The Bat (novel)
| Author | Jo Nesbø |
|---|---|
| Original title | Flaggermusmannen |
| Country | Norway, Australia |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Series | Harry Hole, #1 |
| Genre | crime novel |
|
Publication date
|
1997 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Followed by | The Cockroaches |
The Bat (Norwegian: Flaggermusmannen, 1997) is a crime novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, the first in the Harry Hole series.
The story revolves around the Norwegian police officer Harry Hole, who is sent to Sydney by the Royal Norwegian Police Directorate to serve as the Norwegian attaché for the Australian police's investigation into the murder of a young female Norwegian B-celebrity, Inger Holter, who was residing in Australia.
Initially trying to adapt to the great differences in time, temperatures, environment, and cultures of Oslo and Sydney, Harry is introduced to Andrew Kensington, an Australian Aborigine and homicide detective for the Sydney police, his nominal partner in the investigation. Hole is informed that Holter's body was found dashed on coastal rocks just under some cliffs north of the city, and that the police believe that she was raped before her death. However, her body was severely cut during her fall from the cliffs, and any DNA remains from the assailant that would previously have been present are now washed away.
At first, her boyfriend, Evans White is approached as a suspect. Andrew informs Harry that Evans immigrated to Australia with his divorced mother in the 1970s and eventually became a local drug lord in the town of Nimbin. Through their insertion into the drug world in Nimbin and their meeting with reluctant White, Harry grows confident that White is responsible for Holter's death.
Harry and Andrew visit the Albury Hotel in Oxford Street, the Sydney pub where Inger Holter worked as a bartender. While there, Harry meets the witness Birgitta Enquist – a Swede – and unprofessionally but successfully asks her on a date. They soon embark on a deeply emotional relationship, and Harry tells Birgitta his deepest secret - he is an alcoholic, which caused an accident when he was chasing a criminal in Oslo, causing the death of a colleague and leaving a bypassing young man paralyzed for life. Afterwards, the guilt-ridden Harry had decided to stop drinking.
Andrew takes Harry to a local boxing tournament in a small town, organized by the Jim Chivers boxing team. After the match Harry is introduced to the Aborigine boxer Robin Toowoomba, the match champion and the protege of Andrew, who had also been a boxer before becoming a policeman.
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