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Macbeth is updated and set in a gritty, modern industrial town where the police, a biker gang, and a mysterious criminal mastermind vie for power and control of the city. Crime, ambition, power, betrayal, love, and a healthy dose of the supernatural make this a compelling if, perhaps, overly long story that mostly kept my attention. The writing is great, as you would expect from Nesbo, and if you‘re a fan of Shakespeare, you‘ll find lots to like.

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The latest entry in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.I‘m a big fan of Jo Nesbø, but this novel sinks under the weight of the “Scottish Play.” All the expected themes and characters are there but they struggle to make a cohesive whole. In the hands of a less talented author the book would‘ve been a failure.

Set in the 1979‘s in a dying industrial town plagued by drug kingpins.

Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't"

Looking into books for #FoodAndLit I found Jo Nesbo. Now I‘m on a whole Macbeth kick.

I read Macbeth as a GCSE text and always had a fondness for the story, even if I‘m not a fan of Shakespeare per se. This was engaging from the start as I tried to figure out how the story was going to be updated. I enjoyed it, but having so many claims made and crimes committed just seemed a little far fetched to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

A retelling of Macbeth set in 1970s Glasgow, with biker gangs, lots of drugs, and corrupt cops. Lady Macbeth owns a casino and the witches are the ones who create new designer drugs. I wasn‘t sure it would work, but it does.

#MarchMadness #Shakespeare

The three Hogarth Shakespeare Project books I have read so far & the one that is next on the list (tagged), although when I‘ll get to it is anyone‘s guess. 📚📚📚😬📚📚
Hag-Seed is my favorite of the three I‘ve read.

Scored another book from my mom and this one I don‘t have to return. She never finished it—likes Nesbo usually but didn‘t like this book, and was going to put it in her friend‘s Little Free Library but she said I could take it if I wanted it. So, I‘m going to read it and then I‘ll put it in someone‘s Little Free Library just as my mom planned.

SO GOOD! Macbeth had been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays; I‘ve read it a few times, but it‘s been over a decade since my last reading of it. I‘m definitely not one for police crime novels, but Jo Nesbo has a knack for thrill and made the Macbeth story very accessible, bringing it to life in a way I‘ve never experienced it before. I would love to see this adaptation turned into a movie.

Sunday vibes

Nesbo transports the Scottish play to a grim 1970s Glasgow - Macbeth himself is a police inspector whose decision to murder Chief Commissioner Duncan is in part motivated by a desire to clean up the city. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did - Nesbo's Macbeth and Lady are cardboard cutouts compared to their originals and all the doubledealing among the drug lords and police officers just got tedious after 250 pages or so.

Look what I won in @REPollock #Giveaway500 : This is one of my absolute favorite mystery writers ever!! I‘ve read the entire Harry Hole series, and a couple of his stand-alone books, but I haven‘t read this one, so I‘m very excited to read it—cannot wait! Thank you, thank you, thank you so very much for this PERFECT book mail—you‘ve made my day! ♥️ 📖 😍

Love love love! 🤗🤗🤗 Thank you so so much @cewilf for my #summersantagoespostal package! Everything is fabulous! (The litter box is perfect 😙 !) More pics to come -!

Thank you @BookishMarginalia for organizing!!

After a slow start when I nearly gave up this suddenly grabbed me hard. I love Jo Nesbo and this didn‘t disappoint; it reads like a speeded up, crazy Harry Hole story. I admit I haven‘t read Macbeth so I came at it purely as a Jo Nesbo fan. I can‘t say whether it worked as a modern retelling of Shakespeare but I can say it worked as the brutal, nasty, gritty crime thriller with so many of the flawed characters that Jo Nesbo does best. A great read

I wasn‘t convinced to begin with but came to love this. I saw how nightmarish, melodramatic yet profound Macbeth‘s story is. The unclear setting, the roaring macho officers driving each other to distraction under a glowering sky, it felt like a myth or something. Hecate the drugs baron and Macbeth the almost-recovered addict worked really really well for me. Banquo telling Fleance he loves him in a car chase. Lady Macbeth maybe not so much.

Red lines are for the tagged book.

5 stars for this retelling of Macbeth, as it was easy to compare to the original, unlike Atwood's interpretation of The Tempest.

#mayscavengerhunt @TheReadingMermaid

I thought this retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth was fantastic. Just a great read and brought back alot of memories of reading the original in school. Duff (Macduff) is just amazing!

This has inspired me to read more of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. Vineger Girl by Anne Tyler will be next, which is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew.
#Seriesread @TheSpineView

This will probably only make sense if you've read the book, but drugs and ambition play an important role in this book.

#dontstopmenow #maymoviemagic @Cinfhen @rohit-sawant

#weveonlyjustbegun (well, actually I've only just begun) this book but enjoying it so far! #maymoviemagic @Cinfhen @rohit-sawant

Written for the Hogarth Shakespeare project, I thought this would be amazing but I didn‘t love it as I thought I would.

I have to admit, while familiar with the Shakespeare‘s Macbeth, I haven‘t read it (I know. Shame on me!) so I didn‘t always know what was to come, which was probably a bonus.

But I have to wonder if all those tragic decisions that make a Shakespeare play what it is, just don‘t translate well to a modern times portrayal.

Retelling of Macbeth in heroin-ravaged smalltown Scotland. Lady Macbeth owns a casino; Macbeth is an knife throwing orphan who grows up to lead the vice squad in the police department. I love this play and I love scandicrime, so this is a clear winner.

I just can‘t suspend my disbelief any further. This is masturbatory dilettante bullshittery.

This seems like a good Christmas book.

Is this a dagger I see before me?? [furiously washes hands]

So on Wednesday & Thursday of this week I was rearranging my bedroom! New bookshelves, cd/dvd unit & desk. The wooden shelves were already up, but some had double piles of books on!

I just thought this whole reimagining was heavy handed and sloppy. What makes Macbeth a great story is the finesse. I felt no sympathy for this Macbeth. Nothing more than a megalomaniac with no depth. #NewIn2018 #booked2018 #getreading2018 #26of36 #audiobook

Waiting for Harry Hole to appear then read the blurb.This is a "stand.alone",Stopped reading.Also about the drug trade..I tend not to care!

I seem to be acquiring books faster than I can read them... #readathon

Amo questo genere e l‘autore è come sempre fantastico ??

I am so into these Hogarth Shakespeare retellings. This one was Macbeth told as a police drama.

Grim, oppressive and ultra-violent - not so different from the original then! And I loved it!! Set in modern day Scandinavia, it could just as easily be in any northern town in Scotland (except for the ones that aren‘t poverty stricken, obviously 😉). The names of the towns in the original are the names of casinos in this retelling, one of which (and the most exclusive) is owned by Lady, Macbeth‘s girlfriend. This is so good. Highly recommended!!

How can Macbeth as a gritty cop reboot be so boring?

Interesting noir reimagining of Shakespeare‘s Macbeth. Set in Scotland in the 1970‘s.

A modern retelling of Shakespeare‘s play. Which will give you a good idea that this is not a happily ever after tale. Except for the reader. Please, Hollywood, turn this one into a movie! #shakespeare #tragedy #nonstopaction

Seriously, I read a hundred pages before it clicked for me that the title wasn‘t just a random name. Duh. Clearly haven‘t watched or read Macbeth in a while since none of the other names clicked. Just became so much more interesting!

3.5 stars. I liked it. Nesbo did well with the characters and the plot, and mostly stayed true to the story about the Scot we love to hate. I feel that he could have delved deeper into Lady Macbeth's character - she is so fascinating. But a good job all round.

#currentlyreading

I really liked the way the ‘witches‘ are portrayed in this retelling. I was worried they would be forgotten. I do miss the “double double toil and trouble” line though.

I finally finished this! It is a very long audiobook and I wasn't dying to listen to it so it sat for a while after I got about 75% finished. I think people either love or hate this modern retelling of Shakespeare's play. To me the draw was seeing how the modernization would work, and it was clever to me. Lady Macbeth as a casino owner was the best part. The modern setting made the violence seem more intense. Good narrator.

⭐⭐⭐

A modern retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was a very slow build and not overly original. Macbeth is head of SWAT. Duncan, the police chief commissioner, is his boss and Lady runs the Casino and convinces Macbeth to "kill the king". Not love for me because it was painfully SLOW.

#arc #netgalley #crownpublishing #hogarthshakespeare #macbeth #jonesbo

Currently reading this MacBeth retelling from #jonesbo and have to say I found it a bit slow to get going but after the murder things really started to get interesting. Im about halfway through it now and should finish in the next few days.

Hmm, books 🤤

#shelfiesaturday #librarylove #readingresolutions #riotgrams

 @Jess7 @bookriot

May was not my best reading month, but not bad. 7 print books completed, 6 eBooks, and 1 audiobook for a total of 3347 pages, 9 hours, and 10 minutes. Macbeth was my favorite read, but I enjoyed more than half of what I read. Oh, and I finally officially bailed on Dostoyevsky. Good riddance. 😂😂
#maystats #readingresolutions
#thisistheend (of May) #adelesmaymashup

Just under two hours into #13inThree and Macbeth is finished! Reviews are mixed, but I LOVED it. It was dark, sad, twisty, and compelling. Nesbo is never a quick read, and his Nordic Noir writing style works beautifully with the original Shakespeare plot and characters. He did a fantastic job updating my favorite play. That ending! Glorious.

“Seyton didn‘t like Capitol...and the expensive national theatre with its pompous plays, incomprehensible dialogue and megalomaniac kings who die in the last act.”

Shakespeare anyone? 😂😂

Loved it!

So I have a question for my fellow NetGalley readers. How do you prioritize your ARC's? I had a few already on my shelf, went a little request happy, and now have a TON on my shelf! Some have actually been published already like this one by Nesbo.

#netgalley #advancedreadercopy #macbeth #jonesbo

I kept reading because Nesbo is one of my favorite authors, but this just did not work for me. Macbeth retold as a gritty crime novel should be excellent, but nothing came together at all in this one.

I have two more hours all to myself in Children‘s today, so I‘m hoping that I finally wrap this up! I‘ve read over 100 pages in the last hour or so, and I‘m so into it; it‘s still a little bit less amazing than I‘d hoped, but overall, it‘s been a terrific read so far. #macbeth #jonesbø

I‘ve been struggling to get through physical books this month despite enjoying the selections. So, I thought I‘d give this one a shot on audiobook, and while I wish the narrator spoke a little faster, his accent is divine. 😊