Harry Hole slips back into town like an old friend, or maybe more like a prodigal uncle. He chain smokes, thumps around in big boots, and attracts the kind of people who burn up your front lawn. Most view his arrival as something less than good news, but readers should plan on pulling up a seat and strapping in.

Hole is the brooding lead in the smash detective series author Jo Nesbo has set in Oslo, and while his sleuthing skills tilt decidedly toward the intuitive, there is never any shortage of explosive physical violence. Both ingredients are in force in Nesbo’s new novel, “Phantom,’’ but this book lays down important new tracks in the trajectory of a character trying to survive his tortured personality.