The Thirst by Jo Nesbø****

Reading Dates: 03 January – 10 February 2018

This is a crime novel close to how I like them. Plausible, but silly, with breathing space and red herrings. It is not a whodunnit because it is clear from the last book who the bad guy is. The question is how and why he dunnit. I also like my thrillers to have a defining scene, like the concert at the Albert Hall in The Man who Knew Too Much. In The Thirst, that scene is at a disputation, which is the Scandinavian version of a public PhD thesis defence, so imagine how exciting this was for me. There is also a nice lecture on the Othello syndrome where a character, a psychologist, outlines the proposition that what drove him was ambition and not jealousy. I like my crime fiction à la Sade, with philosophical pamphlets. I think this particular Hole book would make a very good film: there is plenty of music chat; ironically, Harry gets to own bar (the Jealousy, a nice call back); the settings vary from the Boiler Room to hospitals, to Police College, to auditoria and Turkish Baths. I am glad this is the last one for now. I seem to have fallen onto a reading rabbit Hole (boom tish) and I need to get on with my plans for the Muriel Spark centenary.