Review of The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo

After several years of reading various Scandinavian crime writers viz Henning Mankell, Arnaldur Indridason, Karin Fossum and Ade Edwardsson with their own particular style and feel, it was nice to come across another new writer who could grab your attention and keep it glued to the written page for over 500 (admittedly small) pages without much pause for breath.

The book introduces the character of Harry Hole, a police detective from Oslo. To say he’s an anti-hero is a bit of an understatement! From the outset, this guy is a deadbeat. He seems to be on a permanent drinking binge from the start. He’s just lost a colleague at work on his previous case and relationship with Rake has just crumbled around him. Indeed, he’s about to get his notice to terminate employment just before he gets his teeth in the current case.

It’s the middle of a tropical summer in Oslo and there seems to be a ritual serial killer stalking the streets. A killer is striking at random and leaving behing bizarre clues – a blood red diamond, a pentagram and a missing finger!

Since half the police department is on holiday, there’s nothing for it but Hole must work the case with his arch nemesis Detective Tom Waaler, who he has suspected as being corrupt for some time now.
Hole manages to clean up his act and get to grips with the case which does give him the chance to expose Waaler and deal with this creep once and for all.

All in all the book is very well paced and contains enough twist and turns to keep you guessing until the end.
My only complaint is that although this is the first Harry Hole mystery to be translated into English, the second one to be published The Redbreast should be read before it, not after!