Friday 2 August 2013

Headhunters by Jo Nesbo


Roger Brown is one of the best headhunters in Norway, at least prides himself as one. One who is responsible for the appointing of CEOs of big organisations in Norway. Roger Brown leads a very expensive lifestyle, he owns a state-of the art gallery near the city centre, a posh modern dwelling. How does he manage all that? Not with his income as a headhunter. Roger Brown is also an art thief. To supplement his income, he steals paintings from his clients. Roger is arrogant and too full of himself. He uses the FBI interrogation method to interview and assess a person's suitability for a high profile job. He has a reputation that the candidates he has recommended has never been turned down for a job. Roger is also the kind of guy we all love to hate. The cocky guy we want to see fail and fall down, the kind of guy we wish his methods are used on himself and then we want to see if he would be so self-assured and confident or would he fall crumbling down.

And then Roger meets more than his match. There are some interesting situations like this proverb in Tamil, a language spoken in Southern India, that goes "Thirudanunku thel kottunamadhiri" which roughly translates as "like when a thief is stung by a scorpion'. Roger is in a situation where he discovers something painful but he cannot talk about it. There are some really disgusting and macabre situations too like all other Nesbo novels I have read. The other books I read are 'Leopard', 'Phantom' and 'The Bat'. The twist in the end is predictable and this is the first book I read by Nesbo that the twist is so obvious. And the 'Why' is not so easy to buy into.

Considering the other tomes by Nesbo I read, all around or above 500 pages, this book is less than 400 pages is a fast read with numerous plot twists. No Harry Hole here!

Translated from Norwegian into English by Don Bartlett.

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