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Art & Books

The Bat

THE BAT by Jo Nesbø (Random House), 374 pages, $24.95 paper. Rating: NNNN


It’s a mystery why Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s first Harry Hole thriller is only now being released in English, following the North American publication of seven other titles in the successful series. Perhaps it’s because the book is set in Australia and feels decidedly un-Norwegian.

The Bat introduces Oslo Crime Squad detective Hole (whose name is pronounced HOO-leh, although the English pronunciation better suits the character) when he’s sent Down Under to assist in investigating the murder of a Norwegian woman.

Australia’s isolation proves the perfect backdrop for the offbeat, chain-smoking, alcoholic loner living with a secret that could destroy his career. No less an outsider there than at home, Hole develops an affinity with the country’s misfits – both human and animal.

Nesbø, who’s lead singer with the pop/rock band Di Derre, has been touted as the next Stieg Larsson. It’s an obvious comparison, and Nesbø is just as accomplished a storyteller.

But while there’s violence in his books, it’s somehow less repellant, almost as if Hole finds a strange beauty, a poetry, within it. And he reveals a wry sense of humour, having Harry’s Aussie counterparts misread his name as Holy.

Hole’s temporary boss partners him with an Aboriginal detective, one of the “lost generation” and a man possibly more damaged than he is. He’s only too happy to educate Harry, filling his head with creation stories – in which the bat symbolizes death – until Harry’s convinced that the identity of the killer can be found within these tales.

For the less than holy Harry, who feels himself beyond redemption, there are no happy endings. Like Nesbø, I suspect, he carries on because he’s one of those who “has a weakness for living.”

Nesbø reads October 27 with Ned Beauman, Anakana Schofield and Wayne Macauley, and takes part in a round table titled Zombies, Witches, Killers And Cowboys with Deborah Harkness, Alen Mattich and Corey Redekop.

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