series and the more I read into the series, the more I am convinced that there is a definite template emerging, just like other series of novels. Like the previous novels, climate takes place regular mention and is almost omnipresent. Maybe there is a strong underlying reason to the repeated reference? May be its a metaphor to the kind of characters involved in the stories- harsh and unyielding, changing colors and basically cold in nature, literally and figuratively. The other common aspect that could be noted was the reference to America and its presidency. There is a grudgingly sarcastic attempt to mock Norway’s dependency on USA and for Norway’s role or the lack of it on the major wars. In this book, it’s the Serbian war which takes the parallel story route alongside the recurring storyline involving Harry, just like Redbreast, that dealt with Norway’s role on WWII. There are lot of interesting titbits around the salvation army. You wouldn’t have guessed the kind of role they play in countries like Norway and how rigid their setup is. Interestingly, the role played by Women in that organization and how men try to vie for their attention. Racism, as a topic, is fleetingly touched upon across the series. Be it the way, Muslims (Pakis) are being addressed or reference to neo-Nazi culture, it skims the surface, leaving lot left unsaid.

There is heavy dosage of alcoholism and smoking as a recurring habit and even though there are attempts to showcase how the lead characters are trying to rehabilitate themselves out of them, you could almost smell it out of the book!! For the fellow followers of the series, a major character gets killed. Blame it on the translation or the edit, the chapters involving first person narration of the happenings are way too confusing. With both the contract killer and the villain, talking in first person, it is very difficult to follow who-is-whom. The twist in the end towards the “whodunit” would’ve been more surprising, had only the in between sections been trimmed down. Like his other novels, the sheer volume of description on set piece items is humongous and guess it might occupy more than 40% of the word count of the novel. One word about Harry. He is not your everyday detective ala Sherlock or Poirot, but surely he gets his job done in his own way. But with so many sidetracking incidents strewn all over, his skills gets sidelined.

Another point, that I keep forgetting to mention is on the translation. I googled to find out that the translator does similar works for lot many Nordic authors. As much as one has to appreciate his efforts in turning out reams after reams of stories and trying to get the essence of the original carry forwarded, one cannot help to feel that, the original might still be a lot different and concise.

Gils verdict – To say in a single line, Redeemer is the story of a brother against brother. The motive and means, make it an twisty tale of love, revenge and greed with a whole lot of Serbian war thrown in, as backdrop to facilitate a single character. Still can’t say if it’s the best of the series till the rest are completed.