There's a new hot-shot crime investigation unit in Oslo called Kripos. Kripos wants to take command of all the high-profile criminal investigations in the region, leaving the local police to deal with the day-to-day crimes. Kripos is run by Mikael Bellman.
Our hero, Harry Hole, meanwhile, has quit the police force (although his boss has technically listed Harry as being on "extended leave,") and Harry is holed up in a wretched dive called Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong, throwing his life away. He only leaves his room to play the horses or to buy opium, which he buys by leaving an empty baby's bottle for the opium dealer to drop the drug into. Harry's previous case, The Snowman, put his true love Rakel and her son Olag in danger and Harry can't forgive himself.
Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose back home, and the lovely police woman Kaja Solness has been sent on a mission to Hong Kong to bring Harry home. Harry, after all, is the world's top expert on serial killers.
This may be Jo Nesbo's finest novel. I have read everything by Nesbo that has been translated into English, and if Nesbo would write a book on economics and have it translated by Don Bartlett I would read that too. My favorite Nesbo book has been The Redbreast. I suppose I'll have to settle the question of which book is my favorite by granting The Leopard a tie for first place in my affections.
As for the relationship that develops between Harry Hole and Mikael Bellman of Kripos, let me quote one of Harry's thoughts: "Harry looked at Bellman. He could not help but admire him. The way you admire a cockroach that you flush down the toilet and it comes creeping back. Again and again. And in the end it inherits the world."
The method used by the serial killer in his first murder takes Harry to the Congo where Nesbo reminds us of the horrible reign of King Leopold of Belgium, during which an estimated ten million natives were slaughtered. Nesbo is constantly reminding us of our past....a good thing in my opinion.
On a subsequent trip to the Congo Harry finds a cab driver who speaks English. He is Dr. Duigame, also known as Saul. He has a doctorate in English Literature. (Kids who take out student loans for hundreds of thousands of dollars to major in Literature should consider Saul's position.) As Saul is driving along he quotes Hemingway: "Once you have opened your soul to Africa you won't want to be anywhere else."
Harry Hole asks, "Hemingway said that?" Saul says, "Yes he did. Hemingway wrote all kinds of romantic shit all the time. The truth is that no one comes back to the Congo if they don't have to."
So Nesbo not only gives us history but also literary criticism. And I happen to agree with Saul's comment on Hemingway, so it cracked me up.
Nesbo also teaches us about volcanos and rope-making inter alia. He always has something new and interesting to fill the gaps between the action.
The Leopard is a long book; 513 pages. But I was never bored by it. At times I had to put it aside just to consider the book more deeply and let it sink in. It is also absolutely filled with characters. I think there are more characters in The Leopard than there were in War & Peace if you exclude everyone in the French and Russian armies under the rank of captain. But all the characters are important. And small individual quirks assume great significance as the plot develops...someone's fear of opening doors, for instance; or the way someone's voice sounds, etc.
And if you have read Nesbo's previous works you will be pleased, as I was, to once again encounter Beate Lonn, Oystein, Gunnar Hagan, Bjorn Holm, Rakel, Harry's father Olav, etal. And we finally get to meet Sis...Harry's sister. She has a touch of Down Syndrome, as she puts it, but according to Harry Sis is the only one in the family with her feet planted firmly in reality.
And, of course, Harry Hole gets his man. But I won't reveal the plot. There's even a surprise visit from one of the characters from a previous novel. But I'm not telling you who. You will have to read the book yourself.
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