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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
WWII combat violence and modern-day murders; graphic in wartime sections
Language
Some
Police procedural language with strong profanity; wartime dialogue
Sexual Content
Barely any
Brief references to sexual relationships; some period exploitation depicted
Substance Use
Some
Alcoholism is central to Hole's character; wartime alcohol and drug use
Emotional Intensity
Some
Heavy psychological weight from WWII atrocities and their long aftermath; Nazi ideology
What this book is about
The third Harry Hole novel (and the first to be widely translated into English) weaves between modern Oslo and the brutal Eastern Front of WWII, where Norwegian volunteers fighting for the Nazis experienced atrocities that still cast shadows sixty years later. Hole investigates a neo-Nazi network and a rare Märklin rifle while Nesbo carefully constructs the wartime back-story that will inform the modern investigation. Gripping, morally complex, and technically accomplished, this was the book that established Nesbo as a major figure in Nordic crime fiction. For mature readers only.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic WWII violence
Neo-Nazi themes
Alcoholism as character trait
Some mature sexual references
Reader Verification
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