I thought I was going to hate this all the way through, and in some way, there are things I hate about how this ended, but in the end, Nesbø heartwarmingly surprised me, and we’re all okay again.

The thing is, I LOVE these characters from the start. All of them. And going into reading this series, I hadn’t thought I would get this attached to any of them. Now that I’m done the series, I feel a bit of a hole left, and like at the end of all great stories, I mourn the loss at the termination of this reading adventure. This diverse cast, broken and clashing to make things right in the world, have darkened my nights of obsessed reading since I began this adventure and I’ll miss this lot. Thanks to Gunner, Katrine, Øystein, Bjarne, Oleg, Rakel, Kaja, Bjørn, Aune—and all the other faithfuls who kept Harry alive and passionate and focused.

The first novel set the stage well, and truthfully not many of the peeps from that one were long-memorable, but then came Ellen… and the torrent of falling in love with this delightful variety of personalities in the characters that surround our desperately failed hero began. And Nesbø killed me every time, first with Ellen, then Beate, and finally the worse blow of all in this novel. I mean, you start to get the idea that Nesbø actually doesn’t like Harry and wants to put him through the worst hells known to man. And as a friend of Harry, rooting that he’ll do the right thing (as he usually does, no matter the round-about journey to get there), we too are broken-hearted and can even understand his desperate actions. But we also have faith in Harry—despite all the evidence—because we know this character.

But somehow Harry always bounces back, overcomes, finds a path to twisted justice, and like Ozzy, he never succumbs to the fatal desire he displays to do himself in with the continued mistreatment of his body. It’s like life isn’t done with him yet, and it’s a good thing because there are still people left (amazingly) who need him.

I thought I was going to hate how this all ended, and in some ways I do, but what a ride… thanks for sharing Harry and his world with us, Nesbø.

In the end, I truly loved the ending.