Police by Jo Nesbo

Things are going pretty well for Harry Hole these days.  He's off active duty in the police department where the stress and danger almost killed him.  Instead, he is teaching at the police academy, much healthier and happier.  He is back with Rakel, his longtime love, and her son, Oleg, who he considers his own. 

And yet.  It would be foolish to say Harry didn't miss the department and active investigations.  When you are the best at something, it's hard to put it down.  He still has secrets and enemies more than ready to reveal them if he comes back.  How he manages to make enemies of people like the Chief of Police and his right-hand man is hard to understand for those who don't know him.

Then the unimaginable happens.  Police are being targeted and killed.  Not just shot in the commission of a crime, but lured to the scene of former murders and killed in an imitation of the previous crime.  No one who knows and loves Harry wants to pull him back, but when they are stumped, it just is inevitable to ask.  Harry resists, but as the crimes start striking closer and closer to him and targeting his former friends and colleagues, he is pulled back into the investigation.

This is the tenth Harry Hole mystery, and the reader turns the last page eager and impatient for the next.  Jo Nesbo is at the top of the crime writers' game.  His lead character is distinct yet believable, and his loyalty to those he loves is admirable.  The crimes are unusual and the solutions always a surprise.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers.