When Inger Holter, a 24 year-old blonde Norwegian
girl, is found dead, raped and strangled, in Australia, Harry Hole is
despatched from Oslo to liaise with the local police (and also to remove him
from a sticky situation back home).
The Sydney PD expects him simply to sit in
and report back to the grieving parents that everything that can be done is
being done. But that is not Harry’s style and soon he is running the show,
making connections with similar unsolved assaults on blonde women; it points to
a serial killer on the loose.
As the investigation unfolds, Harry is
partnered with an aboriginal detective, Andrew Kensington, which gives him an
opportunity to see the country and its history through the eyes of the dispossessed
natives. Kensington also acts as a guide to Sydney’s places of interest, both
tourist hotspots and its less savoury hangouts.
In one of the latter, a gay bar where Inger
worked, he connects with the lovely Birgitta. She is a fellow Scandinavian, but
Swedish and a redhead, and so not in imminent danger, apart that is from
Harry’s awkward advances.
The plot is complex, twisting, with more
than enough characters to keep the killer hidden deep into the book. As the
first Harry Hole thriller, some background on the main man is disclosed
(usually to Birgitta as they get close) and some of Harry’s disclosed demons
threaten to re-emerge as pressure mounts to make an arrest.
The story moves along at a good pace and
thoroughly engages. Though credulity is stretched occasionally, it remains
intact to the end, with Harry’s success in finding the killer, wooing Birgitta,
and regaining his peace of mind, all staying uncertain into the final pages.
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