Wolf Hour, by Jo Nesbo.
Vengeance can be a double-edged sword: the satisfaction of paying back one’s nemesis
can sometimes be spoilt by the fact that payback never seems to be enough, and
in this case the Northern U.S. city of Minneapolis isn’t big enough to contain
the many guilty who are to blame in some way or other for the death of one
man’s family. He wants them all to know
the lacerating, unimaginable agony that he has endured for decades – he wants
them, by his standards, to suffer. As he
has.
The great Jo Nesbo has written a stand-alone novel about
revenge and the quest for sufficient compensation by a man who will go to his
death rather than give up his terrible quest and, as always, there are villains
in every public law enforcement department, including police who have looked
the other way for years so that their income can be bolstered. Such a man is NOT Detective Bob Oz, a man who
follows his own rules – which gets him into endless trouble with Bureaucracy –
(currently he is suspended for insubordination); he has several Out-There theories regarding
the identity of this latest domestic terrorist, but as it turns out his
theories are clever but don’t hit the jackpot. Besides, he’s suspended, so he’s
not allowed anywhere near the investigation.
Needless to say, Bob Oz is besieged on more than one
front: his marriage is over due to the
tragic, preventable death of his little daughter, his wife has moved on with a
new man and Bob has reached a personal low point in his life. His only small pleasure is razzing the bartender
Liza at Bernie’s Bar, and visiting a taxidermist (truly!) for some peaceful, tranquilising
conversation. At least the taxidermist
has a good handle on how life should work
(don’t we all) and their conversations pass the time and sooth his troubled
spirit – until the next murder occurs, and the fact that his expertise is not
required – or sought – is the red rag to Bob Oz’s Bull: he’ll just have to go rogue.
And so he does!
The suspense ratchets up unbearably and in ways so gruesome that I could
hardly read each page; Jo Nesbo has really
outdone himself this time with tight plotting and characters so well-drawn they
deserve a series themselves, but an added pleasure (after all the gore) is the
wonderful dialogue between a craftsman dedicated to restoring peoples’ loved
pet family members, and a washed-up, washed-out cop who has lost faith in
everything. JO NESBO RULES! SIX STARS.
