The first and last of Harry Hole

When rachelmanija and scioscribe went to Bouchercon without me this fall (I had health things going on that made a cancellation necessary) they very kindly sent me a large box of books, including free swag and books they picked up for me. Some of the free swag was a pair of books by Scandinoir author Jo Nesbø, one of the guests of honor at the con and author of the Harry Hole series: The Snowman and The Leopard were the specific ones. These were sent to me mostly because Rachel tried one of them and hated it, and included the following confidence-inspiring note from my bookish benefactors:

What kind of bullshit name is Harry Hole? Maybe it sounds better in Norwegian.

Tonight I decided to try them. What follows is adapted from my emails as I gradually gave up on Nesbø.

( I started with The Snowman )