Harry Hole is back, and of course he won’t be allowed to enjoy a quiet life for long. That hardly makes a Jo Nesbø thriller, does it?

This time Harry has supposedly left the Oslo police behind and moved into a different sort of work. Then a series of particularly nasty murders comes along, and before long he’s involved again. The crimes have links to well-known films, which gives the investigation an unsettling twist, although I wouldn’t recommend reading some of the descriptions over lunch.

If you’ve followed this series, you’ll already know that Harry is hardly the easiest man to live with. He’s clever, stubborn, and frequently his own worst enemy. That’s always been part of his appeal. I also quite like seeing him get older, particularly as his stepson Oleg is now making his own way in police work. It changes their relationship and gives Harry something else to think about besides catching killers.

Nesbø knows how to keep the pages turning. Suspects, false leads, and surprises keep the pace up, along with the dark atmosphere readers have come to expect. It’s easy to tell yourself you’ll read just one more chapter and then discover you’ve read another four.

Even so, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been here before. Some of the twists felt a little too carefully arranged, and the plotting becomes complicated enough that I occasionally wanted everyone to stop and explain themselves. After so many Harry Hole books, perhaps it’s getting harder to find something new for him to do.

I still enjoyed catching up with Harry, and there’s enough action to satisfy most crime readers. I just didn’t think it was among Nesbø’s best. A decent thriller, but not one I’d be rushing to press into somebody else’s hands.