View source for The Redbreast

{{short description|2000 novel by Jo Nesbø}}
{{Infobox book
|name          = The Redbreast
|title_orig    = Rødstrupe
|translator    = Don Bartlett
|image         = TheRedbreast.jpg
|caption = First edition (Norwegian)
|author        = [[Jo Nesbø]]
|cover_artist  =
|country       = [[Norway]]<br>(some scenes in [[Austria]], [[South Africa]], and [[Sweden]])
|language      = [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[English language|English]]
|series        = [[Harry Hole]] (#3)
|genre         = [[Crime fiction]]
|publisher     = [[Aschehoug]]
|pub_date       = 2000
|english_pub_date = September 2006
|media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover|hard]] and [[paperback]])
|pages         = 450 (Eng. hardback trans.)
| isbn = 1-84343-217-X
| isbn_note = (Eng. trans.)
|oclc= 67375284
|preceded_by   = [[Cockroaches (novel)|Cockroaches]]
|followed_by   = [[Nemesis (Nesbø novel)|Nemesis]]
}}
'''''The Redbreast''''' ({{langx|no|Rødstrupe}}, [[2000 in literature|2000]]) is a  [[crime novel]] by [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] writer [[Jo Nesbø]], the third in the [[Harry Hole]] series (although the first in the series to be available in English).

A large part of the book is laid at the time of the [[Second World War]] – specifically, the [[Siege of Leningrad]], wartime [[Vienna#Anschluss and World War II|Vienna]] and the [[Bombing of Hamburg in World War II|Bombing of Hamburg]] – making ''The Redbreast'' a [[war novel]] as well as a crime novel. The book touches deeply on the still highly sensitive issue of Norwegian [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|Collaboration with the Nazis]] and specifically the voluntary recruitment of Norwegians to the [[Waffen SS]].

The novel was voted Best Norwegian Crime Novel ever.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2004093387_redbreast27.html|author=Patrick Anderson|title=Best Norwegian crime novel ever?|publisher=[[The Seattle Times]]|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=December 27, 2007|accessdate=March 7, 2014|url-status=live|archivedate=March 7, 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307145354/http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2004093387_redbreast27.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/25/john-mullan-book-club-redbreast-jo-nesbo|title=John Mullan on The Redbreast – Guardian book club|author=John Mullan|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=April 25, 2014|accessdate=May 31, 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601001127/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/25/john-mullan-book-club-redbreast-jo-nesbo|archivedate=June 1, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Upon translation into [[English language|English]], by Don Bartlett, the novel was shortlisted for the [[Crime Writers' Association]] [[Duncan Lawrie International Dagger]].

==Synopsis==
During the [[Siege of Leningrad]], a small group of [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[Waffen-SS]] volunteers are manning [[Trench warfare|trenches]] just a short distance from the western lines. One of their number, Daniel Gudeson, is shot through the head and killed when he stands up to celebrate midnight on [[New Year's Eve]]. His body and face are covered up and he is laid to wait for a burial committee the following day. That same night, another soldier named Sindre Fauke disappears, believed to have [[defector|defected]] to the [[Red Army]]. Oddly, later that night, Gudeson's body mysteriously reappears in the trench. After a [[hand grenade]] lands the soldiers in hospital, one of them, under the guise of "Uriah", falls in love with a nurse. After an unsuccessful attempt to [[elope]], the two are separated.

Decades later, when the [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] visits [[Oslo]] for an [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process|Israeli-Palestinian peace conference]],<ref>Though negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians had started in Norway in 1993 - hence the name "Oslo Agreement" - by 1999 the Norwegians were sidelined. In actuality, the [[2000 Camp David Summit]], held on US soil with no Norwegian participation, had much the same diplomatic role as the fictional summit mentioned in Nesbo's book.</ref> policeman [[Harry Hole]] is assigned to the security detail. After shooting a suspected assassin during the approach of the President's convoy, Hole is promoted to [[police inspector|inspector]] and investigates a crime involving a very expensive [[sniper rifle]]. In addition, a group of [[neo-Nazi]]s {{mdash}} with which Hole has a prior history {{mdash}} is suspected in the murder of an elderly drunkard. Hole and his colleague, Ellen Gjelten, hear of a man connected to arms dealings called 'The Prince' and set out to learn his identity. Hole shares a mutual attraction with a colleague named Rakel, who is reluctant to take things further due to a custody battle for her son, Oleg; unbeknownst to her and Hole, the matter is being orchestrated by Rakel's superior, who is also infatuated with her.

Ellen accidentally discovers the identity of The Prince, but she is murdered by Sverre Olsen, one of the neo-Nazis, before she can identify him to Hole. When Hole and his new assistant, Halvorsen, attempt to arrest Olsen, they discover that another police inspector, Tom Waaler, has apparently shot him in [[self defence]]. When Rakel's superior and an elderly woman named Signe Juul are both murdered by the sniper rifle, Hole finds a link between the killings and [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#Norway|Norwegian collaborators]] during the [[Nazi occupation of Norway|Nazi occupation]]. He also realizes that the killer has a [[split personality]], with the second personality being that of Daniel Gudeson. Hole is led to believe that Juul's husband Even, who was obsessed with Gudeson, is behind the killings. However, Hole finds that Even has apparently committed [[suicide]] in an attempt to stop his "other personality" from continuing the murders.

Hole realizes he is wrong when he comes across the actual killer's journal, in which he attacks the [[Norwegian royal family]] and other government officials who fled to England during the occupation and who later labeled the collaborators as 'traitors' despite their resistance to the onslaught of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] forces. The killer also reveals the details behind the mysterious reappearance of Gudeson's body in the trenches and the truth behind Fauke's supposed defection. Finally, the killer threatens to [[assassination|assassinate]] Norway's [[Crown Prince of Norway|Crown Prince]] during imminent [[Norwegian Constitution Day|Constitution Day]] celebrations as retribution for the 'betrayal' of Norway's leadership during the war. Hole rushes to prevent the assassination, managing to stop the attempt at almost the last second in a hotel room. To keep the assassination attempt out of the press {{mdash}} and to prevent any problems for the assassin's surviving family (which includes those close to Hole) {{mdash}} Hole's success is covered up.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://jonesbo.com/}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090523042800/http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wbc/all Podcast of Jo Nesbø talking about ''The Redbreast''] on the BBC's ''[[World Book Club]]''

{{Jo Nesbø}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redbreast, The}}
[[Category:2000s Norwegian novels]]
[[Category:2000 novels]]
[[Category:Harry Hole (novel series)]]
[[Category:Norwegian crime novels]]
[[Category:Novels set during World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian novels]]