I do love Nesbo's books as a rule but found this a little frustrating. I have never been a fan of short stories and here I found that some I was happy were only short format and others that could have been developed more - a mixed bag

I enjoyed this, I sometimes prefer short stories as you can dip in and out as and when.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

What a treat! I hadn't realised this was a collection of 12 short stories and as a massive Jo Nesbo fan I couldn't wait to get stuck in.

I'll admit I didn't actually like all of them. The titled Jealousy Man was a personal dislike, it felt like a completely different author to the one I've grown to fangirl over!

BUT there are others that were just phenomenal.. Rat Island.. wow! This was the shortest read of them all but the best by far. Maybe because of the past couple of years we've lived through it felt more 'real' but whatever it was.. it was superb.

It does feel like it was a book of short stories written by 12 separate authors. As the book progressed I did lose interest and boredom slowly crept in (sorry) but I am glad I stuck to it otherwise I would have missed the best stories which are near the end - Rat Island, The Shredder, The Circadas and The Antedote.

Whilst I didnt particularly like the majority of the short stories, my rating is based on the 4 that I REALLY enjoyed!

Thanks to netgalley and Random House UK for the ARC.

3.5*

This collection of short stories by the talented Jo Nesbø, author of the fabulous Harry Hole novels, is divided into two themes. The first centres on jealousy and part two around power. It is quite a diverse bunch of stories. The settings vary from London to Milan, from New York tot Botswana and the length from a few pages to two tales – The Jealousy Man en Rat Island – that are almost long enough to call them short novels. Four of the five in the Power section are set in the future and can be regarded as Science Fiction, especially The Cicadas and The Shredder. In the Cicadas two friends go to Pamplona to run with the bulls, but end up falling in love with the same girl. It is a tale of murderous love and parallel universes. In The Shredder a scientist who has discovered a cure for death, ends up shredding his memory to stop this dangerous knowledge getting out. As we have come to expect from Nesbø, all tales are dark and clever. One or two – like Odd – may be too clever for the ordinary reader. For me the shorter stories were much better than the longer ones. I especially liked London, The Line and Trash. This is not Harry Hole, but if you are a Nesbø fan, read and enjoy it.

A great collection of stories, My personal favourite is Rat Island. I would recommend this book.
I received this book from Vintage digital via Netgalley for a review.

I didn’t realise that this book was a collection of stories! What a treat. I think to give it its best review I shall review each story as I read them because how can you apply a single star rating to multiple narratives?

LONDON ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As an opening gambit this story is brilliant. It’s a short story so the narrative and pace is swift but that doesn’t mean that it lacks depth. Set during a flight to London two strangers meet. Told from the perspective of the arriving passenger it is a clever tale whereby you, the reader are essentially a fly on the way observer to a situation and a conversation. Throughout the flight you make your own assumptions and predictions but really never truly knowing either character. It’s a wonderfully written chapter and a fantasy start to what I’m hoping is a tremendous read!

THE JEALOUSY MAN ⭐️
Terrible. A meandering flop of words in a seemingly never ending tale that lacks depth and structure. It’s like it has been written by an entirely different author! Gone is the eloquent and snappy narrative, gone is the brilliant dialogue and all you’re left with is a weak story that is predictable and just rammed full of content that was hugely unnecessary. This story should’ve been much shorter and I don’t see why it earned the title of the book at all.

THE LINE ⭐️⭐️
An extremely short tale set in current (covid) times. An extreme reaction and traumatic account from someone who isn’t ‘sound of mind’. I liked it but as it was so short it’s hard to truly review it. Although I was left wanting more.

TRASH ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A swift, darkly comic, gripping tale that is unveiled slowly as the main character trys to remember what he did the night before. Really engaging and entertaining.

THE CONFESSION ⭐️⭐️
Okay so I’m 5 stories in and the theme of deceit and jealousy is coming through as the driving force of these stories. The Confession had all of these and was as short as the two previous stories. Whilst good I’m left somewhat confused as to who dies at the end.

ODD ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well this story is as the title ‘Odd’. It’s a tale about an author who just wants to exist to write and isn’t a particularly likeable person although perhaps his maltreatment of others is his magnetic pull? This tale was interesting to a point but it still felt like it had been padded out rather than fully explored. Once again Nesbo try’s to wow the reader with facts and insights he’s learned or picked up through his research but the way in which it is delivered ends up just becoming extra words rather than actual story driven content.

THE EARRING ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a good story about an earring being found which leads to jealousy (the theme of the book) and revenge. Almost entirely an inner monologue, the characters aren’t as well fleshed out as I’d probably like but as a basic outline of a story it’s quick and engaging.

RAT ISLAND ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was terrifyingly brilliant! The longest short story of them all and the most epic in all senses. Why wasn’t this the title of the book?! Set in what could have been present day, post pandemic but in a timeline whereby the virus takes hold stronger and faster. Society has crumbled, infrastructure has fallen, economy is practically nonexistent… money means nothing and survival is down to power and resilience. So often we read stories set in alternate realities and the enjoyment is part of the ride as well as trying to imagine that as a reality. With the pandemic still present in our lives I personally found this take on ‘what could’ve been’ absolutely terrifying and yet believable. Excellent writing and brilliant character development I devoured this story.

THE SHREDDER ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I feel like it’s taken Jo Nesbo 3/4 of the book to finally get into his stride. These last two stories, whilst very dystopian have been very well presented and written with an intellect and style that is both captivating and thrilling. It’s a shame that so much of this book, to date, has just been ‘okay’.

THE CIRCADAS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A total mind-bender of a storyline that is both entertaining and thrilling. Jo Nesbo has tried his hat at science fiction and created a story that is too complex to even explain if I was inclined to give away the plot. Whilst the characters aren’t necessarily likeable or that well fleshed the concept and the twists are what kept me reading.

THE ANTIDOTE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A short and cleverly written tale of deceit. Told from the view points of both father and son as well as their own accounts of their own and each other’s lives. If you don’t like snakes or needles maybe give it a miss!

BLACK KNIGHT ⭐️⭐️
Fans of Queen’s Gambit will love this story. Set in an alternate Italy where contract killers and cartels hold the power. Gruesome, brutal and at sometimes hopeless. I enjoyed this story but didn’t think it was as well planned as the others. It was clever but for me a little too far fetched for a tale trying to be a reality.


************
Initially as I progressed through this book i was becoming quite bored and uninterested with the book. Not because they were necessarily bad but more that the book was massing I didn’t get what Jo Nesbo was trying to achieve or demonstrate.

The writing throughout is ok but each chapter/story is so different it could’ve been written by an entirely different author. Is this what Nesbo is trying to show us? His strength of diversity and storytelling?

I chose to rate these stories individually because I could already tell when I started the book that it would be hard to rate it overall without some kind of reminder or way to look back through my own journey.

Overall the book is not bad, I’m still not entirely sold on Nesbo and his writing but I appreciate that he has a diverse talents and is always well read on any subject he tips his hat towards.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

It certainly didn't surprise me to see as many reserved thoughts and low star ratings on other reviews for this book – it was certainly not Macbeth (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2353473904) and yet at the same time seemed to have the same potential for dislike as another Dr Proctor's Fart Powder volume. It seems Nesbo really needs consideration before jumping on board with – especially as a liking for Harry Hole now covers about 6,000pp.

And we didn't get off on a terrifically good foot here – we open with quite a dull way to get to quite the obvious destination, only for the title novella to be one you could charge with the same offence. While it certainly has a lot that is new – a rock-climbing murder investigator, for one – there is one aspect to it you see coming over far too many pages, and the whole will either be engaging or melodramatic and overlong, depending on your preference. 'Odd' does have guns and crime and this and that, but is almost as much about writers and writing, as a modern literary man ducks out of a public Q&A at the last second, and gains a Salinger-esque renown as a result. Elsewhere the first major section of this book – stories revolving around jealousy, and more often than not featuring a psychologist, real or otherwise – is made up of shorter pieces, showing near-genre traits in visits to the more humdrum jobs of life – an immigrant shopworker, a binman, a cabbie. There are strong twists here and there, but nothing that smacks of being essential.

After Jealousy comes Power, as a theme for five more substantial pieces. Someone discovers the potential for eternal life; a lad thinks he has the upper hand in the waiting game with his father over his inheritance – and we think we're still not hitting any heights. Or we do if you read it in the same (incorrect) order as I did.

There's a second sci-fi flavour in the background of the piece I found stuck with me most, 'The Cicadas', a look at two very different young men who have a habit of sniffing round the same women. Nesbo has certainly worked hard to give each piece here a different specific location, and Euskadi and Pamplona for the bull-running is certainly an uncommon setting. Whatever your thoughts on the likelihood of anything here, I found the characters memorable and the visual shade of the story in my mind for a lot longer than the rest. Equally strong – and diverse – must be a game of chess between two killers in a future-Milan, which gets to breathless readability at times.

I managed to get a whole heap of deja vu from 'Rat Island', the longest chunk of Part Two, which starts by looking at what put two friends on the top of a tower block, awaiting a private airlift away from the burning, pandemic-riddled waste of a city beneath it, and struggles to keep its morality play lessons at bay for the second half, but just about gets there. Again, I can see people thinking there is just one change of power status too many, and it could have been trimmed somewhat.

So none of these are perfect, or could be recommended unreservedly, but I did in the end enjoy myself here. I wish there was an indication of any of these having been out separately, but I found no evidence either way, in which case I assume these were presented just because he'd written them, just because. And if it's the case they were written just for the sake of it then it might be further proof Nesbo needs a firmer editorial hand, for some of these needed a better draft. But I didn't find anything objectionably bad about these many different dark slices of life. Some will remain quite memorable, as I say, so this certainly remains worth a browse, if never worth a full batch of plaudits. Three and a half stars.

In this unique collection of short stories, Jo Nesbø demonstrates that he can write a decent, mysterious story full of suspense and unforeseen twists. Each of these tales is dark and captivating and will please many readers. The stories all have the main theme of jealousy which is rectified by murder. Other themes include lust, infidelity, obsession and betrayal and there is a disturbing atmosphere throughout. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Random House UK/ Harvill Secker via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

This book was like fire on steroids!
I haven’t read so many twists in a long time. And what a ride honestly. I just couldn’t put it down because even if I thought I knew who the killer was and what’s going on, with each chapter, another twist will come out and I couldn’t wrap my head around them all. Jealousy and greediness is proven to be the main reason for brotherhood rivalry and Jo Nesbo has created a mind blowing thriller with this book.
A must read book!
Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy through @netgalley

The Jealousy Man is a collection of short stories by Jo Nesbo .I don't usually prefer short stories as I feel like I don't get enough information before they're cut short, however I was gripped and each story stood out on it's own so I flew through the book but I was particularly intrigued by the slightly dystopian novel (with a hint of a pandemic). I would recommend to fans of Nesbo but also crime/thriller fans as this was a fantastic read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

A collection of short stories and novellas from one of the best Scandi writers around? Count me in. I think I actually drooled at the idea of an anthology of self-contained tales from the dark side by the author who gave us the Harry Hole series and superb standalone novels like the ridiculously brilliant Headhunters. But these 12 stories form a very mixed bag indeed…

Despite the alluring / misleading promo blurb, none of these stories features HH himself. They’re loosely assembled along two themes, ‘jealousy’ and ‘power’. The first group are mainly conventional crime-thrillers while the second section explores more dystopian and speculative territory. Few are set in Nesbø’s native Nordic neck of the woods. Instead, they feel like the type of tale inspired by exotic holidays in warmer climates.

The first of them even takes place on a plane – and it’s tightly-wound and perfectly plotted; a superb demonstration of the art of the succinct quick thriller with more surprises than the average novel crammed into compact package. It might be the best in the whole book, however. Several of the others would’ve benefited from the same tight focus and sharp editing; a couple ramble around aimlessly, it seems. The Confession is one of the brisk, tightly-twisted tales and is all the better for its brevity. And it’s almost certainly a knowing tribute to Roald Dahl’s classic, ‘Lamb to the Slaughter‘!

You certainly get your money’s worth: there’s plenty of reading matter in the entire anthology. But I can’t help feeling that some of the stories would’ve been better if they were shorter – where the ideas are stretched wafer-thin I was actually a bit bored by the time the denouement rolled around.

At times, this book feels like an author expunging his personal, pandemic-induced paranoia onto paper. The collapse of ordered society has been covered plenty of times before. Nesbø’s exploration of revenge and justice – while entertaining in places – didn’t uncover any human truths that weren’t discussed at length in, say, Day Of The Triffids…

Not the best introduction to this author, then. However, it does escape the usual problem with short story anthologies by a single writer – where they all feel far too similar. There’s plenty of variety here, and some fleeting glimpses of Nesbø’s imaginative accomplishment; not least in the title story which features a world-weary detective with an unusual investigative angle. So The Jealousy Man makes for an interesting addition to the bookshelf if you’re already a fan.
6/10

I did enjoy this collection of short stories. But I absolutely prefer Nesbo's novels. These stories, although unique and accomplished in their own way, didn't feel like Nesbo to me. They had some of his trademark characterization and scene setting - although I found due to the nature of a short story, there wasn't the time to expand on any of the ideas that were present in the stories.

Exploring the themes of Jealousy and Power, Nesbo brings up some important topics and food for thought, which I did appreciate. I think my favourite of the collection was the title story - THE JEALOUSY MAN. This is a very long collection and you can easily dip in and out, which I actually feel makes it quicker to read, as you are aware that it won't take long to get to the end of the current story and then you can put it down and come back to it.

I would recommend this to people who are already fans of Nesbo, but if you've not read a Nesbo before I wouldn't base your opinion of him as an author on this one. Try the Hole series first.

I'd read a few of the stories again in the future, but not all. The slightly dystopian ones were a bit too out of my comfort zone.

A decent mix of stories , some stronger than others. I particularly enjoyed the Jealousy man and the final story in the collection the black knight.. The writing was of a high calibre which you would expect from an author such as Jo Nesbo, some of the stories had a dystopian theme which doesn’t appeal to me, so on a personal note it let the book down, but obviously it would be suited to a reader of that genre.
I enjoy Jo Nesbo’s novels and expected more from this anthology.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK.

The Jealousy Man by Jo Nesbo
I give this book 3.75 stars

In his first ever collection of short stories, this master of crime writing skilfully draws in the reader as we watch the potentially fatal outcomes of humanity's most powerful emotions play out on the page.

This is a compilation of short stories by 1 author.There are two main themes running throughout jealousy and power.l really enjoyed being able to dip in and out of this book.lt has the benefits of a quick escape that draws you in and is easy to finish a story.Well written and enjoyable!
With thanks to Netgalley,Jo Nesbo and Random House UK Vintage

An interesting selection of stories. My favourite was the title story The Jealousy Man, closely followed by Black Knight. There seems to be a dystopian theme going on in several of the stories, either post pandemic of some sort or post war. They all have unusual twists on them which makes them quite readable.

The motive is jealousy, the solution is murder - five variations. Suspicion. Jealousy. Envy. Pretense. Lying. The intense crime stories of the master of suspense take darkness to its core united by the theme of jealousy: the feelings of the ancient, strong, painful, not subject to will, changing human nature. Jealousy hides behind a thirst for justice, drives you crazy, poisons your life and changes it for the better only if you can literally and figuratively remove your opponent. Among the heroes of Nesbø there are both cynics and simpletons, but they always act unpredictably - even for themselves, because human logic is powerless in front of the green-eyed monster. An investigator from Athens is called in to investigate the disappearance of a German tourist on the island of Kalimnos. Over the course of his career as a policeman, he has made a name for himself by analyzing murders for the motive of jealousy. Will his intuition fail him this time? The taxi driver finds an earring in the back of the car. A confusingly similar pair of earrings he bought as a gift for his wife. Could this trinket belong to her?

But then where did she get there? Disturbing questions, considering that the vehicle belongs to his boss. A passenger flying from New York to London decides to part with life after discovering that her husband is having an affair with her best friend. Will talking to the man sitting next to her on the plane change a woman's decision? The heroes of the collection of short stories Jealousy experience violent feelings. Nesbø typically confronts the reader with the unpredictable effects of jealousy, infidelity, lust and betrayal. And as always, it surprises. In a unique collection of short stories, Jo Nesbø proves that he is a true master of mysterious stories full of suspense and unforeseen twists. On the pages of the book, ingenious minds meet with vengeful hearts, insatiable greed and unscraped love to create a delicate mosaic that will delight all fans of dark and captivating stories. Stories of ferocious men, of unscrupulous lovers, of implacable destinies. In the obsessive and disturbing atmosphere of the master of Scandinavian crime. Highly recommended.

A good mix of stories but there were a few weak ones as well which is to be expected in any short story collection I think. I still prefer Jo's novels and think I will stick to them.

This is a collection of short, and not so short stories from Jo Nesbo, who is one of my favourite crime authors. The first story had me hooked straight away and really sets the tone for what's to come. As with many of Jo Nesbo's other novels, the writing is so beautifully crafted that you're led down a path without even realising it, and then when the twist comes, you wonder why you hadn't worked it out before!

There's a real mix in The Jealousy Man, with stories set in the familiar 'real world' but also a fair few in fairly bleak surroundings. One of which feels quite uncomfortable, with the population trying to survive the feral fallout from a global pandemic. It's a scary prospect, that doesn't seem too much of a step to far in the current climate.

The Jealousy Man is not a light read, but is still an excellent collection to dip in and out of to get a good crime fix.

The book is a collection of short stories by Jo Nesbo and it is split into two sections, one with the with the theme of Jealousy and the other Power. I found it to be a mixed bag with some stories more entertaining and interesting then others. I must confess to being a fan of his Harry Hole novels and have read them all. This collection did not grip me in quite the same way I'm afraid.

As with most short story collections,it's a bit hit and miss.
Some were great,some dragged a bit. Some made me smile,some made me frown.
As this is Nesbo,nothing was actually too bad,but also nothing is going to stand out in a few months time