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  • Location: Australia, Sydney

The Bat (Harry Hole 1)

The Bat (Harry Hole 1)

Why a Booktrail?

Late 1900s: The first Harry Hole thriller, a  Scandi-Nordic crime fiction story set in Australia.

  • ISBN: 978-1846551451
  • Translator: Don Bartlett
  • Genre: Crime, Thriller

What you need to know before your trail

The first book of the Harry Hole Detective series by Jo Nesbo. Harry Hole is sent to Australia to assist Sydney police who are investigating the murder of a Norwegian girl who has been found murdered on her gap year.

He is soon teamed with an Aboriginal detective and it soon becomes apparent that this murder could be part of a string of similar unsolved crimes. Harry wants to find out the truth but harry is already in a fair bit of trouble. He is meant to keep out of trouble and just do his job but the murderer will apparently only talk to Harry.

Travel Guide

You may now associate Jo Nesbo with his native Oslo and indeed there are official tours of the books which take place in his and Harry Hole’s native city.However the first of the series was set in Australia. On the case of an Norwegian girl, this is a thrilling insight into ‘Harry Hole the early years’ where there is a younger,and less damaged version of him than in later books.

It’s always amusing (well to us) that this could be translated as batman. And this is a new environment for the man particularly as it was the first one in the original series but was only translated quite late on after many of the others in English.

This is Australia where Harry Hole seems to be sick on a regular basis. Where his drinking is out of control.

“Harry woke with a splitting headache. The light hurt his eyes, and no sooner had he registered that he was lying under a blanket than he had to throw himself to the side. The vomit came in quick spurts and the contents of his stomach splashed on the stone floor. He fell back on the bench and felt the gall sting his nose as he asked himself the classic question: where on earth am I?”

Interesting that this is not the Harry Hole we all recognise as being in Australia he’s not the Nordic set hardman that we know from later books.

Streetview Maps

1) Sydney - Darling harbour
4) Sydney - Glebe Point Road

Booktrail Boarding Pass Information:

Facebook: /jonesboauthor

Web: jonesbo.com

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