Dark and dreary settings for dark plots

Dear Readers,

I am, again, drawn to a novel written by a craftsman who has, again, sucked me into a plot that I do not particularly want to follow. And yet, may I use the word ‘again’ again, I’m two thirds through reading this novel about a run-down, rainy industrial town in Norway, perhaps, or elsewhere. Nesbo’s protagonist is going down the morality sewer while I say, “Don’t, please don’t.” I watch the descent and then watch the rise of another character whose moral compass had been in question. There is fantasy here, but the author makes it believable.

Jo Nesbo’s writing , in his book on political corrucption called “MACBETH,” stops my heart. I love his settings, especially when it is winter here in New England and I feel the cold darkness of my weather. I am deeply vested in his characters. He portrays evil magnificently with the artist’s quick brush. Why, just once, Mr. Nesbo, may the good be good throughout? Why can’t evil be totally squelched? It is after all fiction and you make me suffer as if I were watching an emotionally loaded documentary.

Despite that, readers, Nesbo teaches us, through his fiction, the intricate complexities of life. Who says that fiction is not real? In his books, it feels real. Keep writing and I will keep reading.

K. B. Pellegrino