Svidio mi se i način na koji Nesbø ovdje portretira likove, tj. naglasak koji stavlja na likove koji su više možda zlikovci nego heroji i splet okolnosti koji ih je natjerao da to budu. Ljubomora je sama po sebi snažna emocija, korijen mnogih krivih postupaka i skretanja u pogrešnom smjeru. Ovdje je ona ono nešto što sve priče povezuje, ali i ono nešto što ih sve pokreće. Quite a paradox, isn’t it? I never did get round to sending in those divorce papers, so Simone and I were still man and wife when she died. That makes me the sole heir, officer. So if it really was Henrik Bakke who killed her, what that means is that the man who stole the love of my life from me has made me a millionaire. Me. How’s that for one of life’s little ironies?’ The stories were read by a variety of narrators, several of whom I was already familiar with. All performances were excellent. I read that when Henrik Bakke found her he thought at first she was asleep. Pity he wasn’t there when she died. He might have learned something. I mean, it must be fascinating to study a human being in transit between life and death, don’t you think?’ The reason you haven’t found anything is simple. I haven’t been here, officer. At least not this past year. And the housekeeper does a thorough job with her vacuum cleaner.’

And I also know that murder is bound to look bad for me as the scorned husband. It gives me a motive. I could have come to see her, I knew where she kept the poison, I could have slipped it into her coffee and then left. I imagine that’s why you’ve been to my place, to see if there’s a match between any of my clothes and the fibres you found here in Simone’s house.’This was my first Jo Nesbø book and I enjoyed most of his stories and his dark humour and plot twists. His Harry Hole novel's are meant to be excellent so I look forward to diving into them one day. The chocolate spins round four times when I pull on the ends of the wrapper. I remove the silver foil, fold it four times, run a fingernail over the folds and put it on the coffee table. Then I close my eyes and pop the chocolate into my mouth. Holy Communion. The absolution of sins. A veritable crime lover’s delight from a true master of mystery and suspense. Experience the #1 New York Timesbest-selling author as never before in this dark and thrilling short story collection that takes us on a journey of twisted minds and vengeful hearts.

Disfruté los relatos mucho más de lo que pensé que lo haría, me alivió saber que puedo disfrutar de Jo Nesbø incluso en historias cortas. Sé que la serie Harry Hole no es una obra de arte, pero la verdad es que le tengo cierto cariño, por eso quería leer al autor en otro estilo para ver si seguía disfrutando de su pluma. The officer looks as though he might be preparing a response, a long and complex response that’s going to require a lot of thought. I continue.Confesión y Odd fueron mis favoritos de la primera parte. Confesión es interesante en su construcción, la voz narrativa del protagonista el cómo va hilando sus pensamientos y el cómo se ve arrastrado en confesar lo que hizo. Es predecible, sí, pero el cómo estuvo contado fue lo mejor. Por otro lado, con Odd no me vi venir el final, creo que es el que tenía menos marcado la temática de los celos de este grupo, era más sobre la vida del autor, el costo de este "genio creativo" y el precio por ser capaz de escribir lo que se quiere escribir. Por último, El pendiente, no me resultó tan predecible como los otros, similar a los relatos mencionados lo más interesante tenía que ver con la narración del protagonista y el cómo hiló sus pensamientos para llegar a un desenlace que no se veía venir tan claro. Simone loved chocolates. Especially Twist. Every Saturday when I did the shopping at Kiwi I used to buy a big bag of them. It was one of our few routines. It was a sort of anchor in a life based on opportunism, whims, the occasional evening meal together and, as a rule, waking up in the same bed. We blamed our jobs, and I believed that everything would be different once we had a child. That would bring us together. A child. I remember how shaken she was the first time I brought it up. The investigating officer sits in an armchair facing me, and the notebook lies untouched on the table in front of him.

I put down my coffee cup and take a Twist from the dish of chocolates. Coconut. Not my favourite, but perfectly acceptable.The writing is typical Nesbø, which, for those who have read some of his work, will know is steeped in symbolism and a deeper analysis of the emotional being. Hidden meanings and ideas permeate the narrative, such that the reader may play close attention to get all that Nesbø presents in his writing. With stories that vary in length, it is even more important to pay attention, as there are times when a piece is over before it really begins, meaning the reader will miss what is being presented. Until she met me Simone’s life was meaningless and directionless, she was on the skids. On the surface everything seemed fine – the looks, the money, the so-called friends – but there was no substance, no direction, you understand? I call it the terror of things. Because things can be lost, and the more things you have the more afraid you are of losing them. She was drowning in her own affluence, she couldn’t breathe. I came along and gave her space. Gave her air.’ On paper the money was hers, but it was her father who pulled the strings. The insistence on a prenup when we got married was, of course, his idea. He probably saw it all, how she’d soon grow out of her longhaired young photographer with his lofty dreams and his ‘artistic ambitions’. Porque he estado allí. Porque nuestros celos eliminan las diferencias entre tú y yo, los celos logran que nuestros comportamientos empiecen a parecerse más allá de las clases sociales, del género, la religión, la formación y el coeficiente intelectual, la cultura o la educación. Del mismo modo que los drogadictos más enganchados, todos somos muertos vivientes dando tumbos por las calles impulsados por un solo afán: llenar ese gran agujero negro que tenemos en nuestro interior"

But you didn’t, officer. You didn’t manage to connect the poison to the remains of chocolate you found in her stomach because the chocolate had already melted and dissolved. So I began to worry that Henrik Bakke might get away with it.’ With Nesbø’s characteristic gift for outstanding atmosphere and gut-wrenching revelations, The Jealousy Manconfirms that he is at the peak of his abilities. The title story, “The Jealousy Man,” is an above-average novella. Here, Inspector Nikos Balli has flown to a small Greek isle called Kalymnos. There he meets up with a colleague, George Kostopoulos, where they discuss the case that Balli has been assigned --- the disappearance of Julian Schmid. The prime suspect, and probably the last person to see him alive, is his twin brother, Franz. Ejecutarte no sería en ningún caso una venganza suficiente. Porque, sí, quiero que te arrepientas. Quiero que sientas el mismo dolor que yo al perder a uno de tus seres más queridos. Y quiero que sientas la misma culpa que yo por no haber protegido lo bastante a tu familia. No soy mejor persona por eso. Pero los seres humanos tenemos la capacidad única de renunciar a aquello que nos proporciona una satisfacción a corto plazo en aras de algo que tiene una finalidad superior" Simon Vance (one of my all-time favorite narrators) read London, the opening tale that was truly captivating and held my attention, and Odd. Quotes from London: "then you smiled, just a tiny wavelet on a slushy puddle," and René "Girard's [mimetic] theory is that beyond satisfying our basic needs we don't know what it is we want, so we mimic our surroundings, we value what other people value..."Euan Morton read The Earring and The Antidote, which was a twisty tale with tails and set partly in Botswana! From the Jealousy Man: "That it was true what they said, a confession is a story that's just waiting for an audience." A veritable crime lover’s delight from a true master of mystery and suspense. Experience the #1 New York Times best-selling author as never before in this dark and thrilling short story collection that takes us on a journey of twisted minds and vengeful hearts. You’re thinking she wasn’t the type to take her own life. And you’re absolutely right. Don’t ask me how, officer, but I know she was murdered.’