Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When I first read "The Redbreast" I assumed that it was the first in the Harry Hole series, only to discover there were mentions of past events in the life of character Harry Hole that suggested earlier books. In fact the English publisher had opted to publish the third book in the series first, leaving the first two books - The Bat and The Cockroaches - untranslated into English. Therefore, if like me, you hate reading series books out of order, you will be glad that The Bat has finally arrived. Harry Hole is in Sydney to investigate the murder of Inger Holter, a Norwegian citizen working in Australia. Inger was young, blonde and she was found dumped in Gap Park, having been raped and strangled. As Inger was a minor television celebrity in her home country, having hosted a children's television programme a few years previously, the case is considered important enough to have aroused interest in Norway's press. In this book we discover much about Harry's character, as he investigates a possible serial killer. Admittedly, I can understand the publisher wishing to begin the series with another book - in many ways this is pretty standard fare, and the digressions in Aboriginal culture and folk tales are, frankly, pretty boring in parts. However, there is much in this novel which is good, the plot is fast paced and Andrew Kensington, an Aboriginal detective, is a great side character. More to the point, this is the starting point of the series and, as readers, we should be given the chance to read them in order and not have publishers decide how and when we can read them. I hope they will publish the second book in the series as quickly as possible in English, so readers of the series can read them completely in the order the author intended.