Two young women are missing, their only connection being that they attended the same party, hosted by a notorious businessman. In addition to Harry’s POV, the reader spends copious time in the killer’s mind--which is sick and twisted. Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Not one I’d perhaps recommend reading around meal times unless you have a strong stomach, but entertaining nonetheless. He’s run away to LA, his credit card is maxed out and he’s drinking in a dive bar with an actress in her 60s who owes money to a Mexican gang.

In the wake of his parents' tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. According to Harvill Secker, Nesbø has now been published in 50 languages having sold more than 55 million copies of his books globally.

Grizzled, hard-living, socially awkward detectives were once a staple of my media diet, and so I didn’t pick up the latest in Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series as a novice. This makes Røed a person of interest in the homicides, and Røed hopes Harry Hole will finger someone else. She wishes Harry were on board but as he’s joined the dark side by working for Røed the police hierarchy are not impressed. I was there in the beginning when the first novel featuring his rebellious and brilliant Norwegian police officer, The Bat, came out in 1997. Until the woman who saved Harry's life is put in grave danger, and he is forced to join the hunt for the murderer.

I didn’t figure out who the killer was, although you’re likely cleverer than I am and might well do so early on. In 2019 we left Harry Hole in the last book of the series Knife with his darkest personal challenge yet but here finally comes a Harry Hole worth case again. When the Mexicans come to collect, Harry sees a chance for some redemption and steps in to protect the actress, although soon enough she’s abducted. Killing Moon is not just an unbearably tense thriller but another of Nesbø’s studies in love and loneliness. I love the way the author keeps you guessing right to the end with the final twist and the rest is up to you.

With the same great characters and setting, together with a complete psychopath as the perpetrator (who we hear from regularly through the book, justifying his actions), this is yet another great Scandi-crime novel. The premise of this is interesting - the book starts with Harry in another country drinking himself to death, but I can think of two other books which start in the same way. After another classmate disappears after spending time alone with Richard, it's more important than ever for Richard to prove he's innocent. Perhaps some are too obvious, perhaps not, but there is a good deal of misdirection which keeps the perpetrators identity hidden until just the crucial moment.