The Leopard by Jo Nesbo (2011 fiction)
The Leopard, which I set aside and retackled four times, is a follow-up masterpiece to The Snowman. The plot is the hunt for an apparent serial killer of members of a group who shared a mountain cabin. The hunters are at odds, Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo police and Mikael Bellmann of Kripos, the national police organization. There are informed references to The Snowman, Hole’s triumphant tour de force, and indeed to a Belgian torture instrument, Leopold’s Apple, all of which make a pre-reading of The Snowman a near necessity. In my case, memory loss added to my difficulty. The Leopard outwitted me several times, though a fellow reader reassured me that the clues were sufficient for the challenge. Nevertheless, I install The Leopard as my most infuriating Nesbo thriller. What distinguishes The Leopard is Nesbo’s insertion of exquisite emotional touches, such as Hole’s father’s illness, instances of extreme cruelty, such as the bathtub murder, and cosmic catastrophe as evidenced in an avalanche. The plot advances with the gradual elimination of members of the mountain cabin group, twin police efforts tripping over each other, and actual elimination of some suspects. Hole’s philosophical musings, punctuated by popular music titles and sips of Jim Beam, accompany the reader with clues of doubtful value to this reader. However, I survived to recommend a reading.
Reviewed by Martin Waldron
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