The Bat, Jo Nesbo
The Bat, Jo Nesbo
13 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

The Bat
The First Inspector Harry Hole Novel

Author: Jo Nesbo, Don Bartlett

Narrator: John Lee

Unabridged: 9 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/02/2013

Synopsis

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • In the electrifying first installment of the New York Times bestselling series, Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is dispatched to Sydney to observe a murder case. As he circles closer to the killer, Harry begins to fear that no one is safe, least of all those investigating the murder.

The victim is a twenty-three year old Norwegian woman who is a minor celebrity back home. Harry is free to offer assistance, but he has firm instructions to stay out of trouble. Never one to sit on the sidelines, Harry befriends one of the lead detectives, and one of the witnesses, as he is drawn deeper into the case. Together, they discover that this is only the latest in a string of unsolved murders, and the pattern points toward a psychopath working his way across the country.

About Jo Nesbo

Norwegian born Jo Nesbo is multi-talented. He was born in Oslo in 1960, growing up in Molde. He received his degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics. He played football and had aspirations of playing professionally, but a serious knee injury destroyed those dreams. He served in the military, then formed a band called Di derre (Them There), who topped the charts in Norway. He kept his number crunching job during the day and his band performed at night.

The band was popular enough for a publisher to ask Nesbo to write a memoir about his life on the road with a band. For some reason, he instead came up with his first plot for what became his signature series with Inspector Harry Hole. The Bat was his first novel in that series.

So, you have a writer, musician, and economic analyst selling more than 3 million copies of his novels by 2014. Then, an astounding 33 million copies worldwide by 2017....... that is some impressive number crunching.

Nesbo has had one children's book (English translation) Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, and also had one of his novels (Hodejegerne) made into a film, Headhunters.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Chelsea on September 28, 2017

I know that the first two Harry Hole books are generally the least popular of the series, but I couldn't be persuaded to jump in at book three and altered my expectations accordingly. While I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I've not experienced this character or series before, I act......more

Goodreads review by Federico on March 26, 2024

A very disturbed serial killer, and an even more problematic detective. In this first novel of the series we learn the beginnings of the enigmatic Harry Hole, a renowned but highly problematic detective from Oslo, Norway. A rape and murder of a norwegian citizen takes place in Sydney, Australia. T......more

Goodreads review by Noeleen on November 12, 2012

As a huge fan of Jo Nesbo and the Harry Hole series, I waited eagerly, like many other fans, for The Bat, the first book in the Harry Hole series, to finally be translated into English. It was like waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas Eve and deliver that wonderful present that you are hoping yo......more

Goodreads review by Evgnossia on January 08, 2018

Review was originally published on Through the Chapters|Blog *3,5 stars* “I have an idea for Harry’s life, for what is going to happen to him. Harry’s near future looks bleak. After that it’s getting even worse. And after that everything is going to hell” -Jo Nesbø interview, January 2010 This is the ma......more

Goodreads review by Baba on September 12, 2021

The first Harry Hole case, which was not translated into English until 2013, sees Harry begin his series investigating the murder of a Norwegian woman in Australia. A bit of a continuity nightmare for readers with many of us having read his later cases first, so I found this a difficult debut to fai......more

Quotes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A USA Today Critic’s Pick • Winner of The Riverton Prize for Best Norwegian Crime Novel of the Year • Winner of The Glass Key for Best Nordic Crime Novel of the Year

“This is an absolute must for devotees of the riveting train wreck that is Harry Hole.... While the chronological confusion is disconcerting, it adds a layer of dramatic irony to the tale and enhances its tension and power.”
      —Booklist (starred review)
 
“Harry is already every bit as volcanic as in his later cases. The big difference is Australia, which Nesbø, seeing it through the eyes of both a tourist and a cultural pathologist, makes you wonder how much different it is from Norway after all.”
     —Kirkus Reviews

"This debut effort shows Nesbø as an already confident genre craftsman, striking sparks from the familiar genre material of Harry’s fish-out-of-water experience in a foreign land and odd-couple pairing with a mismatched partner."
     —Publishers Weekly

“Even with this first book Nesbø’s command of the idiom is completely in place—there is absolutely no sense that the writer was finding his feet and aficionados will be very pleased to slide this on to their bookshelves alongside the other Harry Hole novels.”
    —The Daily Express
 
“It is fantastic to see a younger Harry, a more loquacious Harry.... [Nesbø is] a terrific writer who knows how to build a story, taking you slowly to the top of a rollercoaster before sending you hurtling towards a solution that you never see coming.”
    —Scottish Express
 
“Nesbø is already taking on the clichés, ruthlessly tearing them apart and coming up with new riffs.... Most satisfyingly, we can now see the organic shape that Nesbø always intended his work to take.”
    —The Independent (London)

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List