The Redeemer (novel): Difference between revisions

The Redeemer
	First edition (Norwegian)
Author	Jo Nesbø
Original title	Frelseren
Translator	Don Bartlett
Language	Norwegian, English
Series	Harry Hole (#6)
Genre	Crime fiction
Publisher	Aschehoug
Publication date	2005
Publication place	Norway; (some scenes in Croatia)
Published in English	2009
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	571 (Eng. paperback trans.)
Preceded by	The Devil's Star
Followed by	The Snowman

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 09:14, 29 October 2024

The Redeemer (Norwegian: Frelseren) is a 2005 novel by Norwegian crime-writer Jo Nesbø. It is the sixth entry in his Harry Hole series.^[1]^[2]

Plot

In 1991, at a youth camp run by the Norwegian Salvation Army, the 14-year-old daughter of a senior Salvationist official is raped in a public toilet. Because of the Salvation Army's strict hierarchical setup, and because public knowledge of the rape will severely damage the organisation's reputation, she does not tell anyone about the ordeal. The name of the assailant is not given. That same year, during the breakup of Yugoslavia, a young Vukovar Croat fighter witnesses atrocities committed by the victorious Serb militias in the aftermath of the Battle of Vukovar. The fighter, who receives the nickname "Little Redeemer", later becomes a professional assassin who carries out contract killings in various European cities.

In the present day (2003), the assassin — calling himself Stankić — arrives in Oslo and kills a Salvation Army officer, Robert Karlsen, during a Christmas street concert. Stankić has a facial anomaly known as hyperelasticity, wherein his facial muscles can be manipulated voluntarily to stop people from recognizing him. As such, despite the murder happening in a public place, the Norwegian police get little useful information regarding the killer. Meanwhile, retiring Oslo police inspector Bjarne Møller gives his three main officers — Jack Halvorsen, Beate Lønn and Harry Hole — gifts. Hole's is a wristwatch which grows to annoy him due to its incessant ticking. Møller is replaced as senior police inspector by Gunnar Hagen.

Hole, Halvorsen and Lønn are assigned to Robert's murder. When a murder attempt is made on Robert's brother Jon, it is believed that the Karlsen family is being attacked. With Hole's former girlfriend, Rakel Fauke, having left him and started seeing another man, Matthias Lund-Helgesen, Hole meets — and eventually begins a relationship with — Martine, the young woman who (unbeknownst to Harry) was raped in 1991. Hole finds clues that lead him to Croatia and to Stankić's minder, who is revealed to be the assassin's mother. He makes a deal with her to save her son's life, but upon returning to Norway discovers that a man wearing Stankić's clothes has been shot and killed by a police marksman. The dead man's face is all but obliterated and identification is near-impossible.

Halvorsen, Lønn's boyfriend, is fatally wounded outside Jon's flat. Afterwards, Hole discovers that the blood of the dead man does not match that of Stankić, whose blood was found at the scene of Halvorsen's attack. Hole continues to follow Stankić, but now knows Jon placed the kill contract on himself by going to Croatia and setting up the hit under the guise of Robert. Jon switched places with his brother so that his murder could not be blamed on him. This had the additional bonus to Jon in that, had Stankić returned home before discovering that he had killed the wrong target, the hitman and his mother would believe they had killed the customer, thus rendering payment impossible and nullifying the need to complete the killing of the 'correct' brother.

Jon has been swindling 5,000,000 krone from the Salvation Army for an apartment block. On the night of an indoor Christmas concert, he stands up his girlfriend, Thea, claiming that he is visiting his ill father in Thailand. Stankić and Hole both get the information from Thea that Jon is about to flee the country. Stankić tracks down Jon to a toilet some distance from the main airport terminal. Hole catches up with the two and gets Jon to give a full confession, stating that anything said with a gun to his head is inadmissible in court. Jon tells everything, believing that he will be set free, but Hole instead tells Stankić that Jon's bag contains 5,000,000 krone and walks away. Behind him a single shot is heard as Stankić fulfils his contract by killing Jon and claiming his payment.

Part of the confession includes that it was Jon, not Stankić, who fatally wounded Halvorsen. Hole also knows that it was Jon who raped Martine, and that he has been raping young girls regularly ever since. Owing to the high valuation that an antique dealer puts on the watch given to him by Møller, Hole also realises that his former boss was involved in the same group of corrupt police officers as his former nemesis, Tom Waaler. Hole goes to Bergen to speak with Møller, but after Møller explains that he was trying to do what was best for the force, Harry elects not to arrest him.

English translation

As with previous Harry Hole novels by Jo Nesbø, the book - called Frelseren in Norwegian - was translated into English by Don Bartlett.

References

^ East, Ben (25 October 2009). "The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo". The Guardian. theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
^ Jakeman, Jane. "The Redeemer, By Jo Nesbo, trans Don Bartlett Reviewed by Jane Jakeman". independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

External links

Official website

[1] East, Ben (25 October 2009). "The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo". The Guardian. theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.

[2] Jakeman, Jane. "The Redeemer, By Jo Nesbo, trans Don Bartlett Reviewed by Jane Jakeman". independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Novel by Jo Nesbø}}
 {{Infobox Book  | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
 | name          = The Redeemer
@@ Line 4: / Line 5: @@
 | translator    = Don Bartlett
 | image         = The Redeemer - book cover.jpg
-| image_caption = Paperback edition
+| image_caption = First edition (Norwegian)
 | author        = [[Jo Nesbø]]
 | cover_artist  =
@@ Line 11: / Line 12: @@
 | series        = [[Harry Hole]] (#6)
 | genre         = [[Crime fiction]]
-| publisher     = [[Random House|Harvill Secker]]
+| publisher     = [[Aschehoug]]
 | pub_date      = 2005
 | english_pub_date = 2009
 | media_type    = Print ([[Paperback]])
-| pages         = 571 pp (Eng. paperback trans.)
+| pages         = 571  (Eng. paperback trans.)
 | isbn          =
 | preceded_by   = [[The Devil's Star]]
 | followed_by   = [[The Snowman (Nesbø novel)|The Snowman]]
 }}
-'''''The Redeemer''''' ({{Lang-no|Frelseren}}) is a novel by popular Norwegian crime-writer [[Jo Nesbø]]. It is the sixth entry in his [[Harry Hole]] series.<ref>{{cite web|last1=East|first1=Ben|title=The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/25/the-redeemer-jo-nesbo-review|website=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=theguardian.com|accessdate=4 May 2017|date=25 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jakeman |first1=Jane  |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-redeemer-by-jo-nesbo-trans-don-bartlett-1643550.html |publisher=independent.co.uk|accessdate=May 4, 2017 |title= The Redeemer, By Jo Nesbo, trans Don Bartlett Reviewed by Jane Jakeman}}</ref>
+'''''The Redeemer''''' ({{Langx|no|Frelseren}}) is a 2005 novel by Norwegian crime-writer [[Jo Nesbø]]. It is the sixth entry in his [[Harry Hole]] series.<ref>{{cite web|last1=East|first1=Ben|title=The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/25/the-redeemer-jo-nesbo-review|website=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=theguardian.com|accessdate=4 May 2017|date=25 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jakeman |first1=Jane  |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-redeemer-by-jo-nesbo-trans-don-bartlett-1643550.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-redeemer-by-jo-nesbo-trans-don-bartlett-1643550.html |archive-date=2022-06-18 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |publisher=independent.co.uk|accessdate=May 4, 2017 |title= The Redeemer, By Jo Nesbo, trans Don Bartlett Reviewed by Jane Jakeman}}</ref>
 ==Plot==
-''The Redeemer'' begins by describing an incident which took place a number of years in the past, in 1991, at a [[Summer Camp|youth camp]] run by the [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[Salvation Army]]. A young, 14-year-old girl – the daughter of a senior official in the Salvation Army – is [[rape]]d in a public [[toilet]] on the site. Due to the Salvation Army's strict hierarchical setup, and also because revelation of the rape will severely damage the Salvation Army's reputation, she does not tell anyone about the ordeal. The name of the assailant is not given; the chapter includes mention of several young men who would play major roles in the later plot, and it could have been any of them.
+In 1991, at a [[Summer Camp|youth camp]] run by the Norwegian [[Salvation Army]], the 14-year-old daughter of a senior Salvationist official is [[rape]]d in a public toilet. Because of the Salvation Army's strict hierarchical setup, and because public knowledge of the rape will severely damage the organisation's reputation, she does not tell anyone about the ordeal. The name of the assailant is not given. That same year, during the [[breakup of Yugoslavia]], a young [[Vukovar]] [[Croats|Croat]] fighter witnesses atrocities committed by the victorious [[Serbian people|Serb]] [[Militia (Yugoslavia)|militia]]s in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Vukovar]]. The fighter, who receives the nickname "Little Redeemer", later becomes a professional assassin who carries out [[contract killing]]s in various European cities.
+In the present day (2003), the assassin {{mdash}} calling himself Stankić {{mdash}} arrives in [[Oslo]] and kills a Salvation Army officer, Robert Karlsen, during a [[Christmas]] street concert. Stankić has a facial anomaly known as hyperelasticity, wherein his facial muscles can be manipulated voluntarily to stop people from recognizing him. As such, despite the murder happening in a public place, the [[Norwegian Police Service|Norwegian police]] get little useful information regarding the killer. Meanwhile, retiring Oslo [[police inspector]] Bjarne Møller gives his three main officers {{mdash}} Jack Halvorsen, Beate Lønn and [[Harry Hole]] {{mdash}} gifts. Hole's is a [[wristwatch]] which grows to annoy him due to its incessant ticking. Møller is replaced as senior police inspector by Gunnar Hagen.
-Another aspect of the past, scattered in numerous flashbacks throughout the book, is vivid reminiscences of the 1991 [[Battle of Vukovar]] during the [[Breakup of Yugoslavia]], and of the atrocities committed in its aftermath by the victorious Serb militias. Similar to the flashbacks to the [[Second World War]] in "[[The Redbreast]]", these are integral to the book's plot - having formed the character of a young Vukovar Croat fighter who received the nickname "Little Redeemer", who would later become a professional [[hitman]], carrying out [[contract killings]] in various European cities.
+Hole, Halvorsen and Lønn are assigned to Robert's murder. When a murder attempt is made on Robert's brother Jon, it is believed that the Karlsen family is being attacked. With Hole's former girlfriend, Rakel Fauke, having left him and started seeing another man, Matthias Lund-Helgesen, Hole meets {{mdash}} and eventually begins a relationship with {{mdash}} Martine, the young woman who (unbeknownst to Harry) was raped in 1991. Hole finds clues that lead him to Croatia and to Stankić's [[minder]], who is revealed to be the assassin's mother. He makes a deal with her to save her son's life, but upon returning to Norway discovers that a man wearing Stankić's clothes has been shot and killed by a police [[marksman]]. The dead man's face is all but obliterated and identification is near-impossible.
-The action moves to the present day (2003), and the Croat assassin – calling himself Stankic – arrives in Oslo and kills a Salvation Army officer during a [[Christmas]] [[concert|street concert]]. The hitman has a facial anomaly known as hyperelasticity, wherein his facial muscles can be manipulated voluntarily to stop people from recognizing him. As such, despite the murder happening in a public place the [[Norwegian Police Service|Norwegian police]] get little useful information regarding the murderer. The reader already does know who pulled the trigger – however, the identity of the customer who paid for the killing and this customer's motives remain unknown, and are at the center of the mystery which must be unravelled.
+Halvorsen, Lønn's boyfriend, is fatally wounded outside Jon's flat. Afterwards, Hole discovers that the blood of the dead man does not match that of Stankić, whose blood was found at the scene of Halvorsen's attack. Hole continues to follow Stankić, but now knows Jon placed the kill contract on himself by going to Croatia and setting up the hit under the guise of Robert. Jon switched places with his brother so that his murder could not be blamed on him. This had the additional bonus to Jon in that, had Stankić returned home before discovering that he had killed the wrong target, the hitman and his mother would believe they had killed the customer, thus rendering payment impossible and nullifying the need to complete the killing of the 'correct' brother.
-Meanwhile, the senior [[Police Inspector]] from the [[Oslo]] Police, Bjarne Møller, [[retirement|retires]]. As a parting gesture, he gives his three main officers, Jack Halvorsen (called Halvorsen by his colleagues), Beate Lønn – Halvorsen's [[girlfriend]] – and [[Harry Hole]] gifts. Harry's is a [[wristwatch]] which grows to annoy him due to its incessant ticking. At one point, he even throws it out the window of his [[apartment]], though he later recovers it from the packed [[snow]]. Møller is replaced by Gunnar Hagen.
+Jon has been [[fraud|swindling]] 5,000,000 [[Norwegian krone|krone]] from the Salvation Army for an apartment block. On the night of an indoor Christmas concert, he stands up his girlfriend, Thea, claiming that he is visiting his ill father in Thailand. Stankić and Hole both get the information from Thea that Jon is about to flee the country. Stankić tracks down Jon to a toilet some distance from the main [[airport terminal]]. Hole catches up with the two and gets Jon to give a full confession, stating that anything said with a gun to his head is [[Inadmissible Evidence|inadmissible]] in court. Jon tells everything, believing that he will be set free, but Hole instead tells Stankić that Jon's bag contains 5,000,000 krone and walks away. Behind him a single shot is heard as Stankić fulfils his contract by killing Jon and claiming his payment.
-Harry, Halvorsen and Beate are assigned to the murder of the Salvation Army officer – a man called Robert Karlsen. When a murder attempt is made on Robert's brother, Jon Karlsen, it is believed that the Karlsen family is being attacked.
+Part of the confession includes that it was Jon, not Stankić, who fatally wounded Halvorsen. Hole also knows that it was Jon who raped Martine, and that he has been [[serial rapist|raping young girls regularly]] ever since. Owing to the high [[Valuation (finance)|valuation]] that an antique dealer puts on the watch given to him by Møller, Hole also realises that his former boss was involved in the same group of [[police corruption|corrupt]] police officers as his former nemesis, Tom Waaler. Hole goes to [[Bergen]] to speak with Møller, but after Møller explains that he was trying to do what was best for the force, Harry elects not to arrest him.
-Harry's former girlfriend, Rakel, has now left him and is with another man, Matthias Lund-Helgesen (who is to become a major character in the next Harry Hole novel, ''[[The Snowman (Nesbø novel)|The Snowman]]''), and Harry meets – and eventually begins a relationship with – Martine, the young woman who (unbeknownst to Harry) was raped at the start of the novel.
-Harry finds clues that lead him to Croatia and he makes contact with the hitman's [[minder]] who is revealed to be Stankic's mother. He makes a deal with her to save her son's life, but upon returning to [[Norway]] discovers that a man wearing Stankic's clothes has been shot and killed by an [[armed police]] [[marksman]]. The dead man's face is all but obliterated and identification is near-impossible.
-There is a clue, however, in the dead man's [[DNA]], after Halvorsen is fatally wounded outside Jon Karlsen's flat. The [[blood]] of the dead man does not match that of Stankic, whose blood was found at the scene of the attack on Halvorsen. Harry continues to follow Stankic, but now knows that Stankic was contracted to kill Jon Karlsen by Jon Karlsen himself. Jon switched places with his brother (the two looked very similar so Stankic did not notice the difference) so that his brother's murder could not be blamed on him. When in Croatia, setting up the hit, Jon had posed as Robert.
-Jon is also swindling the Salvation Army out of 5,000,000 [[Norwegian krone|krone]] for an apartment block. On the night of an indoor Christmas concert in a concert hall, Jon Karlsen stands up his girlfriend, Thea, claiming that his father – in [[Thailand]] – is ill and that he is going to fly out to him. Stankic and later Harry Hole both get the information from Thea that Jon is about to flee the country.
-Stankic catches up with Jon in a toilet block some distance from the main [[airport terminal]]. Harry also catches up with the two of them there, and gets Jon to give a full confession, stating that anything said with a gun (Stankic's) to his head is [[Inadmissible Evidence|inadmissible]] in [[court]]. Jon tells everything, believing that he will be set free, but Harry instead tells Stankic that Jon's bag contains 5,000,000 krone and walks away. Behind him a single shot is heard.
-Part of the confession includes that it was Jon Karlsen, not Stankic, who fatally wounded Halvorsen. Harry also knows that it was Jon who raped Martine some years earlier, and that he has been raping young girls regularly ever since. Jon is seen to have been an [[unreliable narrator]], as numerous episodes told from his point of view in earlier parts of the book gave the impression of his being an honest, well-meaning person.
-Owing to the high [[Valuation (finance)|valuation]] that an [[antique dealer]] puts on the watch given to him by Bjarne Møller, Harry also realises that his former boss was involved in the same group of [[corruption|corrupt]] police officers as his former nemesis, Tom Waaler. Harry goes to [[Bergen]] to speak with Møller, but after Møller describes that he was trying to do what was best for the Force, Harry elects not to arrest him.
 ==English translation==
@@ Line 57: / Line 46: @@
 {{Jo Nesbø}}
+{{Authority control}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Redeemer}}
-[[Category:2005 novels]]
+[[Category:2005 Norwegian novels]]
 [[Category:Harry Hole (novel series)]]
 [[Category:Norwegian crime novels]]
 [[Category:Novels set in Croatia]]
-[[Category:Rape in fiction]]
+[[Category:Novels about rape]]
-[[Category:The Salvation Army]]
+[[Category:Fiction about the Salvation Army]]
 [[Category:Vukovar]]
+[[Category:21st-century Norwegian novels]]

v t e Jo Nesbø
Harry Hole series	The Bat (1997) Cockroaches (1998) The Redbreast (2000) Nemesis (2002) The Devil's Star (2003) The Redeemer (2005) The Snowman (2007) The Leopard (2009) Phantom (2011) Police (2013) The Thirst (2017) Knife (2019) Killing Moon (2022)
Other novels	The Son (2014) Macbeth (2018) Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder series (2010–2018)
Other works	Stemmer fra Balkan (1999) Karusellmusikk (2001) Okkupert (2015)
Adaptations	Headhunters (2011) The Snowman (2017) The Hanging Sun (2022) Killer Heat (2024)
See also	Di Derre

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany
Other	MusicBrainz work 2