A review by edgwareviabank
The Bat by Jo Nesbø

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

Not very far into The Bat, I realised I already knew who the killer was, and who the final victim would be, because I remembered reading it in a flashback scene in a later Harry Hole novel. I thought this would spoil the book completely, but to my surprise, it didn't (except for the final few chapters, which I felt were dragging on).

I came to The Bat as someone who has read every Harry Hole novel from The Snowman onwards, and was missing everything that came before. It was very interesting to compare the first instalment in the series with the later ones, as the differences are huge, almost as if two different authors had written them. Jo Nesbø's style clearly developed for the better over time

To sum up the main differences I've noticed:

1. There are no gruesome murders. In later books, Nesbø is all about the gore, and finding increasingly horrifying MOs for his serial killers. Here, he tells a lot, and doesn't show much. With few exceptions, you'll read that someone has died, or been the victim of a crime, but you won't find chapters set in crime scenes, get the details of autopsies, or follow murderers as they prepare to strike.
    
2. Tension is turned way down comparing to later novels, which contributed to my impression that the author drew out the resolution too much. Once the name of the killer is out in the open, there isn't much else readers don't already know. Nesbø's preference for long spells of getting to know characters and setting context already shines through, but in The Bat, that's not balanced by quick-fire action and twists in later chapters. The plot unfolds at what seems, at times, a leisurely pace.
   
   
3. There's not much for readers to guess. The later novels are full of twists and red herrings, keeping readers on edge. Years of experience with the Harry Hole series have also taught me that the author tends to play a long game, and drop almost imperceptible clues while he takes his time setting the context across several chapters; trying to work out what those clues might be before they're solved is part of the fun for me. The Bat is again, quite different. Readers get to learn a few facts about Australia and hear stories from its tradition, but their connection with the mystery at the core of the book is at best: side characters keep sharing Australian folk tales with Harry Hole, as if they are supposed to mean something to the case, but there's no follow-up with attempts at making sense of them; not very helpful for a reader like me, who didn't know much about Australian culture going in. Similarly, Harry makes some deductions as he goes along, but it isn't always clear whether or how readers could have been able to connect the dots themselves; some of these seem to come out of leftfield.
   
   
4. There are no characters that will recur in later novels. I think many Harry Hole books are fine to read as standalones, but that's even truer for The Bat, as it's the first in the series, and doesn't have any flashbacks, cliffhangers or character relationships to connect it to other novels or suggest the possibility of them. Just be warned - it may not make you too enthusiastic about reading more of the series. The Bat is the first book that left me feeling "meh", rather than "OMG this guy is nearly as good as Stieg Larsson". With the experience I've had so far, if someone were to ask me for a recommendation on where to start their Harry Hole journey, I'd still recommend The Snowman, because that's the first book that gave me that very rewarding feeling I haven't had for any other Nordic Noir writers yet. But if you don't have it in you to read about crimes that can get very graphic (which makes total sense, there are Nordic Noir books I know I'll never touch with a 10-foot pole), The Bat will do just fine.

I will read every Harry Hole book under the sun, and even if I've mostly criticised The Bat here, I'd still say I'm pleased to have read it. If Nesbø wrote a book where Harry solves a murder while watching paint dry in a soundproof cell, I would absolutely pick it up. I suspect I might find more of that in a few other earlier instalments, but that won't stop me reading them anyway, because I'm still keen to see how the series developed from the get-go.