Recently, only minor cases have been entrusted to him, despite the fact that his investigative skills are well known at the anti-crime in Oslo.

Everything changes when one morning he wakes up covered in blood without remembering what happened the previous evening and, a short time later, he discovers that a murder had taken place that night.

Tom Nolan of Wall Street Journal praised Knife's "memorable, well-drawn" character and called it "arguably the best entry yet" in the Harry Hole series, writing, "The moral conundrums in "Knife" are Dostoevskian, the surprises are breathtaking, the one-liners are amusing and the suspense is unrelenting.

"[4] Publishers Weekly criticized the novel for having an "enormous number of characters, backstories, subplots, and themes" but nonetheless praised its "well-orchestrated" ending.

[5] Rob Merrill of the Associated Press praised the novel's pacing but felt part of its quality was lost in the English translation.