Headhunters
""Roger is reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith’s wonderfully smooth and sinister creation, Tom Ripley..." "
Synopsis:
Roger Brown is a headhunter: he finds just the right candidate for the top jobs and has an impressive track record of success. He has a beautiful wife who apparently panders to his every whim, although desperate to have a child. This is not a convenient time for Roger, so he stalls on this front. He is very wealthy and prepared to increase his assets by some very dubious means. At this point in his life he meets up with another successful business man who is the ideal candidate for his latest client's job. He is also an art lover with a painting which catches Roger's eye.
The plot proceeds with Roger aiming to increase his wealth by a prodigious amount and his prey proving to be not such a simple victim as Roger first imagined.
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Review:
This is not a Harry Hole investigation. The hero of this book has very few qualities to redeem himself and is completely selfish and amoral. Roger is reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith's wonderfully smooth and sinister creation, Tom Ripley in that you admire the cleverness and resilience of the man whilst despising him as a person. Whilst hating Roger and his apparent success, and slightly recoiling from the violence and rawness of the writing, I must admit there were passages which made me laugh out loud, albeit in a slightly embarrassed way. I enjoyed his chagrin when the loves of his life bite back. As with Ripley, he bounces back at the end. To be perfectly honest I am not sure about this book. I felt the writing was not as mature as the Harry Hole novels and suspect that 'Headhunters' came before his best-selling series, but if you have become a fan of Nesbo then I would certainly recommend it.