Through Tawoombas phone they track him to the Sidney Aquarium, a chase ensues through aquarium ending with Tawoomba getting shot in the leg and falling into a carnivorous shark tank. It didn’t make its way to English audiences until 2012, though, by which time later entries in the Harry Hole series had been already published in English. Police officers are being slain at the scenes of crimes they once investigated, but failed to solve. Along the way of working out Inger’s death is the work of a serial killer, Hole finds time to begin a new relationship with another Scandinavian ex-pat, Swedish barmaid Birgitta Enquist.

Apparently the early books in the series were only translated later once he had got established but either way it was a good story and is very well written. He was on the point of grabbing a taxi when a black man wearing light blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, and with an unusually broad nose and dark, curly hair plowed a furrow between the signs and came striding ­toward him. Now this was a good book until the last few chapters when he started going into his convoluted pros. Celebrated American author of detective fiction Raymond Chandler once said, “The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities. As it turns out Evans White is a small time drug pusher who lives in a different part of Australia, which takes Andrew and Harry a considerable amount of time to travel to.The fact that Harry Hole is a character in constant development makes the book even more interesting.

As a real follower of Scandinavian crime fiction I have collected Jo Nesbo's books; they remain unread on my bookshelves as I had waited for this first Harry Hole novel to be translated into English. There is also a fair amount of padding in the middle of the book where I grew impatient with the author wandering off into rabbit trails instead of moving the story forward.

Pavlov and his experiments in conditioning is one of those things that I can’t believe isn’t widely known. Otto, a large masculine man, whom I would love to see in drag, knew Inger well, and quickly comes under suspicion of Harry Hole.

Birgitta goes to surprise Harry at his hotel, but finds him a drunken mess with a hooker, things don't go well and there is a large argument.However I have to say that's not the case here as such because I can see why this was not seen as a good bet. During this time Harry and Andrew have spent increasing time at the bar Inger worked out, meeting all sorts of characters. Harry is informed that it appears she was raped before she was killed, but given the condition they found her there is no evidence to be found.

Harry visits Ingers place of employment, a bar/restaurant, where he meets Birgitta Enquist , one of Ingers coworkers whom he gathers precious information from, especially concerning Evans White. I was irritated by Nesbø’s smugness in having police officers explain repeatedly to each other that real life policing isn’t like the policing found in crime novels. I enjoyed it in places but in others where the author rambles off into overlong stories concerning Aboriginal culture, it kind of lost me a bit.

At first I thought it was a young adult mystery because the sentence structure was so basic and simple. So for anyone new to Nesbo, you are in for a treat if you follow Harry’s career beginning with this book. He has transcended the normal societal constraints faced by most Aboriginals and works for the police force as a detective. Hole (Holy) is the usual flawed character; recovering/back-sliding alcoholic, not universally liked or respected by his own Police Department transported like other before him to the land down-under. It's release so far into the series may well have saved Jo Nesbo from sinking unseen beneath the waves before he had even had a chance to get going in Britain.