KILLING MOON

Harry Hole is pulled back home from La-La Land to investigate a series of killings for a most unexpected reason.

Inspector Katrine Bratt, head of the Oslo Police Department’s Crime Squad, desperately wants the help of her ex-lover, a terrible cop who’s also the country’s leading authority on serial killers, when Susanne Andersen and Bertine Bertilsen, both of whom have gone missing, turn up dead and disfigured in a truly ghoulish manner. There’s no way, says her boss, Chief Supt. Bodil Melling: Harry’s already disgraced the department in so many ways that he’ll never work there again. Little do they know that Harry’s already agreed to take the case at the request of real estate mogul Markus Røed, who’s under suspicion because he played sugar daddy to both of the victims. The staggering fee Harry demands is $960,000, exactly the amount that one-time movie actress Lucille Owens owes the Esposito family, whose enforcers Harry’s just rescued her from in Los Angeles. Arriving back home, Harry promptly assembles the Aune Group, a cadre of four helpers even more disreputable than him, and sets them to work knowing that the Esposito family will close Lucille’s account in seven days. Every one of the Aune Group has something to contribute, but they can’t prevent the body count from rising. Like the old pro he is, Nesbø doles out some teasing details about the killer, who calls himself Prim, early on while withholding enough information about Prim’s modus operandi, motive, and true identity to keep the pages fluttering long past bedtime.

A battered hero, a memorably creepy villain, a series of false endings worthy of Jeffery Deaver: What’s not to love?