Police, the tenth and final book in Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole detective series, tells of the Oslo Crime Squad’s search for a serial killer who is targeting them, specifically police or former police who were involved in the investigation of cases that were closed without being solved. The public are outraged at the lack of progress in the cases, though the police themselves have more reason to be concerned as some of their best have been killed. Making it even more complicated, the head of the Crime Squad is getting little cooperation from the newly appointed Chief of Police, who has his own secrets to keep hidden.
The best suspect for the crimes is presumed to have died, but as the twists come in every chapter, it isn’t certain; he may still be alive. And an anonymous patient in a coma, kept in a hospital room guarded by police day and night, is another villain from a previous Hole case, also thought to have died, whose existence serves up more threats.
Harry doesn’t make his appearance in this novel until more than 100 pages in. He has promised Rakel, the woman who captured his heart and whose life he had put in danger in the past, that he would no longer investigate cases. He traded his police status for a position as an instructor at the equivalent of Oslo’s Police Academy. He has promised Rakel he will never again put his detective skills ahead of the people in his life. He has made this promise before, but this time, he intends to keep it. That is, until it is clear he can no longer refuse the requests from his former colleagues. When one of those closest to him fell victim to the killer.
Police keeps the reader guessing all the way to the end. Nesbø offers up plenty of possible suspects as well a possible victims along the way. Even at the end, he poses questions about what is coming. Is Police really the last book in the series?
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