The Bat

Harry Hole is fully formed as the difficult, vulnerable personality we have come to know. The evocation of Australia itself has the customary Nesbo expertise…most satisfyingly - we can now see the organic shape that Nesbo always intended his work to take * Independent *An ambitious, fun, exciting and original crime novel * Smålandsposten (Sweden) *The Bat is a truly captivating crime novel * Berliner Morgenpost (Germany) *The Bat is innovative and different, and the pace that Jo Nesbo creates in his debut novel makes you long for more crime novels featuring Harry Hole * Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark) *Jo Nesbo has written the cleverest debut novel in the crime genre that I’ve read in a long time * Aftenposten (Norway) *A fascinating book, filling in the gaps in Hole’s biography and telling the story of the murder case in Australia that cemented his reputation as a brilliant investigator… A stunning opening to the series * Sunday Times *Meaty, big and bloody, this is the rock and roll of detective fiction * Financial Times *Nesbo is a terrific writer who knows how to build a story, taking you slowly to the top of a rollercoaster before sending you hurtling towards a solution that you never see coming * Sunday Express *Harry Hole is fully formed as the difficult, vulnerable personality we have come to know. The evocation of Australia itself has the customary Nesbo expertise…most satisfyingly - we can now see the organic shape that Nesbo always intended his work to take * Independent *Whether a hardened Hole addict or a first-time imbiber, The Bat is sure to snare your interest with its tale of this booze-fuelled policeman * Sunday Sun *

Jo Nesbo is one of the world’s bestselling crime writers, with The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son, The Thirst, Macbeth and Knife all topping the Sunday Times bestseller charts. He’s an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 50 million copies around the world.

Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway’s premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen. After three years military service he attended business school and formed the band Di Derre (‘Them There’). They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night. When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat.