King of Norwegian crime fiction soaked in blood, Jo Nesbø is the perfect choice for a retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
I say this having read a string of Jo's adrenaline pumping novels: The Snowman, The Leopard, Phantom, Police and The Son.
I'm in good company. James Shapiro has been teaching Shakespeare at Columbia University for nearly 40 years and his New York Times review of the novel is glowing: "One of the pleasures of reading this book is watching Nesbø meet the formidable challenge of assimilating elements of the play unsuited to realistic crime fiction, especially the supernatural: the witches, prophecies, visions, and the mysterious figure of Hecate."
As the 11th century of Shakespeare's Scotland contained those hair-raising supernatural elements so in the 1970s of Jo Nesbø's unnamed Scottish city resembling Glasgow we have that all too familiar part of our modern world - hard drugs. And Jo adds to the list yet another eerie, freaky, mind-bender - "Brew," complements of Hecate and his three sinister assistants.
I can see why some readers, even Jo Nesbø fans, might give up on the novel - they simply have not read far enough. The action is always brisk but it really kicks into signature spellbinding Jo Nesbø gear AFTER the murder of Duncan. Holy Hogarth! Shimmering Shakespeare! What a difference. Jo does it again - this time a page-turner fueled by murder after murder after murder. By remaining faithful to the broad outline of the Bard's tragic play, Jo's Macbeth just might tally more murder victims than a fistful of his Harry Hole novels combined.
I trust everyone knows the story from high school English class so I'll make a quick shift to a number of Jo's creative highlights that make this novel one fabulous adaptation:
HECATE
Powerful drug lord, the "Invisible Hand” who rules the city. As diabolical old man Hecate reflects: “You have to make sure you becomes a god yourself. It is easier than you might think. The obstacle to most people achieving god-like status is that they are afraid and superstitious, and in their anxiety-ridden submission they believe there is a morality, a set of heaven-sent rules that apply to all people." No doubt about it, Jo Nesbø’s focus is on human psychology and morality, the conflict between a thirst for power versus conscience and a sense of humanity and decency. One example of Hecate in action: he demands a young boy addict cut out his own eye in exchange for a bag of Brew.
THREE WITCHES
"Double, double toil and trouble." Hecate has Strega, a creepy fortunetelling man-woman and two sisters with disease ravaged faces he found in an opium den in Bangkok. A la Shakespeare’s play, the sisters add toads’ glands, bumblebee wings and juice from rats to come up with their instantly addictive, super-high, hallucination producing cocaine concoction of “Brew” bubbling in a huge caldron in Hecate’s secret laboratory.
NORSE RIDERS
Armed to the teeth drug dealing motorcycle gang wearing their leather jackets and displaying their tattoos. Sweno, head of the Norse Riders, is a born killer who sets the tone for the gang - - raising hell and committing murder as the ultimate high.
POLICE AND MORE POLICE
The city's factories, warehouses and offices are nearly all shut down and boarded up. The unemployment rate soars. Meanwhile, in addition to the "regular" police, there's the Forensic Unit, Narco Unit, Homicide Unit, Gang Unit, Organized Crime Unit and SWAT. Atop this massive structure is Chief Commissioner Duncan, a good man whose primary aim is to clean up the city and bring back jobs along with a sense of civic pride. But, but. but . . . treachery, treason, corruption, double-dealing and power games within the force abound.
MACBETH
Unlike Shakespeare’s play, the shortest of his tragedies, Jo Nesbø’s 500-page novel provides ample opportunity to delve into the backstory of his characters, including Macbeth. Macbeth had a terrible childhood - raised in an orphanage, he was repeatedly sexually abused by the warden. Jo also adds many strokes of color: a one-time circus performer, Macbeth is an expert with a dagger; as a youth prior to joining the police, Macbeth was a drug addict; Macbeth was in love with Meredith, a young beauty who later left him to marry his dearest friend Duff (Macduff in Shakespeare).
As Chief Commissioner, urged on by Lady, Macbeth increasingly feels all the pressure. He must steel his nerves and resolve since his old insecurity in being raised as an orphan returns. Macbeth needs help, chemical help, that it. Macbeth turns to Hecate to fulfill his need – Brew. Ah, Macbeth has the perfect balance of medication and feels the power surging through his heart and brain. Now nothing can stop Macbeth. He can even deal with the ghosts he starts seeing both during the day and in his dreams at night.
Alas, there’s another consequence of snorting Brew – it makes the user paranoid. Here’s Macbeth telling Lady about Banquo, the man who brought him into the police force in the first place: “He loved me like a father loves a son, but that love turned to hatred when he drank the poison of envy. I passed him on the way up, and instead of him being my boss I became his. And as well as obeying my orders he has had to tolerate the unspoken contempt of his very own blood. Fleance, who has seen his father bow his head to the cuckoo in the nest, Macbeth.” Double toil and trouble - if paranoia goes too far, everybody you come in contact with becomes a threat, an enemy. And if the paranoid individual has unlimited power, watch out! The ultimate solution – murder.
LADY
In the novel, Lady Macbeth is always Lady. Lady isn’t so much a wife for Macbeth as she is the ravishing beauty with her long flowing red hair (nice touch, Jo!). Lady as the ultimate Femme Fatale. Similar to Macbeth, Lady’s backstory isn’t pretty: she was also brutalized and abused as a child. But what Lady lacks in background, she makes up in intelligence, cunning and ambition. Lady is the owner of a large, luxurious casino hotel, The Inverness, in the heart of the city. Unlike the Bard’s play, Macbeth and Lady only go back a few years. Their love still burns bright, an intoxicating flame.
For fans of Shakespeare and/or fans of Jo Nesbø, Macbeth is a must read. It is a long novel but well worth the investment of time and energy. And if you enjoy audio books, there’s good news: Euan Morton provides an excellent narration of the book using a Scottish accent. Again, I can’t stress enough – don’t give up on the novel too soon as the action truly revs up beginning one hundred pages in, in Chapter 10, with the murder of Duncan.
Jo Nesbø, born 1960
Macbeth speaking to Seyton: "You're not born of woman, you were made. Made of bad dreams, evil and whatever it is that wants to break and destroy." - Jo Nesbø, Macbeth
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