More death in Scandinavia

And, as they go, Jo Nesbo’s latest offering, The Leopard, fits the bill. But it’s not just the bleak landscapes, strange sounding names and disillusioned dark characters that tie these writers together, more a sublime talent for weaving a plot as thick as old English custard.

A formulaic, churned out murder mystery this is not. Complex, dark and violent, the Leopard is a multi-layer novel which keeps you guessing right till the end.

For Nesbo, who calls himself a songwriter, economist and author, it is his eighth book, and certainly over the last two he has perfected his craft.

Following on from his acclaimed novel The Snowman, The Leopard also features the flawed Oslo detective Harry Hole.

A social outcast battling a drink problem, he is a true anti-hero. A classic loose cannon in the police force, with few close friends and some unorthodox methods, he nonetheless has an instinct the force needs and is a brilliant detective.

We catch up with Harry, who features in all eight of Nesbo’s novels, with the trauma of his previous case still lingering and with Hole hiding out in Hong Kong’s opium dens.

Enter Katja Solness, a colleague sent from Oslo to bring him back to help solve two gruesome murders which police believe are connected.

Although reluctant to return, after learning his father is seriously ill in hospital, he finally agrees.

Once back in Oslo, Hole realises he is being used as a pawn in a conflict over jurisdiction in the Norwegian justice system.

But he focuses on the case and soon makes a vital breakthrough, discovering what the victims have something in common — they had all spent the same night in an isolated mountain hostel. And now someone is picking off the guests from that night one by one.

From the bleak landscape of Oslo to Sydney, Leipzig and Africa, the novel twists and turns, throwing curveballs at every opportunity. Nesbo scores 10 out of 10 for the element of surprise and unpredictability.

The plot is intense, vast and shocking, the murder scenes are particularly grisly too.

The murderer too is given a voice in the 600-page novel through a series of short passages where he talks to his victims and reflects on the police and media’s involvement in the case.

If there is a downside to Nesbo’s novel, it is perhaps that it attempts to cram too much in and tries too hard to be clever.

While comparisons to Larsson’s best-selling trilogy are valid in one sense — they are both exceptional crime writers from Scandinavia — they could also be seen as a cheap ploy to sell more copies, with a blatant sticker on the front cover billing Nesbo as the next Larsson.

While it might not be necessarily better, Nesbo’s writing, however, is more accessible than Larsson’s — or not as high-brow, which will make it a must for some, but will ensure others will pass on it.