Rating: 4.5

He expected more or less to die drunk and penniless in LA, following the traumatic events of The Knife, but Harry Hole returns again to Oslo, probably more of a washed up wreck than ever, but the same certainly can't be said for his creator Jo Nesbø who, still at the top of his game after 12 previous Hole novels, delivers here a very solid new chapter to Harry's life.

In post-pandemic Oslo as two kidnapping cases turn into a murder with ritualistic overtones the police is stumped but calling the country's only expert in serial killers back is out of question for the higher ups. It's rather a powerful millionaire with links to the two women who brings Harry back from LA to Norway for a decidedly unorthodox parallel private investigation to the one lead jointly by the Crime Squad's Katerine Bratt and Sung-Min Larsen from Kripo.

While Nesbø as usual takes his time to set the stage and get everything in motion, the rest of the novel is a gripping, fast paced thriller with several twists and turns and misdirections, culminating in an explosive finale that's not without its share of surprises. In parallel to the police's investigation, Harry's and all the political imbroglios his actions out of the official channels create, Nesbø offers us a great window into the mind of his new killer, as darkly imaginative and gruesome as ever.

Alongside Harry or Katerine Bratt, Nesbø brings back a slate of his great secondary cast of characters, making very good use of what he's established through the series, here and there using them in unexpected ways, and finding time for great character moments in the midst of the police procedural without losing the momentum.

While Killing Moon could certainly be read as a stand alone (with Nesbø providing plenty of informations to understand what's happened to whom in previous books), it's certainly much more interesting to read this series in publication order.

The only weaker element of the story (very easy to simply brush off as perhaps a little too convenient) are the early events that motivate Harry to accept to work for the millionaire suspect, but there are hints that Nesbø might be playing a long game there... or misdirecting us again. Either way, that's soon forgotten as the "main course" of the novel begins.

Killing Moon delivers both the familiar with everything Harry Hole's fans have come to expect, but by making Harry the outsider this time around Nesbø also infuses the novel with a fresh angle, and finishes all that with a great hook at the end.

Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book for me to review.)
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In the thirteenth novel in the New York Times best-selling series, brilliant rogue police investigator Harry Hole is back, this time as an outsider assembling his own team to help find a serial killer.
Harry has gone to Los Angeles to drink himself to death, in the wake of his life back in Oslo falling to pieces. He’s nearly managed to, but Harry has been helping an older film actress, Lucille, to get away from the grips of a drug cartel to which she owes one million dollars, and in return, she’s given him shelter, company and a tailored suit.
In Oslo, two girls have disappeared and been found murdered and one of the suspects is a well-known real estate magnate. Katrine Bratt wants to bring in the country’s foremost serial killings expert, but the idea of collaborating with Harry Hole is out of the question for the chiefs of police. The real-estate magnate under suspicion on the other hand wants to hire Harry as a private investigator to clear his name from the case. Harry declines, but that’s before the drug cartel takes Lucille hostage. If Harry achieves the task, the real estate magnate will award him a monetary bonus enough to cover Lucille’s debt. He puts together a team that consists of a cocaine-dealing childhood friend, a corrupt police officer and a cancer-stricken psychologist. The drug cartel has given them ten days. The clock is ticking, and a blood moon has been forecast over Oslo.

I am sure that Harry's name is not intentionally funny, but it in English it is: we watched the (awful) movie THE SNOWMAN and hubby kept laughing at the character's name and monikered Michael Fassbender as #fuzzybutthole. (sigh)
That aside, it was weird to see Harry outside of Norway: I think that the warm climate suited him. The novel was well crafted and I actually enjoyed it more than some of his previous HH books: we cannot keep these on our shelves so I will be recommending it far and wide, especially to my Scandi-noir book lovers.
#shortbutsweetreviews