Trailer Park Tuesday: Phantom by Jo Nesbø

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.  Unless their last name is Grisham or King, authors will probably never see their trailers on the big screen at the local cineplex.  And that's a shame because a lot of hard work goes into producing these short marriages between book and video.  So, if you like what you see, please spread the word and help these videos go viral.

True confession: I have never read any of the new wave Nordic thrillers.  At least not yet.  Steig Larsson and Henning Mankell sit gathering dust on my bookshelves, along with several mysteries penned by Jo Nesbø.  Of the three, Nesbø is the most enticing.  His books featuring Harry Hole (a name that brings my snickering 12-year-old inner child to life) intrigue me with their dark stories--reflected in the black-dominated cover designs.   The Redbreast, The Snowman and The Leopard all have earned critical acclaim for their moody, well-paced plots.  Vanity Fair once wrote: "Nesbø explores the darkest criminal minds with grim delight and puts his killers where you least expect to find them."  The trailer for Nesbø's latest novel, Phantom, is light on plot specifics but heavy on atmosphere.  The video only makes two things clear: there's lots of violence (neck-snapping, suffocation-by-plastic-bag, etc.) and there are heavy clouds of cigarette smoke.  You'll have to go elsewhere to learn that Phantom centers around Hole's attempts to free the son of his lover from jail.  In the course of his investigation, he's embroiled in the underbelly of Oslo's drug scene.  The trailer is dark (literally) and seductive and may just be my gateway into Swedish thrillers.