Hour of the Wolf: Ausgezeichnet: Glass Key Award 2000 (The Van Veeteren series, 7)

You can read kind my review here as well: http://storypals.net/book-report-hour-wolf-hakan-nesser/ HOUR OF THE WOLF I was in one of those moods where I wanted to read some good mystery, something psychotic and something very dangerous. The blurb of the book said that it got someone howling in pain which is why I instantly picked it up. Also, Håkan Nesser has been on my radar for a while now and it all went like uh what the heck let’s just read this book. NO spoilers, will not reveal who killed who and what happened in the book. Okay, so. Let’s get into it. WHAT HOUR OF THE WOLF IS ABOUT? In the dead of night, in the pouring rain, a drunk driver smashes his car into a young man. He abandons the body at the side of the road, but the incident will set in motion a chain of events which will change his life forever. Soon Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, now retired from the Maardam police force, will face his greatest trial yet as someone close to him is, inexplicably, murdered. Van Veeteren’s former colleagues, desperate for answers, struggle to decipher the clues to this appalling crime. But when another body is discovered, it gradually becomes clear that this killer is acting on their own terrifying logic. MY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT HOUR OF THE WOLF. “The ritual works. The forms overcome doubts. We have learned over the centuries to weave meaning around emptiness and pain. A meaning and a pattern. We have been practising that for a very long time.” It wasn’t the best of the mystery books that I have read. Honestly, I have read much better mystery and a much better plot. However. The book is so well written that you just can not keep the book down. You will want to read the book for the writing and not the plot. Strange but that happened to me. LISTING OUT THE THINGS THAT I ABSOLUTELY ENJOYED IN THE HOUR OF THE WOLF. Starts out strong as a Hitchcockian thriller involving a hit-and-run killer, a blackmailer, and a detective all with their own mindset and drive hunting one another. I remember reading the first chapter at 2 in the night and that too on a working night, I literally had to force myself to stop reading and go to sleep, however that intrigue in the book was murdered with n number of murders in the book. I LOVED HOW PSYCHOTIC OUR MAIN LEAD WAS. Hahaha, yeah. It’s true, I loved the devil side of him, I loved the way he was thinking and I wanted so much more from him, I wanted more from his perspective and not other people, uurgghh, reading about any other character was just getting on my nerves because they were so darn boring. I do wish the book was just told from his perspective and the mystery/ thrill was built around it. Yeah, pretty much that. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IN THE HOUR OF THE WOLF? This book had potential which is why, if it ever gets auctioned for a movie, they should definitely contact me because I have some pretty great ideas as to how to pitch the story/ storytelling. First and foremost, the storytelling should be linear and avoid the too many details which weren’t really needed. ( I know it is a part of a series and some characters have been developed over the time and people wanted to know about them and blah blah, but I found that information to be really boring and not relevant- HENCE AVOID.) I want the lead/ villain to be shown in both the lights but his darker side to being completely inhumane like he will do whatever it takes to save himself and just himself. Police/ detectives to be not dumb but actually intelligent with good case studies for the audience to consume and actually confuse them more with what is happening. Exploring the psychology of our main lead/ villain. Pacing to be more fast paced with better character understanding. The introduction of the characters to be done in a completely different way. I think that’s all. This book can do so- so much with the cast of characters and the plot it had. But you wouldn’t be completely disappointed with the book as the writing is something you would delve yourself in.would I would defintely pick up another Håkan Nesser book in the future. RATING: 3/5 STARS