The Redbreast

Book excerpt: “An elegant and complex thriller….Harrowingly beautiful.” —New York Times Book Review “A hugely impressive achievement—ambitious in scope, and skilled in execution.” —Los Angeles Times “The Redbreast certainly ranks with the best of current American crime fiction.” —Washington Post Jo Nesbø, the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman, has solidified his spot as one of the most exciting Scandinavian thriller writer in the crime fiction business. The Redbreast is a fabulous installment in Nesbø’s tough-as-nails series protagonist, Oslo police detective Harry Hole. Detective Harry Hole embarrassed the force, and for his sins he's been reassigned to mundane surveillance tasks. But while monitoring neo-Nazi activities in Oslo, Hole is inadvertently drawn into a mystery with deep roots in Norway's dark past—when members of the nation's government willingly collaborated with Nazi Germany. More than sixty years later, this black mark won't wash away, and disgraced old soldiers who once survived a brutal Russian winter are being murdered, one by one. Now, with only a stained and guilty conscience to guide him, an angry, alcoholic, error-prone policeman must make his way safely past the traps and mirrors of a twisted criminal mind. For a hideous conspiracy is rapidly taking shape around Hole—and Norway's darkest hour may still be to come.