Prompt: A book written by a musician

This prompt was a great excuse to read another book by Jo Nesbo.  I read some of the Harry Hole series last year and really enjoyed most of them. This time I went for the stand alone thriller, Headhunters.

What it’s about?

Roger Brown is a headhunter. His job is to find the right people for the right clients and he is exceptionally good at it. He’s intelligent, arrogant and greedy. But to finance his luxurious lifestyle, he subsides his salary with art thief from his corporate hotshots.

Roger’s wife Diana runs an exclusive art gallery. At an exhibition opening, Diana introduces him to Clas Greve. Greve is the perfect candidate for the position that Roger is recruiting for. He also owns a painting, that if genuine could be worth a fortune. Roger starts planning to get both, but it isn’t long before things start to go wrong.

What I think:

This is a difficult book to score. For much of the book I thought it was all a bit silly and over the top. Roger’s problems went from 0-100 at an inexplicably quick pace and people’s motives did not seem substantial enough to warrant the events.

The final few chapters really saved the book. Twist after twist is reveals and the cleverness behind the nonsense become apparent.

There are no likeable characters in this book. Roger is a short man with a big chip on his shoulder. He is intelligent but sly, arrogant and greedy. His wife is beautiful but no more likeable and their relationship is toxic. I got to the end feeling that they thoroughly deserve each other.

This is a fast-paced thriller and a quick read. It’s quite gruesome and graphic in places. It’s not the best book by Nesbo I’ve read but isn’t my least favourite either.

I borrowed my copy of Headhunters from the local library, but you can spot it at:

Waterstone’s: click here

Amazon.co.uk: click here