Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Człowiek nietoperz

Barely made it through the book. I decided to pick it up because I have heard many people praise Jo Nesbø’s later books. This one, however, is a weird one, at some point it was so bad it was good, but overall I would not recommend this book. Every character is a caricature. Women are either fat, annoying and undesirable by the main character or sexy, young, and cheerful. They are also very “written by men”, I laughed so hard at some intimate scenes, it felt like a teenager was commissioned to try and imagine how adults date. There was so much racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism within the first 30 books, I almost DNF the book. The story itself was kinda boring and not well told or developed. The choice of a killer and their motives also made me go “this is definitely written by a white dude in the 90s”. Honestly, skip this one and read the ones in the series that are actually good

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h3ykatrina's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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e11en's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Readable, but it was all a bit ick. The Australian characters were farcical and all of the lengthy exposition on Australian politics and history felt very forced and preachy. I did not like the ending or the ‘big reveal’. There are also a few scenes where someone kicks a dog and it’s treated like just a funny act(?!) but honestly that made me more uncomfortable than the gruesome murder scenes. And although I’m sure the book is actually quite progressive considering it was published in 1997, there are a lot of ways in which it hasn’t aged well. Lots of casual fatphobia, for instance. There is also a lot of homophobia and racism although I’m sure it’s all largely representative of this time in history. And the use of some offensive terms that are considerably outdated.
I’ve really enjoyed Nesbo’s writing in the past. I’m open to trying another Harry Hole in time, but this one was *not it*. Give it a miss.

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