It Is Hereby Resolved (Part Three)

It would be inadvisable, if not impossible, to put together a list of New Year's Resolutions on New Year's Eve. We would never ask a guy like Harry Hole to do that. So here we are, on New Year's Eve Eve, taking one last look at our favorite characters' self-improvement efforts for 2013. As for you though, don't ever change.

Harry Hole is one of crime fiction's best protagonists. He's driven, loyal, resourceful, deeply flawed, haunted by the past and facing a tenuous future. Yesterday, I caught up with Harry in the eighth, and latest, Jo Nesbø book, Phantom, in which Harry, an ex-cop, returns to Oslo from Hong Kong to help someone close to him who's been arrested for murder. The plot involves the drug trade and deals with themes of loss and redemption, good and evil, responsibility and love. It's complex and absolutely fantastic. Nesbø's books are being translated from Norwegian into English helter skelter, so I'll next read the first Harry Hole book, The Bat, and the second, The Cockroaches. I'll also hope for the ninth.

If I were Harry, the first thing I'd resolve to do in the New Year is change my name. The correct pronunciation of Harry's last name is apparently Hoola but looking at it on the page as Harry Hole would be too much for me. But not Harry. Below are items on his list of resolutions.

1.   Do I want to settle down in Hong Kong or go back to Norway? Decide if I want to decide.

Hong Kong

Oslo

2.   Think about rejoining the police, if they'll have me. I can't stop pursuing criminals and it's easier with real ID in my wallet.

3.   Enlarge my circle of friends. Keep in touch with the few old ones. Drop into Schrøder's. Check on my sister. Rakel, my love. Oleg. Hell.

On Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I'm barely on 

the chart let alone fulfilling any social needs.

4.   Watch my back.

5.   Put my titanium finger to better use. Investigate Victorinox for possible attachments.

6.   No more big facial scars. One will do me.

Resolve not to google this.

7.   Don't drink today. Say the same thing tomorrow.

8.   Take better care of myself. Too often I look and feel like shit.

I might settle for breathing.

9.   Make peace with my past.

10.   There's no such thing as free will or happy endings. Appreciate moments of happiness and peace.

Godt nytt år.