[FGB]∎ Download Gratis Headhunters Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books

Headhunters Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books

Download As PDF : Headhunters Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books

Headhunters Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books

... But sometimes I am incredibly stupid. I have loved Nesbo's Harry Hole series for years, anxiously waiting new entries to be translated. So why did it take me all this time to read Headhunters, Nesbo's first novel, a standalone about Roger Brown -- a self-consciously shorter-than-average suit with a beautiful wife, a beautiful head of hair, and a bad habit as an art thief?

Anyone who is interested in Nordic thrillers should read this book. Anyone who enjoys mysteries, capers, Norway, psychology, the Coen Brothers, twists or fine writing. READ THIS NOW! I can't believe not everyone gave it five stars. I am a pretty jaded reviewer .. well, no, not really. I still get giddy over mysteries, science fiction, the odd literary novel, children's books, movies, recipes, etc. I feel like a lucky person to be around for all the great arts there are available at the click of a button. And if I had to rank my favorite authors across all genres, Jo Nesbo would be in my top five.

This is a thrilling story written in a distinctive and intriguing narrative voice, with great dialogue, complex characters, incredible situations and superb plotting. There is even wit and a little wisdom thrown in. This is like three novels, actually. We start with the story of Roger Brown, corporate headhunter who's also an art thief; later he becomes Roger Brown, hunted man; and finally we get Roger Brown, avenging cipher.

This is a great book. (And BTW, the movie is also very good and captures the book very well.) Nesbo is a magnificent writer and strategist. If you like the Harry Hole books, you will like this too.

Highest recommendation.


Tags : Amazon.com: Headhunters (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) (9780307948687): Jo Nesbo, Don Bartlett: Books,Jo Nesbo, Don Bartlett,Headhunters (Vintage CrimeBlack Lizard),Vintage CrimeBlack Lizard,0307948684,Crime,Thrillers - General,Thrillers - Suspense,Art thefts,Art thefts;Fiction.,Businesspeople;Fiction.,Detective and mystery stories, Norwegian,Executive search firms,Executive search firms;Fiction.,FICTION Crime,FICTION Thrillers General,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Fiction-Thriller,FictionCrime,FictionThrillers - Suspense,GENERAL,General Adult,MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE FICTION,Monograph Series, any,NORWEGIAN (LANGUAGE) CONTEMPORARY FICTION,Norway,Thrillers - General,Thrillers - Suspense,United States,Western Europe,thrillers; thriller books; mystery books; police; crime; crime fiction; crime books; thriller; suspense; detective novels; detective; murder mystery books; mystery and thrillers; mystery and suspense; jo nesbo; jo nesbo books; mystery; mystery thriller suspense; mystery novels; fiction; mysteries; fiction books; mysteries and thrillers; suspense thriller books; suspense fiction; mystery and thriller; adventure; suspense books; crime novels; novels; betrayal; books fiction; books mystery; crime thriller books; collusion; swedish,thrillers;thriller books;jo nesbo;jo nesbo books;mystery;thriller;crime;crime fiction;mystery books;suspense;police;mystery and thrillers;suspense books;mystery and suspense;crime books;mystery novels;murder mystery books;detective novels;mysteries and thrillers;betrayal;suspense thriller books;fiction;novels;mysteries;fiction books;books fiction;books mystery;mystery thriller suspense;crime novels;mystery and thriller;suspense fiction;crime thriller books;collusion;espionage;adventure;noir,FICTION Crime,FICTION Thrillers General,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,FictionCrime,FictionThrillers - Suspense,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Mystery And Suspense Fiction,Norwegian (Language) Contemporary Fiction,Fiction

Headhunters Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books Reviews

Spoiler alert this is not one of the detective novels in Jo Nesbo’s celebrated Harry Hole series. But don’t beat yourself up. I was fooled, too.

Inspector Hole is, of course, the intuitive alcoholic genius who routinely shows up all his colleagues in the Oslo Police Department; running insane risks that frequently result in beatings, shootings, or other mayhem, usually to himself; alienating everyone in authority; and breaking every rule (and many laws) in pursuit of his prey.

Headhunters is a crime novel of a different sort. The protagonist, Roger Brown, recruits senior executives for Norwegian companies and government agencies. He has gained a reputation for never having had any of his clients turn down one of his recommendations. As befitting what he believes to be his position in Oslo society, he is married to a breathtakingly beautiful woman, with whom he is desperately in love. He is also an accomplished art thief who regularly works an ingenious angle, using the gains from his thievery to indulge his much-loved wife.

Enter Clas Greve, a Dutch executive introduced to him by his (Roger’s) wife at the art gallery that soaks up every kroner Roger can muster, and more. It quickly becomes apparent that Greve could be the answer to all Roger’s troubles he’s the perfect candidate for a position Roger desperately wants to fill, and he offers an opportunity for the biggest score of his career as a thief, a long-missing painting by Peter Paul Rubens. However, Roger gets more than he bargains for. A lot more. And therein lies the tale.

Headhunters is peopled with fascinating characters caught up in an intricate game of cat and mouse — or, more properly, leopard and hyena — and, as usual, it’s full of surprises.
I adore the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo and, from the first books I read in translation have been struck by his slick prose, tight plotting and wonderful characterization, characterization that is so skilled it allows the reader to both experience and understand the hero's strengths and weaknesses and thus forgive and support his actions. Headhunters, a one-off book set in corporate Oslo, did not impress nor captivate me nearly as much.
While the first person narrative contains the usual Nesbo flair for thrilling plots populated by ghastly villains and miscellaneous others who exit and enter, the characters in Headhunters failed to leave an impression. Part of the reason for this, I think, is because from the outset, they are quite superficial. The lead character and POV of the novel, headhunter and part-time art thief, Roger Brown, is a narcissistic prat (and unattractive - in the psychological and emotional sense - anti-hero) who boasts about not only the way he can read people, but practically every other element of his life his outstanding reputation in his main gig as a corporate headhunter, his grasp of FBI interrogation techniques and perfection of them, his beautiful art-gallery owner wife, his hair, his manner of dress etc. etc. While he tries to suggest he is comfortable with his relatively short stature, there is also a sense in which he does protest too much and the reader cannot help but think that Roger works hard to overcompensate. This is something that, in many ways, holds true when he meets the more than capable former executive and soldier Clas Greve, and decides he might be a suitable candidate for a top job. But when Roger learns that this man also owns an original Rubens, the cocky Roger decides to risk another job on the side; only, he ends up risking more than he ever bargained for and a deadly cat and mouse game, a head-hunting of a different and very final kind, ensues.
As mentioned above, I didn't like any of the characters in this book. While I wondered if this was social commentary on Nesbo's part, a sort of satire about how shallow and egotistic we've become, and the reader wasn't meant to like anyone, I am now, on reflection, not so sure. After all, in Nesbo's later books - the Hole ones - one of the great strengths is the marvellous shades of grey in which characters are painted, revealing the rich canvas of what passes for morality and how even ethics have a context. In Headhunters, no such complexity exists and rather than a three-dimensional picture of human foibles and choices, we are given a very superficial portrayal indeed.
Furthermore, the plot was clichéd in parts, too far-fetched in others (the scene in the outdoor toilet was just silly) and above all, predictable. Mind you, that didn't mean I wanted to stop reading, Nesbo is a very good storyteller after all. It just meant I didn't really care. I didn't care who lived, who died or what the outcome was. I didn't invest. That made me feel a little sad.
Reading that Hollywood is making a film out of this book surprised me. It's not that original - I would have thought the Hole stories would have offered much more complex fare - maybe that's the rub. Still, it's not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination and made for a quick summer read. It's just not the Nesbo I have come to admire and look forward to so much.
... But sometimes I am incredibly stupid. I have loved Nesbo's Harry Hole series for years, anxiously waiting new entries to be translated. So why did it take me all this time to read Headhunters, Nesbo's first novel, a standalone about Roger Brown -- a self-consciously shorter-than-average suit with a beautiful wife, a beautiful head of hair, and a bad habit as an art thief?

Anyone who is interested in Nordic thrillers should read this book. Anyone who enjoys mysteries, capers, Norway, psychology, the Coen Brothers, twists or fine writing. READ THIS NOW! I can't believe not everyone gave it five stars. I am a pretty jaded reviewer .. well, no, not really. I still get giddy over mysteries, science fiction, the odd literary novel, children's books, movies, recipes, etc. I feel like a lucky person to be around for all the great arts there are available at the click of a button. And if I had to rank my favorite authors across all genres, Jo Nesbo would be in my top five.

This is a thrilling story written in a distinctive and intriguing narrative voice, with great dialogue, complex characters, incredible situations and superb plotting. There is even wit and a little wisdom thrown in. This is like three novels, actually. We start with the story of Roger Brown, corporate headhunter who's also an art thief; later he becomes Roger Brown, hunted man; and finally we get Roger Brown, avenging cipher.

This is a great book. (And BTW, the movie is also very good and captures the book very well.) Nesbo is a magnificent writer and strategist. If you like the Harry Hole books, you will like this too.

Highest recommendation.