We have a diplomatic situation

Title : Cockroaches
Author : Jo Nesbo
Published : 05/06/2014
Pages : 464
Genre : Crime Thriller
Publisher : Vintage

     Detective Harry Hole arrives in a steaming hot Bangkok. The Norwegian ambassador has been found dead in a seedy motel room, and Harry has been sent to investigate. It's clear that the Ambassador's family are hiding some secrets of their own, but few people are willing to talk. He needs to solve a crime and avoid a scandal When Harry lays hands on some incriminating CCTV footage, things only get more complicated. The man who gave him the tape goes missing, and Harry realizes that failing to solve a murder case is by no means the only danger that faces the unwary. But in an unfamiliar city, who can you trust?

     I've been a fan of Jo Nesbo for a long time now, I started out with The Snowman and after that, I was hooked I think it was then I become a fan for life. This being said it is only recently that I have started to pick his early books up. When I read that bat I was left feeling a little disappointed. While the elements of his hero where there they felt a little disjointed. It was in no way a bad book just not what I was expecting. I guess it took some time for Harry Hole to become the hero we all enjoy reading so much. So it was when a friends said she was taking her first steps into this world i thought maybe it was time to go back and given one of the early books ago.

     So with Cockroaches Harry is once again sent away from his homeland in search of a killer. In these early books, he seems much more happy and content to see life take its path. Harry is still, however, the ace detective, he can pull all the clues together and deliver an answer that seems to wrap everything up. With these first books, it is very much about throwing Harry out of his elements and seeing how he learns to swim. In this book, he lands in Thailand and at times the people he interacts with seem a little too clichéd. For me, it did feel a little like the bumbling locals need the foreign ace detective to come and help solve a crime that they should really be able to solve themselves. There are defiantly elements starting to show though of how things would later become but as someone who first came to his story in later books, there was just felt like parts where missing.

     As for the story it defiantly has those very dark elements that would go on to define this series of books. The subjects that Nesbo chose for his books are always those things that lurk in the back of our minds. Things we don't want to think other people do but sadly know too well they have and continue to do so. What starts as a routine murder of a diplomat turns out to be anything but. And as Harry descends into the dark and seedy side of Bangkok it is hard to see where this dark hole will stop. I'm not going to lie this book does not post a pretty picture of this land. In fact, if you were to believe this book it's a place you would not ever want to go. I suppose in many ways though it is the image a lot of foreigners have of Bangkok. Which is a shame as I have been told by more than one person what a magical time they had there. But in the world criminal detectives, this a story does not make. So as we follow Harry on his story we see the word of the sex trade in all it's degrading and nauseating detail. I mention this as it also deals a lot with child prostitution and abuse. A topic that for most, myself included is one that is difficult to read about. Sadly as we all know is a fact of the world we live in, and one many are trying to stop the world over. But here in the world of Harry is one that most simply accepts and ignore. 

     This book contains so many of the element that I came to enjoy in later books but I was still left feeling a little disappointed by the end. It kind of feels like seeing one of the great masters of the art worlds sketches from when he was still learning. Which I guess in many ways it is. In no way should this stop you off from jumping into the world of Harry Hole, but for me it I prefer my harry a little more broken and on his home turf.