Written by Jo Nesbø

Number 2 in Harry Hole

Publisher: Aschehoug
Pages: 335
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Norwegian
Published: 1998-01-01
Original Language: English

I'd describe Kakerlakkene as solid, but unremarkable. Whereas the first Harry Hole book took a while to find it's feet, this one hit the ground running, and continued in the same vein as the first one. The previous book was set in Australia, a setting which felt a little forced to me - like things were added to the story just to justify it being set there. Kakerlakkene is set in Bangkok, and I think it works much better. It feels like the story is one which could only have taken place in and around the setting it takes place in. While I'm sure people would claim, almost certainly correctly, that the Thai culture is twisted and abused in order for the story to work, it... well... works. I didn't actually find the twists in this book to be that predictable, apart from the signalling of the twists themselves coming up. Overall it caught me off guard enough times that I didn't feel bored. I liked Kakerlakkene more than I thought I would. It wasn't spectacular, there probably isn't much in it that I'll remember in a few days, but it lived up to the expectations of being a good crime story from a guy who has become relatively well known for writing good crime stories.

Read from 2019-06-05 to 2019-06-19
Read in Norwegian
Rating: 4/5
Review: I’d describe Kakerlakkene as solid, but unremarkable. Whereas the first Harry Hole book took a while to find it’s feet, this one hit the ground running, and continued in the same vein as the first one.

The previous book was set in Australia, a setting which felt a little forced to me - like things were added to the story just to justify it being set there. Kakerlakkene is set in Bangkok, and I think it works much better. It feels like the story is one which could only have taken place in and around the setting it takes place in. While I’m sure people would claim, almost certainly correctly, that the Thai culture is twisted and abused in order for the story to work, it… well… works.

I didn’t actually find the twists in this book to be that predictable, apart from the signalling of the twists themselves coming up. Overall it caught me off guard enough times that I didn’t feel bored.

I liked Kakerlakkene more than I thought I would. It wasn’t spectacular, there probably isn’t much in it that I’ll remember in a few days, but it lived up to the expectations of being a good crime story from a guy who has become relatively well known for writing good crime stories.