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Headhunters

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Headhunters

By: Jo Nesbo, Don Bartlett - translator
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

Roger Brown has it all. He's the country's most successful headhunter. He has a beautiful wife and a magnificent house. And to maintain this lifestyle, he's also a highly accomplished art thief.

At a gallery opening, his wife introduces him to Clas Greve. Not only is Greve the perfect candidate for a position with one of Roger's high-profile clients, he is also in possession of 'The Calydonian Boar Hunt' by Rubens, one of the most sought-after paintings in the world.

Roger sees his chance to be rich beyond his wildest dreams and starts planning his boldest heist yet. But soon, he runs into trouble - and this time money is the least of his worries...

 Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Suspense Thriller & Suspense World Literature Thriller Crime Fiction Exciting

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Critic reviews

Nesbo is a master storyteller, gripping the reader from the first page and ratcheting up the suspense in a thrilling finale with several satisfying twists.
Keeps the twists and shocks coming hard and fast
A relentless and breakneck tale that keeps the reader hungrily turning the pages for more
A gripping read... I got lost in this book and hours skipped by as the chapters got shorter, more tense and the pace quickened to an almost unbearable crescendo... A thoroughly satisfying read
With echoes of The Thomas Crown Affair, spectacular storytelling and a beautifully judged super-twist, it confirms Nesbo's place at the pinnacle of thriller writers and, inevitably, a film version will be with us next year. It's that good (Geoffrey Wansell)
This book is one you absolutely have to read... The outrageous storytelling is so stimulating, it makes James Ellroy look like a boy scout and Bret Easton Ellis like a sunday school boy
The reader is glued to the pages like gum to the street... Nesbo has accomplished an easily digested, but nevertheless brilliant and elegant thriller
Don't miss this thriller from the UK's second biggest-selling fiction author about an ambitious art thief
A masterclass in obfuscation and psychological parrying... Roger is a well-crafted, morally dubious character who remains oddly likeable owing to a nifty line in bitter observations... After recent events, no one can be in any doubt of Norway's dark side and Nesbo wisely juxtaposes Oslo's shiny veneer with its rotten elements. Equally, the parallels between artistic worth and corporate value are neatly levied... Nesbo has that rare talent for turning the tables on readers, confounding expectations and revealing on what is intended
An accomplished novel from a first-rate author
All stars
Most relevant
Superb writer. He keeps you gripped from the first minute. Some of the facts are a little far fetched but not enough to put you off.

Excellent!

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I swithered with purchasing this book, but have enjoyed all the other Nesbo books. At first I could not get past my dislike of the main character. However I stuck with it and really enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot. Sean Barrett is a great narrator and this was an enjoyable thriller.

Great story

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Roger Brown, our hero or anti-hero depending on your view point, he then proceeds with a poised wit to demonstrate his manipulative gifts by bending a client to his will while extracting the information he needs to steal a valuable lithograph of Edvard Munch's The Brooch.



Roger Brown seems to have everything, a trophy wife he fears losing and a girlfriend that is only on the scene for his apparent pleasure. Roger has a fancy home with all the mod cons and likes the finer things in life, along with this his wife who is very high maintenance and hence he lives way beyond his means. His job as a leading Head hunter, for recruitment agency hardly pays the bills, however, it does enable him to pick out `marks' and then rob them of valuable art work - the main source of his income!



Roger is not particularly likable and his vicious world of international commerce is unattractive. However, a malevolent fate comes up the Kattegat in the form of Clas Greve to pursue the complacent, antihero.

Greve is a handsome, wealthy, charismatic son of a Dutch father and a Norwegian mother, apparently between jobs, having recently worked for a major military contractor. Roger seeks him out for Pathfinder, a conglomerate run from Oslo, and sees him as a target for theft as he secretly owns a valuable Rubens that apparently came into the family's hands by way of Nazi confiscation during the Second World War.



What follows in the narration is `tour de force' of violence and dark humour. Where would be predator becomes prey, and nothing can be taken at face value. Add some James Bond like hair gel that can be tracked by GPS and you're onto a roller coaster ride!

Predator becomes prey

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A Harry Hole fan I knew I wouldn't be disappointed . I wasn't. Black comedy in places. Sean Barrett narration once again is out of this work. I think I would listen to anything narrated by him
I would recommend it to most people I know .

Great plot twists. Superb Jo Nesbo and narration

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This is a story where it's so tense you feel that you want to speed up the storytelling because its so good. The eponymous Headhunter is smug, manipulative, deceitful, but there's always someone fiercer out there in the world. A thriller in every sense; putting the reader right in the middle of the menacing heart-stopping experience - and unbelievably its also make you laugh out loud. After listening to this Jo Nesbo book its hard not to start straight away on another. A good story and good listening.

Tension, Breath Stopping Tension

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