A crime thriller to keep you up at night

THE THIRST Jo Nesbo Loot.co.za (R370) Harvill Secker

REVIEWER: JENNIFER CROCKER

JO NESBO has become one of the world’s leading crime writers. The Norwegian author is known and loved for his Harry Hole thrillers, and he does not disappoint with The Thirst.

In The Thirst we find Hole teaching at a police college, happily married to Rakel.

Then a horrendous killing is discovered and it seems that there might be a serial killer of utter depravity on the loose.

Hole is called up to active service by Katrine Bratt, and when he recognises certain patterns he also realises that the killer is his nemesis, the man from the one case he failed to solve.

The Thirst is a big thumping book that will keep you turning pages long after you should have put out the light, perhaps even because you are too scared to be in the darkness.

With his readable style and brilliant plotting and characterisation, Nesbo transports his reader into the mind of darkness.

Although the book is chilling, catching a “vampirist” who gains access to his victims’ homes and seems to use social media to find them and set up the first “date”. It’s also a book about so much more than terror and murder.

The story that runs alongside the thriller story is about Harry Hole and his family life.

It’s about psychology and guilt, about keeping silent to protect others.

The Thirst investigates what motivates the media, and bent cops, ruthless ambition and so much more.

There is not so much a twist in the tale as almost another book in the tale. Expect to be surprised and expect exceptional writing in this genre.

It’s fairly simple to work out the equation that made Nesbo an author who has sold over 33 million copies of his books: he is pure brilliance.