This is book 3 of the Harry Hole series.

Book ONE HUNDRED for the year! Given my goal was to read 52 books this year, a feat I accomplished in June, I have to say that I have crushed that goal. Harry Hole was a significant part of that crushing: this is the seventh book I've read in the ten books of the Harry Hole series. While I prefer to read series in order, this one happens to be readable in any order, with lots of details filled in by reading earlier books. I kinda like that I didn't read them exactly in order. Even if I didn't really like the first book, I do like the series and the tragic character of Harry Hole.

This book has a different writing structure than most of the other Harry Hole books, in that it tells two stories intertwined, with the merging of the two plot lines at the end with a resolution for both of them. One of them was the story of a soldier from Norway who fought on the Eastern Front during World War 2. On the wrong side. Except there wasn't a correct side in the trenches until after the war and atrocities were revealed, and even then, the bottom of the totem pole does what he was told to do, did what he needed to do to survive.

As with the rest of the Harry Hole books, there is the path Nesbø leads us down, and the actual solution to the mystery, the actual person doing the series of murders of persons who fought on the Eastern Front. A few of the murders didn't quite fit, which of course leads the police down the wrong path, which makes things interesting and confusing.

I'll finish the series, likely this year at this rate. Maybe. Four more books this year and I've doubled my reading goal for the year.

As mentioned not ten minutes ago in the Alias Volume 2 review, I watched another episode of the Netflix Original Jessica Jones series, and followed it up with the comic original version. I followed up volume two with this volume, three. You're shocked, I know.

This one dove a bit farther into the Marvel Universe than I had read, involving a number of lesser-known (as in waaaaaaaaaay lesser known) super heros of the Marvel Universe, which makes the series and the backstory honestly that much more interesting (again, in the "I find this fascinating" sense, and not in the "I find this to be shit, but can't tell you" sense of oh-god-don't-hurt-anyone's-feelings bs going on these days).

This collection included the missing issue 10 of the original Alias series, which was okay, since the rest of the comics had more to do with the remaining plot than issues 11-15 in Volume 2. This particular story arc, again, involved finding a missing girl, though it's also full of misunderstandings and misinterpretations, which do a bit to further the plot.

The premise of the missing part of the plot is kinda gross, but life in and of itself is kinda gross, we just try very hard not to see the gross.

Again, I'm enjoying the series, as I am beginning to be drawn into the Netflix version. There's a Volume 4, which I don't have, and a second Pulse series that I'm now interesting in reading. Though, I could cheat and just read the wikipedia page.

I'll see what my budget for books is next month before deciding.

Recommended.

Yep, another night of watching Jessica Jones Netflix Original episodes, followed by the comic original version. This evening was Alias Volume 2 (and Alias Volume 3, be unsurprised).

I found the artwork in this issue interesting in the actual definition of "interesting" and not the politically correct version of "I think this is ass, but don't want to hurt your feeling, so I will use the word 'interesting' in place of 'piece of shit' interesting."

A girl goes missing, and Jones is hired to find her. The girl is artistically talented, intellectually curious, and socially angry at the small-minded, hate-inspiring nature of her home town. There isn't much mystery to the plotline (which encompasses books 11-15 of the Alias series, meaning issue 10 is (looks askance) elsewhere), but the social commentary makes the book worth reading. I would argue doubly so in these hate-fill times where the issues raised in the book are more prevalent 10+ years after publication.

I'm enjoying the series, as I am beginning to be drawn into the Netflix version. I'm looking forward to (oh, crap, I've already finished) the next collection.

More so, in that I've read the wikipedia page and kinda (read as "do") know what's going on.