The Leopard has a far-flung plot

Detective Harry Hole, whose drug of choice is now opium rather than booze, is dragged back from Hong Kong to Oslo where cancer is devouring his father. His long-suffering boss at the Crime Squad, waging a turf war with Kripos, persuades Harry to mount a secret investigation into the murders of two women who were forced to eat a "Leopold's apple", a metal ball which shoots out 24 needles in all directions. The correct pronunciation of Harry's surname - "hurler" - becomes ever more apt.

The Leopard is Jo Nesbø's longest and most ambitious book to date. However, it is not his best. The far-flung plot - which eventually takes Harry into the Congo, Conrad's Heart of Darkness - provides plenty of red herrings but is so complicated that a further 100 pages are required to unravel it once the killer has been unmasked. There are times when Nesbø teeters on the edge of self-parody - the avalanche and climactic scene atop a volcano belong in a Bond movie - and it surely can't have been his intention that the euthanasia subplot provide the biggest surprise. Still, his ever-growing legion of fans should lap it all up with glee.