About the Author

JO NESBØ is a musician, songwriter, economist, and #1 New York Times best-selling author. He has won the Raymond Chandler Award for Lifetime Achievement as well as many other awards. His books have sold 55 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 50 languages. His Harry Hole novels include The Redeemer, The Snowman, The Leopard, Phantom, The Thirst, and most recently Knife, and he is also the author of The Son, Headhunters, Macbeth, The Kingdom and several children's books. He lives in Oslo.

Reviews

“Intricate, breakneck plotting ... an addictive page-turner.” —Los Angeles Times

“One of this great crime writer’s best.... Not to be missed.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
 
“A cunningly constructed thriller with a lot of moving parts, and once [Nesbø] sets the machinery in motion, the pace accelerates ... at Hollywood summer blockbuster speed.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
“Whether you are already a fan of Harry Hole, or just getting to know him, the gripping suspense and fast-paced action that fills Phantom will keep you reading until dawn.” —Oprah.com

“Chilling.... Nesbø’s most realistic and most affecting [novel].”  —The Columbus Dispatch

 “Far more than a procedural.... Personal and topical and hip, as usual.... Nesbø sets an emotionally wrenching story about family within a twisty tale of designer drugs, Norwegian police corruption, and a teenage underworld.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“The most realistic novel in this series ... it may also be the darkest.... Although the novel’s villains can’t hold a candle to Nesbø’s typical psychos, they’re much closer to the ones you might meet in the real world.” —The New York Times Book Review

“While Hole is indisputably the dominant force, Phantom features a second character that adds a surprising depth to the novel—and that is Oslo itself.” —The Boston Globe

“Harry Hole is fast becoming one of the planet’s favorite detectives. And his demons are almost as legendary as his observational and analytical skills. [This is] Harry’s most lethally gripping and personal journey to date.” —The Mirror (UK)

“Phantom will maintain Jo Nesbø’s unstoppable momentum.... His recovering-alcoholic, shambolic, rule-breaking detective is somehow always surprising us ... The relationship between Harry and Rakel is truly multifaceted, and richer in nuance than anything else in the crime genre.” —The Independent (UK)

“Deeply moving ... This is Harry’s most personal case, and yet Nesbø never allows Harry’s paternal feelings for Oleg to cloud his need for truth, however costly that pursuit may be.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)

 “Phantom is a gritty, pared-back thriller.” —Esquire

“Nesbø begins with an emotionally gripping family drama but surrounds it with an elaborate, beautifully constructed plot.... Finally, it all comes back to Harry and the pain he endures in trying to carve out a separate peace from a world and a past that won’t let him go. Superb on every level.” —Booklist (starred)

“Those hooked by [The Snowman] or earlier ones should make their way here as quickly as they can ... This one best takes the full measure of the man ... Devastating for protagonist and reader alike.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

Harry Hole returns in this ninth Scandinavian mystery from bestselling author Nesbo. After a three-year, self-imposed absence, former police detective Hole is drawn back to Oslo when the son of the woman he loves is arrested for the murder of a low-level drug dealer. Though he may no longer have a badge, Hole is still a formidable investigator, and he's soon hunting for the truth behind the dealer's death-a truth that could very easily get him, or someone close to him, killed. Narrator Robin Sachs hits all the right notes in his reading of this stark thriller, but it's his richly nuanced portrayal of Harry Hole that is most memorable. It would be easy to make Hole a bleak, depressing, one-note character, but Sachs digs deeper into the material and perfectly captures Hole, presenting him as a man who lives every day with a sense of sadness, loss, and regret, but whose belief in justice and loyalty keeps him moving forward. Sachs and Nesbo make a fine match, and listeners are the beneficiaries of their partnership. A Knopf hardcover. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.