Name: The Leopard
Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Author: Jo Nesbo

About this book

Summary

Book Summary

Two young women are found murdered in Oslo, both drowned in their own blood. Media coverage quickly reaches fever pitch: Could this be the work of a serial killer?

The crime scenes offer no coherent clues, the police investigation is stalled, and the one man who might be able to help doesn't want to be found. Traumatized by his last case, Inspector Harry Hole has lost himself in the squalor of Hong Kong's opium dens. Yet when he is compelled, at last, to return to Norway - his father is dying - Harry's buried instincts begin to take over. After a female MP is discovered brutally murdered, nothing can keep him from the investigation.

There is little to go on: a piece of rope, a scrap of wool, a bit of gravel, an unexpected connection between the victims. And Harry will soon come to understand that he is dealing with a psychopath for whom "insanity is a vital retreat," someone who will put him to the test - in both his professional and personal lives - as never before.

Ruthlessly intelligent and suspenseful, The Leopard is Jo Nesbø's most electrifying novel yet - absolutely gripping from first to last.

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Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Good for a nightmare or three - a taut, fast-paced thriller with wrenching twists and turns." - Kirkus Reviews

"This vivid, violent novel promises to speak on many levels to many readers and will be snatched up by Scandinavian crime fiction fans." - Library Journal

"Outstanding... Nesbø moves the action easily from Hong Kong to Norway, with side trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo, without ever losing the plot's sense of urgency." - Publishers Weekly

"With Henning Mankell having written his last Wallander novel and Stieg Larsson no longer with us, I have had to make the decision on whom to confer the title of best current Nordic writer of crime fiction... Jo Nesbø wins." - Marcel Berlins, The Times (U.K.)

This information about The Leopard was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Bonnie Brody

Twists and Turns Galore
Jo Nesbo, Norwegian mystery writer extraordinaire, has followed up his last novel, The Snowman, with a novel sure to appeal to his many fans. The Leopard is a mystery with more twists and turns than the human mind can fathom. However, as one reads this novel, it all seems clear and even rational. The beastly serial killer has a rationale and only the super-hero, Harry Hole is capable of getting him. Ironically, he turns to his last adversary, The Snowman, for some help.

The novel starts out with the killing of three women in a sadistic fashion using a tool called 'the apple'. It is put into the victim's mouth and if the victim pulls the twine, or if it is pulled by someone else, needles come out of the ball and pierce the sinuses, eyes, brain and mouth of the victim. Not a way anyone would choose to go, that's for sure. The criminal team in Oslo goes to Hong Kong to try to get Harry Hole to return to Norway. In Hong Kong he is entrenched in opium dens, bemoaning the loss of his love, Rakel, and her son Oleg, who left him in The Snowman. Harry returns to Norway to help his team out, only to be ensconced in a political situation that is a mess. There is a group called Krispo, headed by a narcissistic leader, Mikael, who has it in for Harry and his team. The name of the game for Mikael is self-gratification and rewards. He wants to be cheered by his nation as the number one hunter and capturer of murderers, not for the sake of goodness or for the intrinsic desire to be a good policeman, but for hubris. Harry, on the other hand, couldn't much care how he looks to others. He wants the bad guys caught and behind bars.

What transpires as the meat of this novel is that a group of people who visited a ski hut in rural Norway are getting killed off one by one. The page that has the list of who was in the ski hut on the important night in question has mysteriously been torn from the registration book and there are no clues as to where to begin the search. Leave it to Harry, however, to find just one clue, even a little one, to start an investigation going. Not only is there a serial killer loose, but there is no rhyme or reason as to why he is killing these folks.

The book is character driven and the reader gets to know each and every person. There is action galore as well, both inside the minds of the protagonists and in the bullet-ridden trenches of police work. I think that Nesbo has become my favorite Scandinavian crime writer as of this book. He has it all and I fell in head first from page one and didn't come up for air until the end. He is in the same league as Fossum, Larsen, and Mankell. And for those of you who are not familiar with these three, this is a real compliment.

My only regret is that I didn't start out with the first book in the Harry Hole series. I think this would give me a better perspective on his life and who he is. Thank goodness I own these books and can sit down and read them at my leisure.

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Author Information

Biography
Books by this Author

Jo Nesbo Author Biography

Jo Nesbo is one of the world's bestselling crime writers, with The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son and his latest Harry Hole novel, The Thirst, all topping the Sunday Times bestseller charts. He's an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 33 million copies around the world.

Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway's premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen. After three years military service he attended business school and formed the band Di derre ('Them There'). They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night. ...

... Full Biography
Link to Jo Nesbo's Website

Name Pronunciation
Jo Nesbo: According to the author's website, Jo is pronounced like 'you', and Jo says the 'o' in Nesbo is similar to the vowel in Inspector Clouseau's pronunciation of the word 'bomb'