“ A fascinating book, filling in the gaps in Hole’s biography and telling the story of the murder case in Australia that cemented his reputation as a brilliant investigator... A stunning opening to the series ”
Sunday Times
“ Meaty, big and bloody, this is the rock and roll of detective fiction ”
Financial Times
“ Nesbo is a terrific writer who knows how to build a story, taking you slowly to the top of a rollercoaster before sending you hurtling towards a solution that you never see coming ”
Sunday Express
“ Harry Hole is fully formed as the difficult, vulnerable personality we have come to know. The evocation of Australia itself has the customary Nesbo expertise...most satisfyingly - we can now see the organic shape that Nesbo always intended his work to take ”
Barry Forshaw, Independent
“ Whether a hardened Hole addict or a first-time imbiber, The Bat is sure to snare your interest with its tale of this booze-fuelled policeman ”
Sunday Sun
“ A searing read from a chilling thriller writer ”
Independent
“ Hole is a spiky character and this is the first novel to feature him. If you want to get to know this brilliant, flawed character, this is the best place to start ”
William Leith, Scotsman
“ An ambitious, fun, exciting and original crime novel. ”
Smålandsposten (Sweden)
“ The Bat is a truly captivating crime novel. ”
Berliner Morgenpost (Germany)
“ The Bat is innovative and different, and the pace that Jo Nesbo creates in his debut novel makes you long for more crime novels featuring Harry Hole. ”
Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark)
“ Jo Nesbo has written the cleverest debut novel in the crime genre that I’ve read in a long time. ”
Aftenposten (Norway)
“ Most satisfyingly we can now see the organic shape that Nesbo always intended his work to take, and the canvas stretching out in front of us is a crowded one ”
Good Book Guide
Paperback
9780099520320
April 16, 2013
Vintage
432 pages
EBook
9781409019480
October 11, 2012
Vintage Digital
448 pages
Sydney
Something was wrong.
At first the female passport official had beamed: ‘How are ya, mate?’
‘I’m fine,’ Harry Hole had lied. It was more than thirty hours since he had taken off from Oslo via London, and after the change of planes in Bahrain he had sat in the same bloody seat by the emergency exit. For security reasons it could only be tipped back a little, and his lumbar region had almost crumbled by the time they reached Singapore.
And now the woman behind the counter was no longer smiling.
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