Taking another break from the Harry Hole saga (which I really hope never ends), Jo Nesbo delivers this collection of stories - and, really, a couple short novels - outside the world of police procedurals. And for the most part in warmer settings outside of Scandinavia, though he has to keep reminding the reader where they’re set because Nesbo’s voice always conveys Nordic darkness to me. The first set of stories is loosely united by the theme of jealousy and the second by the theme of power, though that’s kind of an artificial classification. Several of the stories are in the realm of speculative fiction, but definitely not in the optimistic vein. No matter how society progresses (and in the worlds of these stories, it only progresses for the well-off and undesperate few who are decidedly not the subjects of the stories; their world devolves), people remain the same with all their venal and mortal imperfections and selfishness. There are scant few chances at noble redemption in the unending quest for survival, security, and satisfaction of appetites. Nesbo is a master at narrative sleight of hand, whether featuring an unreliable first-person narrator or conveniently skipping over key moments and conversations in such a deft way that the reader is inevitably surprised by a twist that pulls everything together ominously. That talent is on display fully here. The book could have used one more pass with a proofreader, though. There are a lot of errors, mostly sloppy repetitions of words, subject-verb mismatches, and pronoun errors. The first story is a tightrope of voice, weaving first and second person narration together hypnotically … until there are mid-sentence slip-ups into third person that break the spell.

A book of short stories, some are pretty good, some are worse. Light reading for summer holidays, too bad I read it in January. :)

Compilation of short stories. All involve murder. All made me think, “how does an author come up with these ideas?”

Jo Nesbo has to be one of the more creative, intelligent, and great authors at the element of surprise with suspense.

I’m not sure how he sleeps at night writing something if these story lines.

If you are a fan of crime stories that wrap up with an unexpected twist, then this is the book for you. In this story's collection, Nesbo puts all her ingenuity to good work. All the stories have one thing in common: they all make perfect sense in the very last paragraph with that unique and highly recognizable atmosphere that just a thrillers expert can create. The stories cover the wide spectrum of human suffering and the inner world: jealousy, revenge, rivalry, infidelity. Very often in these stories, the most sinister element is hidden in plain sight. Other times, the conclusion of the story delivers a more astonishing and unexpected revelation. In any case, everything ends up closing perfectly. My favorites of the collection were The Jealousy Man and Rat Island; those two could be published separately, as novellas. Yes, they are the longest stories in the collection but also, and precisely for that reason, the most elaborate and complex in narrative terms. The Confession is also a very good story about the pressure of guilt. Trash is about a man trying to put together the events of the night before, its consequences, and his own responsibility.
Every story is a little gem. Highly recommend it.

This collection of short stories is separated into two parts, one of them titled "Jealousy" (although it could just as easily have been called "Revenge" or "How to Get Away with Murder") and the other one is "Power".

Jo Nesbo is known for suspenseful crime novels, especially those featuring Norwegian detective Harry Hole. Although these short stories and novellas each feature murder, they are not thrillers. Instead, they contain fascinating explorations into the psychology of multifaceted characters, including a female migrant chemist currently surviving as a convenience store clerk, a trash collector with anger issues, and a woman who pays an organization to kill her so that she can ruin the life of her cheating husband. For me, the most intriguing story was "Rat Island", a dystopian novella that looks at the decisions people make when society collapses and rule of law ebbs away but the rich still try to call the shots.

If you're looking for Scandi-noir, you won't find it in these stories. But if you enjoy artful writing, these are wonderful to read.

Postoje knjige koje pročitaš za dan ili za par sati.
Štivo koje diže adrenalin odmah na početku i ostavlja vas unezverenim od pitanja te je prirodno da sledite osećaj i listate i listate do kraja dok ne dobijete sve odgovore na ovaj fascinantni skup triler priča.
Ne garantujem da nakon završetka čitanja nećete ostati zateknuti u preispitivanju sebe i mogućih scenarija koji se ipak nisu desili a trebali su.
Zamislite standardne zločine iz standardnih razloga ali u potpunom zaokretu kakav je umela da osmišlja samo kraljica detektivnskih romana-Agata Kristi.
Zamislite i potpuno sulude agencije koje ljudi unajmljuju da ih ubiju po ugovoru koji papreno sami plate. Ne sme da izgleda kao samoubistvo, niti ubistvo i postoje načini koji bi to omogućili, na vama je da platite i da znate da će se to desiti u naredne tri nedelje, bezbolno , ali vam neće na pamet pasti da je to baš taj momenat kada je kraj.
I zamislite razloge koji dovode ljude do najvećih ponora svojih nagona i duše, koje mislite da razumete, ali zapravo ne možete da ih opravdavate. A dešavaju se, iz dana u dan, nama pred očima, više nego što se dešava saobraćajnih nesreća ili više puta nego što se jedna žena u nedelju dana našminka.
Jako je teško pisati o trileru, bez iskušenja da uvedete čitaoce u svaku priču, ali mogu zasigurno reći da je svaka nešto nesvakidašnje i u rangu kvaliteta koje je Nesbe do sada sagradio u svom pisanju. Osveženje pred ove prave, kišne i jesenje dane.
Ju Nesbe vrlo oštroumno analizira tipove ličnosti koji potpadaju u tako naizgled normalnu a zapravo u tako opasnu kategoriju ljudi. A nalaze se svuda. I to su upravo oni, za koje nikada ne biste ni posumnjali.
Ili bi?
Nešto od zapaženih citata :
''Često su izlaganja krivca logičnija i ubedljivija od iskaza nevinih zato što krivac može doći sa unapred pripremljenom pričom dok vam nevin prospe nesređenu priču govoreći sve što mu padne na pamet.''
''Zaljubljenost je, zapravo, najslađa psihoza''
''Da li je šminka asmo burka koju namećemo same sebi?''
''Prema Žirarevoj teoriji , izuzev toga da namirimo najosnovnije potrebe, mi ne znamo šta želimo. Zato imitiramo okruženje, pripisujemo vrednost onome čemu je i drugi pripisuju.''
''Frojd je bio u pravu . Ljudi, sem par izuzetaka , ne vrede mnogo.''
''Lažne vesti ne sadrže nužno lažne podatke , već je manipulacija u tome kako ih upakuju.''
''Sumnjam, kao Hamlet. Možda je carstvo mrtvih još gora dolina plača.''
''Vrednost ti ne daje ono što misliš da osećaš već ono što radiš.''
''Ako podigneš gard da zaštitiš lice, sklanjaš ga sa srca.''

Some of the stories I really enjoyed and others not so much