The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

FOREIGN AUTHORS

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

Review Courtesy of Cassandra Alpaugh

Main Character: Police Detective Harry Hole

Series/Title: Harry Hole Series; The Redbreast

Setting: The story takes place during the final months of World War II to the present, and from the Russian front to contemporary South Africa and Oslo. 

Point of View: The author uses the multiple point of view method in the book and due to this the readers can get a glimpse into the minds of the protagonists as well as the antagonists; this creates a reading experience which is not only interesting because we get to know what happens next an who is behind all the crimes committed, but because we get very deep and thorough descriptions of the thoughts and motivations of the characters.

Style/Pacing: The story has a slow start but picks up pace especially on the Eastern Front and in Oslo when all the parts of the story start to collide together.

Main Character Traits: Police Detective is a lonely alcoholic who is terrible at relationships and has difficulty interacting with his coworkers, but develops great relationships with his beat partners.

Language/Writing: Intricate characters; lengthy subplots; well-drawn secondary characters

Emotional Impact/Degree of Violence: There is a lot of mental and physical carnage on the Eastern Front. A main portion of the story also deals with the violence of Neo Nazis and the “black stain” of soldiers from Norway who fought for the Nazis during World War II who are slowly being killed off.

Humor?: It is a very dark story.

Vulgarity/Sex?: Occasional swearing, sex is mostly off the page. Rated: PG

Special Points: This is the first book in the Harry Hole Series. I started with the 5th book in the series so it isn’t terribly important to start at the beginning. This is a difficult book to listen to on audio since the setting jumps time periods and the character’s names are very tricky.

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

Private Investigators

Review Courtesy of Cassandra Alpaugh

Series/Title

Moonlight mile by Dennis Lehane

Main Characters

Patrick Kenzie-P.I., Angela Gennaro-P.I., Amanda McCready – Sequel to Gone, baby, gone

Setting

11 years after Gone, baby, gone Kenzie and Gennaro are still in Boston, MA. Kenzie has mellowed with age and fatherhood and is looking to find more stable work and income. The start of the book does a good job expressing what it feels like to live in the current recession. Gennaro is a stay at home mom who is finishing up her degree but is pinning after the excitement of her P.I. days.

Plot

Kenzie is called back to once again find Amanda McCready. Amanada is missing, again. Amanda’s aunt has Kenzie and Gennaro are determined to do the right thing by Amanda but once again there are legally right and morally wrong decisions that need to be made.

Point of View

First person point of view from the character of Patrick Kenzie.

Style/Pacing

Has a nice pace in the beginning as the character’s current situation is explored and then takes off at an explosive pace as the investigation gets underway.

Main Character Traits

Matter of fact personalities laced with dark humor. The characters are getting older but they are balanced, yet prone to handling situations with violence.

Language/Writing

Lehane has an amazing command of the first person narrative which stays consistent throughout the entire book. There is gritty language used.

Degree of Violence

There are Russian mafia folks who like to shoot people. Kenzie has a tendency to shoot people. Bubba has a tendency to shoot people … so it is pretty violent.

Humor

There is a lot of dark humor sometimes so understated that it may take you a while to get the job. Bubba has a few good one-liners.

Vulgarity/Sex

There is a lot of talk about sex and a teenage pregnancy. It isn’t terribly descriptive but could be almost Rated PG-13.

A Cold Touch of Ice by Michael Pearce

Foreign author

Review Courtesy of Bryan Eichner

Series/ Title

Mamur Zapt Mysteries;  A Cold Touch of Ice  by Michael Pearce

Main Characters

Gareth Owen:  The Mamur Zapt- A private investigator the serves as a liason to The British and Egyptian leaders. He is investigating the murder of Sidi Morelli, an Italian citizen living in Egypt.

Setting

Egypt in 1912 during The British occupation. Italy has invaded Tripolitania and tensions are high against foreigners.  Public opinion is shifting from tolerance to xenophobia (fear of foreigners) and this shift must be controlled before its supporters have a chance to destroy British/Egyptian relations in the government.

Plot

Garreth Owen, The Mamur Zapt  visits Cairo, Egypt because of Mahmoud’s wedding. Local Italian, Sidi Morelli is killed in front of a coffee house on Mahmoud’s street. Gareth and Mahmoud are then sent to investigate the case of Sidi’s death and uncover the truth behind his relationship with the local Egyptians.   Gareth and Mahmoud are also sent to investigate a gun smuggling ring in a Cairo warehouse.

Point of View

Third person, but Gareth and Mahmoud are mentioned the most frequently.

Style/Pacing

Starts off at a slower pace, but progressively becomes faster as the mystery is revealed. There are some chase scenes as Gareth and Mahmoud pursue suspects for questioning. While the steps in the investigation are noted (research and conversations) they do not take precedence over the thrill of the chase.

Main Character Traits

British, a sharp observer, and fair.  Gareth’s physical traits are rarely touched upon in the book. The Mamur Zapt is very sensitive about issues on sides of both The British and The Egyptian.

Language/Writing

 Egyptian culture and language is used in part of the book. Action-oriented

Degree of Violence

One murder. Weapons (knives and guns)

Humor?

Some light humor

Vulgarity/Sex?

Occasional flirting and fighting. Rated: PG- 13

Special Note:

The reader might want to keep an Arabic/English dictionary handy because some of the words in the book are Arabic terms that are not widely used in The English language. The reader does not have to look at the entire series unless they would like to see Egypt at different points in the 20^th century.