Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was nice overall, by very predictable when compared to the first Harry Hole book...
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
find it a bit hard to say anything about this. its a detective thriller book so the single hero man solving everything on his own is expected and therefore didnt bother me rlly. i just like jo nesbø as an author so im used to his writing style and can appreciate everything even the things others have said to be bothered by. idk i enjoyed it dont have much more to say about it
Cockroaches is the second in Nesbø's Harry Hole series of Norwegian crime fiction. If you are new to the series, you should start with The Bat. Events in that book are referenced here.
So far, neither book about a Norwegian police detective has been set in Norway. Where The Bat took place in Australia, Cockroaches is set in Bangkok Thailand.
After the events in The Bat, Harry is once again drinking heavily. The ambassador to Thailand has been murdered in a motel/brothel and against all common sense, Harry is dispatched to assist in the investigation. In Thailand, Harry is assigned to work with homicide investigator Liz Crumley who is half Thai, half American. Liz is direct and no nonsense and sees Harry for the drunk he is right away. With Harry's arrival, the investigation gets underway and Harry quickly establishes,—a drunk he might be— that he still knows how to assess a crime scene. There are lots of twists and turns and dead-ends dealings with the small community of Norwegians in Thailand as the story heads toward the resolution.
I enjoyed Cockroaches more than The Bat and the police procedural aspects are generally pretty solid. Nesbø does a good job integrating cultural differences into the story and Harry working with a team of Thai police investigators is handled well and with some humor.
There are aspects of the story that annoyed me. One of the biggest are inaccuracies in describing firearms. Nesbø goes to some effort to specify actual actual hand guns, by model, used by the police but then introduces details that could be easily verified. A police officer is describe pulling his 33mm sidearm. In actuality, this would be a cannon and not a hand gun. He also describes the smell of cordite after a gun has been fired. Cordite hasn't been used as a propellant since WWII. Cordite is not the same thing as gunpowder and looks more like thin spaghetti noodles. Actual cordite would smell more like nail polish remover, ie acetone.
Harry seems to be able to turn off his alcoholism at will. In the interests of the investigation, Harry stops drinking. Bang. No more. While he is tempted, he confines himself to water and Coke. I don't have any actual experience here but is it likely that someone can go from drunk to sober overnight?
The big climax was particularly disappointing to me and I hate the way Liz Crumley's role was handled. I suppose it is a legitimate technique to go against the way a character has been developed but it wasn't necessary in this case.
The whodunit and howdunit parts are pretty good but the presentation left me very dissatisfied. I said I would give a series five books before I abandon it but if the third Harry Hole doesn't grip me I'm done with it.
I give this book a this C+.
So far, neither book about a Norwegian police detective has been set in Norway. Where The Bat took place in Australia, Cockroaches is set in Bangkok Thailand.
After the events in The Bat, Harry is once again drinking heavily. The ambassador to Thailand has been murdered in a motel/brothel and against all common sense, Harry is dispatched to assist in the investigation. In Thailand, Harry is assigned to work with homicide investigator Liz Crumley who is half Thai, half American. Liz is direct and no nonsense and sees Harry for the drunk he is right away. With Harry's arrival, the investigation gets underway and Harry quickly establishes,—a drunk he might be— that he still knows how to assess a crime scene. There are lots of twists and turns and dead-ends dealings with the small community of Norwegians in Thailand as the story heads toward the resolution.
I enjoyed Cockroaches more than The Bat and the police procedural aspects are generally pretty solid. Nesbø does a good job integrating cultural differences into the story and Harry working with a team of Thai police investigators is handled well and with some humor.
There are aspects of the story that annoyed me. One of the biggest are inaccuracies in describing firearms. Nesbø goes to some effort to specify actual actual hand guns, by model, used by the police but then introduces details that could be easily verified. A police officer is describe pulling his 33mm sidearm. In actuality, this would be a cannon and not a hand gun. He also describes the smell of cordite after a gun has been fired. Cordite hasn't been used as a propellant since WWII. Cordite is not the same thing as gunpowder and looks more like thin spaghetti noodles. Actual cordite would smell more like nail polish remover, ie acetone.
Harry seems to be able to turn off his alcoholism at will. In the interests of the investigation, Harry stops drinking. Bang. No more. While he is tempted, he confines himself to water and Coke. I don't have any actual experience here but is it likely that someone can go from drunk to sober overnight?
The big climax was particularly disappointing to me and I hate the way Liz Crumley's role was handled. I suppose it is a legitimate technique to go against the way a character has been developed but it wasn't necessary in this case.
The whodunit and howdunit parts are pretty good but the presentation left me very dissatisfied. I said I would give a series five books before I abandon it but if the third Harry Hole doesn't grip me I'm done with it.
I give this book a this C+.
3.5 stars.
Not as beautifully compelling as The Bat, but the ending made up for a few slow (and confusing) spots in the storytelling.
Harry Hole is fast becoming one of my favorite fictional characters.
Not as beautifully compelling as The Bat, but the ending made up for a few slow (and confusing) spots in the storytelling.
Harry Hole is fast becoming one of my favorite fictional characters.
This was a fine book, better than the first. I hear it gets better from here and that’s why I’ll continue.
dark
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this sequel to the Harry Hole series! I read the Bat in February and became completely addicted to Harry Hole and Jo Nesbo’s writing 🤩 This one was a little more fast paced then book 1 but apart from that the two books had very similar themes which I enjoyed.
In this book Harry Hole is sent to Bangkok to solve the suspicious death of the Norwegian Ambassador who was found in a hostel/brothel. Hole is sent to solve the case asap to avoid any embarrassing leaks to the media. But knowing Hole, it’s not that simple. Soon Hole finds himself trying to unravel what’s real and what’s part of the conspiracy engineered by the people who sent him to solve the case.
I loved the premise of this book. I was instantly hooked and found all the twists and turns so entertaining… I found it very hard to put this book down 😅
The corruption in this book was an interesting twist that I didn’t see coming. Hole is battling some demons in the first part of this book due to the events in book 1. It soon becomes clear that this is why Hole is sent to deal with this case - the higher ups thinking he is too much of a lost cause to see what is really going on. I loved when both of these themes come together. It made for some very exciting, adrenaline pumping scenes!
I did suspect who the bad guy was from the start but I was thrown a few times to make me doubt myself which made it more exciting. The curveball at the end was also really shocking. I’m curious to see how it pans out in the other books in the series.
Overall it was a great read and possibly the first time I’ve preferred a sequel to the first book 😅 I cant wait to read the next books in this series 🤩 I highly recommend this series if you like Scandinavian detective mysteries with a dry sense of humour and crazy plot twists 🤩
In this book Harry Hole is sent to Bangkok to solve the suspicious death of the Norwegian Ambassador who was found in a hostel/brothel. Hole is sent to solve the case asap to avoid any embarrassing leaks to the media. But knowing Hole, it’s not that simple. Soon Hole finds himself trying to unravel what’s real and what’s part of the conspiracy engineered by the people who sent him to solve the case.
I loved the premise of this book. I was instantly hooked and found all the twists and turns so entertaining… I found it very hard to put this book down 😅
The corruption in this book was an interesting twist that I didn’t see coming. Hole is battling some demons in the first part of this book due to the events in book 1. It soon becomes clear that this is why Hole is sent to deal with this case - the higher ups thinking he is too much of a lost cause to see what is really going on. I loved when both of these themes come together. It made for some very exciting, adrenaline pumping scenes!
I did suspect who the bad guy was from the start but I was thrown a few times to make me doubt myself which made it more exciting. The curveball at the end was also really shocking. I’m curious to see how it pans out in the other books in the series.
Overall it was a great read and possibly the first time I’ve preferred a sequel to the first book 😅 I cant wait to read the next books in this series 🤩 I highly recommend this series if you like Scandinavian detective mysteries with a dry sense of humour and crazy plot twists 🤩