Macbeth by Jo Nesbø is a dark tome of page turning pervasive evil where the guttering candle of hope is either fanned or near extinguished by the draught of the turning leaf. “The only thing necessary for the trumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” could not be a more fitting quotation for many of the characters in the book. However, even those who choose to acquiesce can be changed when the table turns on them. So, there is towards the end some hope for good to triumph over evil.

My only gripe with the translation is that there is an unusual meld of Scandinavian names and car types set against a backdrop of Scottish industrial decay and drug addiction.

Jo Nesbø is the latest author to participate in the Hogarth Shakespeare project. Launched in October 2015, the project’s stated aim is ‘to see Shakespeare’s plays reimagined by some of today’s bestselling and most celebrated writers. The books are true to the spirit of the original plays, while giving authors an exciting opportunity to do something new.’

This is the first book by Jo Nesbø I’ve read, although I’m aware of his books and his many fans across the world. Therefore, I came to the book with high expectations both because of his reputation and the Shakespeare play he had chosen to tackle, Macbeth. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. At over 600 pages, I found the book rather a slog and not as gripping as I had expected. For me, the author didn’t really succeed in ‘doing something new’ to the extent I was hoping for.

The book certainly fleshes out the back stories of many of the characters in Shakespeare’s play but I didn’t find this added much for me. A lot of time was devoted to the detailed planning of police operations, carried out with ruthlessness and little regard for the rule of law. So if you like plenty of blood and guts, you’ll be happy. Things picked up a little when Lady (the character represents who Lady Macbeth) arrived on the scene but not enough to reignite my interest in the book as a whole.

The book is set in a rundown Scottish town in the 1970s but has a distinctly dystopian feel. It’s a place where unemployment and deprivation has led to a high level of addiction to drugs, gambling and alcohol. In practice, the drug barons are in charge and corruption in local institutions, including the Police is rife. To my mind this was where the book worked best; conjuring up an atmosphere of decay and hopelessness, a society divided into ‘haves’ and ‘haves nots’ and torn apart by violence and gang warfare.

I think if the writing had been tauter, some of the detail had been excised and the author could have done more than just retell the story but set in another time and place, this would have made Macbeth a more compelling read. Like some other reviewers, I don’t believe this is the most successful contribution to the Hogarth Shakespeare series.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Vintage, and NetGalley.

I am not the ideal audience for this book, as I don't read such hard hitting slow burners showing the dark side of crime. I tried picking up the book again, after DNFing it.
This book was really difficult to get into. The characters fell flat, cops who killed without a reason were not amongst my favorite. This was a world of crime, where drug trade was the contemporary side of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Not a fan of this theme. The pace was blaringly slow. I had to skim read many parts. The timelines were difficult to follow as it went back and forth. I kept getting confused. I don't like books that.
This was my first book by Jo Nesbo, and I think I should have started with his other series. Dark descriptions, boring characters, and long winded descriptions, along with lots of killing made this not a good read.

Not one of my favorite Jo Nesbo novels, but you can't go wrong with Nesbo even when he doesn't quite hit the mark. I think the parameters of this "experiment"--tackling Shakespeare from a modern perspective--stole some of Nesbo's particularly unique takes on crime fiction. It was jarring as well to see him writing away from Harry Hole, an absolute icon of the genre. Worth a look, but not at the top of Nesbo oeuvre.

With the Hogarth Shakespeare Project calling on the talents of some of the acclaimed novelists of today, to retell a selection of Shakespeare’s finest plays, who better to reimagine Macbeth with all its inherent darkness than bestselling crime author Jo Nesbo. Talking of his inspiration for his own Macbeth, Nesbo says that the original is “a thriller about the struggle for power, set both in a gloomy, stormy, noir like setting, and in a dark, paranoid human mind”, so not that far removed from the familiar crime writing tropes we all recognise, So how does Nesbo’s take on this Shakespeare classic measure up?

Having pretty much forgotten the plot of Macbeth since reading it years ago, it was quite enjoyable not overthinking the comparisons and similarities between the play and Nesbo’s rendition, so however scant your knowledge of the original, the key characters and pivotal scenes are well in evidence here. The book is suffused with direct and reworked familiar quotes from the play, and at times there’s a cheery playfulness to how Nesbo attributes them to certain characters, tempered by the darkest proclamations that arise from the darkest deeds in the book. Sometimes the language feels a little over reliant on quotes, even a touch forced. It seems that Nesbo gets too caught up in the need to echo the original, and the dialogue that comes from some characters seems a little disingenuous to our perception of them, and makes the dialogue rigid at times.

However, like Shakespeare’s version, and as Nesbo alluded to himself, the key theme is power, and the desperate, violent and dehumanising actions that one man, the eponymous police officer Macbeth, takes to gain and consolidate power. As one character says of Macbeth’s lust for power, “He’s already managed to divest himself of any emotions that tie him to morality and humanity, now power is his new and only lover” and this is what Nesbo captures so perfectly in his characterisation. Macbeth, aided and abetted by his conniving lover Lady, is an intense and mesmerising character throughout, battling his physical addiction to ‘brew’, scheming and plotting, driven by his suffocating love for Lady and his own thirst for complete autocracy. I loved the sense of this claustrophobic vacuum that they exist in, completely immersed in each other, and both hungry for power, until the seismic shift in their relationship. Likewise, I thought that Duff was an incredibly interesting character, at one time the absolute confidante of Macbeth, but now as obsessed with justice as Macbeth is with power, whatever the cost to them both. There is a large cast of characters, and Nesbo balances them very well in what is more of a reading marathon than a sprint, keeping the reader on the back foot with the double dealing, betrayal, and sudden outbursts of extreme violence, as faithful to Shakespeare himself, he decreases them by the page by nefarious means.

Undoubtedly, my favourite aspect of the book was the setting, in a reimagined Scottish city replete with poisonous air, seedy backstreets, the purveyors of human misery in drugs or gambling, a crumbling economy, but all resonating with the echo of history. Nesbo is incredibly good at grounding the reader in the specific location against which his characters vent and rage. plot and scheme and love and die, and there’s an incredibly visual quality to the book as a whole which is vital to alleviate the intensity of the raw emotions much in evidence here. This, and the very well defined characterisation was definitely central to my overall enjoyment of the book, which, although a little drawn out at times, slowed down by the necessity to reference the original a little too tenaciously, was a satisfying read overall. It mostly captured the dark and dangerous ambition and melancholy of Shakespeare’s original, and I’m sure this proved a very interesting writing experience for Nesbo himself

Having read a few of the Harry Hole books before and quite liking them, I was curious to see how Nesbo would approach a modern retelling of Macbeth. The answer is not very well, but he is not alone in that regard, I don't think Macbeth generally tends to lend itself well to modern retelling.

The setting is a very paint-by-numbers urban environment with a few Scottish place names taken from Wikipedia thrown in for good measure. The story itself is more or less pulled directly from the original play and hammered into a this modern day police mold and it didn't fit or work for me.

Would probably only recommend to ardent Nesbo fans.

With thanks to Netgalley and Vintage for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Remembering the story from reading the play at school, it was fascinating to see the interpretation into a more modern setting by this author. The dark atmosphere was captured as well as the darkness of the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and definitely recommend it. I look forward to reading the other interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays.

Interesting retake on the original play but no real additional story. Think I rather miss Harry Hole and would prefer his innovation than this old yarn. Still reasonably entertaining.

This is deliciously dark, and highly addictive. I have not read any of Jo Nesbo's books before, definitely one to search out in the future. Highly recommended.

This book is very different! It is a retelling of the Shakespeare play and is the same in that it is a tale of power and corruption. However this story is set in the 1970's in a dystopian society but because a lot of the same or similar names were used I found it hard not to imagine the characters in Shakespearean times. I think it was a clever concept and an intriguing story but I am not sure it actually works very well.

I have been enjoying reading the Hogarth rewrites, mostly by favourite authors of mine. Having not read any Jo Nesbo books before I did not come to this with any preconceptions of how the 'Scottish Play' would be treated. I was gripped by Nesbo's imagined 1950s (60s?) Scotland, a post 2nd world war setting where unemployment, mental health issues and drugs are spiralling and fed on by crime. Macbeth is a heroic police officer from the other side of the tracks to the majority of privately educated police officers and is being groomed by hidden forces to take over and be under the control of Hecate now that the corrupt Kenneth is gone. The Shakespearean characters are all there, upated to the nastier side of mid 20th century Scotland but power and politics are still the main themes. Nesbo's writing of Lady as an ex-prostitute, now casino owner, was particularly effective and the telling of her back story through the narrative was superb. Power is treated both literally and metaphorically as the root of the evil being a particularly strong and addictive drug which is brewed in Hecate's kitchen by the weird sisters. Nesbo creates the characters and settings so well that I could see and smell this kitchen, the casino, the station, the bikers' clubhouse and the external locations. I would really like to see this version of Macbeth made for television and have been enjoying considering who I would like cast in the main parts My thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this great book in return for an honest review.

This was a really good idea - take one of the original noir stories, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and add a modern master of crime-writing, Jo Nesbo - but, while there are many things to like and admire about the book, it is a little less than the sum of its parts. The parts I enjoyed most are essentially all Nesbo - exciting and visceral car chases, a showdown with drug-dealing gangs, the action scenes, elements that he has inserted into the gaps in the source material where much of the ‘action’, such as Duncan’s murder, famously happens off-stage. Nesbo updates the play to an unnamed, largely Scottish, city in the 1970s - think Glasgow pre-City of Culture - and it gives the story a suitably dark and violent background. Unfortunately, I found the dialogue stilted and a little too much of a homage to the original Shakespeare. The best productions of the play bring the language to life and make it exciting and perhaps that is the biggest problem - the play is meant to be performed rather than read. Perhaps this would work as a dark, Scandinavian series along the lines of The Bridge or The Killing, and I would certainly watch it. Macbeth is not a terrible novel by any means, a worthwhile exercise, but it doesn’t match Nesbo’s best. Nor Shakespeare’s.

This book really doesn't need any introduction, hype or explanation. It's Jo Nesbo's own modern take on the story of Macbeth.

It is glorious. A masterpiece. And I don't feel like I'm exaggerating at all.

Nesbo has absolutely captured the essence of the original. It is still full of murder, paranoia and insanity. The book is set in a dystopian city where everyone is crooked and the drug pushers rule all. Macbeth is the head of the SWAT team, and Lady Macbeth (or here, just Lady) is the very shrewd owner of a casino. And there are other characters you will recognise if you are familiar with Shakespeare's classic, although not in their original forms. As in the original however, the story is all about obsession with power.

Without spoiling anything, things get pretty crazy pretty fast. The writing is pacey yet insidious; dark yet poignant. The prose is contemporary but strangely poetic.

I absolutely loved this book. It has become an immediate favourite. It doesn't need to be compared to the original, I think it both stands on its own; or equally, side by side Shakespeare's much loved version. Does it rival the original? That's not for me to decide, but for me it's an instant classic. 5 stars.

‘Human ambition will always stretch towards sun like a thistle and overshadow and kill everything around it.’

Jo Nesbo brings his typically dark Scandinavian vision to Shakespeare’s classic tale, part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. It is a violent world, set in a 1970s metropolis in a vaguely defined geographical setting. It rains – a lot. This is a novel looking at the moral choices we make, at ambition and power and how it seduces and takes over like a drug. Nesbo stays true to the general outline of the original play but creates a world where drug addiction and gambling are rife, and violence is never far from the surface.

It is undoubtedly well written, but I could never fully engage with the characters and I admit to skim-reading several pages just to get the gist of the story. It is an interesting take on the Bard, and whilst the themes of corruption and politics are apposite in these troubling times, for me this was only a decent read, not a great one. The original play makes the points well enough, and Nesbo doesn’t quite manage to create enough ‘newness’ to his adaptation to make it stand out or to say anything original. Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed it and it certainly displays Nesbo’s prodigious talent as a writer. His large fan-following will enjoy this novel.

(With thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC of the novel in return for an unbiased and honest review.)

Macbeth in Nordic Noir style - and it works! I've enjoyed the Hogarth Shakespeare series so far, and I think this is the best of the four that I've read.
Nesbo has done a really good job of moving the setting from medieval Scotland to modern Scandinavia (I think! That's what it felt like as I was reading anyway). The names of the towns in the original are the names of the casinos; the Queen of the witches, Hecate, is the main dealer and leader of organised crime in the town; Lady (Macbeth) is the owner of the most exclusive of those casinos.
Like Shakespeare's play, this book is grim, oppressive and ultra-violent. The body count is high, the murders committed without thought, or at least the only thought in Macbeth's head is that he will gain more power in the eradication of his 'enemies' and their families.
The description of the city portrays a poverty stricken, unemployment plagued, drug addicted, polluted northern town. These people seem to be accustomed to the corruption of their police and government officials, which is how the door opens to allow Macbeth to step through with Lady, his wife (who isn't his wife in this, but his girlfriend). Lady is the one who guides Macbeth's hand in everything he does, and then pays the ultimate price when guilt drives her mad.
I really do think that this is an excellent retelling. Five hundred pages went by in a flash for me, and I have to admit to a feeling of satisfaction as the story was wrapped up at the end.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book - and this is a totally unbiased review, people!

A typical Nesbo novel. Loads of action and lots of bodies! But perhaps even Nesbo shouldn't attempt another take on Shakespeare' s Macbeth as regrettably the linkage in both character names and action comes across as a little bit clunky and obvious! An enjoyable and gripping read nonetheless.

I really enjoyed Macbeth. I enjoy original takes or alternative version of well-known stories so I was eager to see what Nesbø did Shakespeare. My confession: I’ve never read the original Macbeth so have no idea how this book compares. I just found this an enjoyable, fast paced thriller. The book is set in the 1970’s. The characters are fantastic, flesh out and so real they almost walk off the page. Macbeth is a fantastic leading man. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his gradual descent into paranoia and madness. This is very well written. Macbeth’s lover, Lady offers an interesting and sinister layer to it all. Macbeth is well worth a read.

If there was any doubt over Jo Nesbo's skill as an author (and I think that unlikely!) this book gives notice that he's up there with the best and capable of turning his writing skills to the unusual task of reimagining Shakespeare's Macbeth in a modern setting. The characters are well-drawn and the action skilfully described so that the reader almost feels like an invisible observer to the unfolding events. It probably won't be to everyone's taste and more than one reader is likely to furtively reach for a well-thumbed copy of the original to remind him/herself of the gory events and troubled psyches that are such a feature of the enduring tale. However, as a different take on timeless themes of friendship, rivalry, ruthlessness and greed it is a great read. Recommended.

OKay not my favourite story but one I enjoyed nevertheless. I just love the use of words, and imagery.

This is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Series which challenges well know authors to reimagine some of Shakespeare's well known plays. No mean feat I would think but here, Jo Nesbo does a mighty fine job of things. He's taken the cast and plot and thrown them into the 70s where our eponymous hero is recasted as a police Inspector with a rather troubled past. Tasked with cleaning up after a drug bust degenerates into a bloodbath, we follow Shakespeare's original plot quite well as Macbeth, originally tipped for greater things, slowly starts to degenerate. Along with his wife who fronts a local casino, and has her own aspirations, we see how they soon start to reap what they sow.
If you are familiar with the original story you will find all the usual suspects contained within this re-telling and it is a credit to the author that he has managed to slip them all seamlessly into the new time in which the story has now been set. At times it's almost like the characters have been reborn perfectly, the dynamics and personalities translating really well into the 70s.
Admittedly, this was a book that I did initially struggle to read. Maybe it was a bit on the slow side at the beginning or maybe I was just trying to spot people and compare too much at the start that I didn't just embrace what I was reading. I'm not sure but, after a while, I really clicked with it all and the rest of the book whizzed along for me as I got more and more immersed in it.
What really impressed me was that Nesbo managed to put his own spin on certain things without really detracting from the original too much. Obviously, as with a cover version of a song, a reimagining of a story has to have something a little extra from the original and whilst I imagine that Shakespeare purists may not be too happy with something or other, I personally think that Nesbo's tweaks were very well executed and in keeping with the whole story as re-told.
I could bang on more about the characters and Nesbo's translation of them to how he sees them in his version of the story but I think that part of the joy of reading a familiar tale is seeing how the characters fit with your own personal preconceptions and the similarities and differences therein. Suffice to say that I was overjoyed with most and, even those I questioned I grew to accept. I did find myself almost punching the air at some of the really clever parallels that were made along the way.
I've always found Macbeth to be somewhat of an exercise in psychology especially regarding the gain and abuse of power and the corruption that inevitably ensues and here Nesbo adds his own elements to the overall with the inclusion of the things more prevalent to the time in which he has set the book. Yes, the destination is as you would expect but the journey to there does differ somewhat, definitely bloodier at times. Whether it is better than the original will probably split people but I personally think that he has taken all the best ingredients and added some of his own, making for a well balanced modern day witches brew.
Having never heard of the Hogarth Shakespeare Series before and having read a fair few of the bard's plays at school, with how this one played out for me, I am definitely going to check out the other books in this series.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.