A review by the_nightmare_reader
Ο λυτρωτής by Jo Nesbø

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This had a unique setting where it wasn’t just a crazy murderer that we were looking for.

The addition of the hitman’s POV was so interesting and it did make me actually like him because it was clear that he didn’t kill anyone and everyone that got in his way. 

Yes he does kill people for a living but he doesn’t do it with satisfaction. His backstory was interesting and I thought it would be part of the main plot more but it was used mostly to let us into his psyche.

Harry being in control of the police force again was nice because he actually had a team of more than 2 people. I don’t know how to feel about him taking in Skare because he’s a racist and he was on Tom’s team before but I think he’s just trying to win the officers’ trust back one at a time and make them understand that he’s not their enemy.

I was surprised that the new guys at the station were actually helpful and understanding but firm at the same time and that Harry didn’t rebel against them too much but just stayed himself and tried his best as always.

I was so sad that  Halvorsen died. I’m still in denial. And having  Beate be pregnant with his child is diabolical… And as if that wasn’t enough  Møller went away and ended up getting drunker than Harry and “going missing” which I’m pretty sure means that he killed himself because he felt guilty for (and this was another shock) being part of Tom’s organisation!! He didn’t know that Tom was in control for most of the time but he was part of this police group that wanted to “do good and deliver justice”. Μπέτε is the only one I trust at this point.


I wonder if Harry will eventually get together with Rackel again because he has clearly not moved on.

I had kinda guessed that it was Jon that hired the hitman and that he wasn’t as good as he was made to look. He was too good to be true and I wrote in the book “istg if you make him a bad guy”. Little did I know. 

The book played on the assumptions we make about the “troublemakers” and expecting them to be bad people just because they like teasing people or because they’re “difficult” and reactive and assuming that the people that seem great and are people of the church are pure and not capable of evil.


I think it has the least gore, second maybe to Cockroaches but it was still disturbing
when it came to the little girls. Speaking of Cockroaches it felt a bit similar to it because it had to do with a pedophile but it was a completely different setting and inspired different conversations and thoughts.


The Redeemer is Harry and the killer because it was Harry that left without arresting the killer and the killer who actually killed Γιον and took revenge for Robert, Sofia, Martine and Χάλβορσεν. Γιον had hurt so many people.

It’s not my favourite of the books mostly because I guessed that it was Jon quite but I do appreciate it and like it overall.
Something was missing that the other books in the series had but I don’t know what it was. 

All the books in the series can be read as standalones but as the series goes on it’s going to be more difficult to understand the significance of things that happen outside of the main plot line.

We also finally got a queer POV character even if it was a killer. I liked him lol.