The Bat: The First Inspector Harry Hole Novel
SynopsisPlot
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.
Story
About this book
Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is sent to Sydney, Australia, to observe the investigation of a murdered Norwegian woman. The victim, a twenty-three-year-old with minor celebrity status in Norway, has been found dead under circumstances that Australian police are working to untangle. Harry arrives with clear orders to assist if asked but to avoid causing problems. He does neither particularly well.
Rather than keeping a polite distance, Harry builds connections with one of the Australian detectives on the case and with a witness. As they compare notes, a broader pattern begins to surface. The killing appears connected to a series of unsolved murders stretching across the country, suggesting someone has been operating undetected for some time. The investigation shifts from a single crime to a hunt for a figure whose movements span vast distances across the Australian landscape.
The Bat is the first novel in Jo Nesbø's long-running Harry Hole series, originally published in Norwegian in 1997. Setting the opener outside Norway gives the book an unusual starting point for a Scandinavian crime series, placing its Oslo-based detective in unfamiliar territory from the very first chapter. The Australian setting shapes both the atmosphere and the investigative dynamics throughout.
