Ramblings of a Jo Nesbo fan.

Yes I still love Jo Nesbo, and yes, I will continue to read his books until he begins to disappoint. However that has not happened yet!!

I have happened upon a Jo Nesbo series that does not involve Harry Hole. Gasp! I spent a long time in these books waiting for everything to go wrong and murders to be committed etc (just like the Harry Hole books), but this series is definitely not the same. Yes it has the same stylings of Jo’s writing, his ability to describe places, people etc in a way that is interesting and without giving you paragraphs and paragraphs of nothing but description. Jo is able to write in a concise manner – he pack a lot of story into less words that some of his peers who write in the same genre.

I have a tendency to speed read (aka skimming) the last quarter of many books in a dire effort to find out the ending NOW!!!  However, that is not necessary with Jo’s books.

Both of these books have a romantic element to it. Not a love story as such, but a romantic feel. They are about characters who are partially caught up in the criminal scene – reluctantly and through necessity rather than evil intent. Both main characters are trying to escape the criminal scene. Both main characters have a love interest but wrestle with int ernal conflict rather than the standard guy sees girl, guy wants girl, guy gets girl plot line.

I thoroughly enjoy how Jo creates characters that are hugely flawed but deeply lovable. He does not write about the standard Rambo or James Bond style heroes. Rather his ‘heroes’ and very human, not in any way perfect, not always confident, hung up on past problems, not great at relationships and battling everyday problems like the rest of us – granted, most of their problems are more intense than the common human’s problems.

I absolutely love Jo Nesbo, and thoroughly enjoyed both of these books. Be warned, they aren’t as action packed as the Harry Hole series, but still deliver the same emotional punch.