The Devil's Star: A Harry Hole Novel (Harry Hole Series, 5)

Oslo police detective Harry Hole drowns his greatest professional and personal failures with alcohol. He tried to persuade his superiors that Detective Tom Waaler killed Harry's police partner Ellen Gjelten (see The Redbreast), but no one believed him; Harry also believes the dirty cop sells weapons on the streets. On the personal front, he has been inept in connecting with his girlfriend and her son. Ironically, Chief Inspector Bjarne Moller teams up Hole and Waaler on the murder investigation of Camilla Loen whose finger was removed and a devil's star shaped diamond jammed under her eyelid. Harry is assigned a missing person's case that soon ties back to the Loen murder. Those corpses are followed by similar bodies as Hole realizes a serial killer is on theloose. The third Hole Norwegian police procedural is a great whodunit as the hero struggles to sober up in order to work the case ALONG side his Nemesis. The story line is fast-paced from the onset and never slows down as Harry struggles in all aspects of his life except investigating a homicide. Sub-genre fans will relish his latest caseload on and off the job. Harriet Klausner

Extra Information: The first two books for this Harry Hole series The Bat Man and The Cockroaches have not been produced for translation at this time. The Redbreast: A Novel would be the third book in this series; if you were to start this series my recommendation would be from The Redbreast. The series then follows through in order with Nemesis: A Novel (Harry Hole) The Devil's Star and finally The Redeemer (A Harry Hole Mystery) which then brings us readers to all things wintry, dark days, sub zero temperatures, icy chills, the release of The Snowman March 2010. Review - The Devil's Star (Harry Hole Fifth book) The Devil's Star is a contemporary modern day crime plot with all its darker elements, filled with emotion, fast paced, suspenseful, the puzzle grips, builds, festers and twists keeping the mind ticking over until the very end. The author Jo Nesbø brings us into his opening scene, Oslo, current day a young women has been found murdered in her Oslo flat, shot, Index finger removed and a curious tiny diamond shaped like a five pointed star placed behind her eyelid. An unsteady Detective Harry Hole is sent over to investigate the situation. Days later another young women goes missing in broad daylight no body found, but Bjarne Møller Harry's boss receives her severed finger in the post. Only when a third womens body is found with the same signature as victim one, severed finger, small five pointed star behind the eye, the investigation turns quickly into a serial killer hunt. Harry's pervious assignment working for sometime on the Ellen Gjelten case his ex murdered partner, but to no advance, finally case closed but not to Harry he had departmental suspicions but lacked any proof forcing him once again to fall deeply off the wagon. Bjarne Møller who had saved Harry's job so many times had no choice but to tell him final notice was to be served but first with holiday staffing issues, he'd be placed on the serial killer case as priority before he left. The situation was about to get worst as his partnered with Tom Waaler the police forces golden-boy, there are no alternatives. With a serial killer at large personal issues needed to be put to one side, even with Harry's darker state of mind he functions better under pressure and was onto a new lead, he has nothing to lose and his presence makes others feel unnerved, more than one person is about to lose control. As the saying goes "Things happen in threes" great things in the form of The Redbreast, Nemesis and here we have my personal favorite The Devil's Star, fifth book in this series this is certainly a book that really makes you think and question which is what I love. My thoughts even wondered If the author wrote subconsciously, Intentional or it could just be a fantastic coincidence or fate, book numbering and story-line? The Devil's star was officially the only book published out of sequence and the first one I read around 2006, this roller coaster sits behind The Redbreast and

Harry Hole is back again in the streets of Oslo, wrestling with his drinking demons which have a lot to do with his getting fired. But as he prepares to leave the force, a mysterious serial killer seems on the loose. Instead of packing his bags, Hole uses stealth, good policework and intuition to tract down a heartless killer and also indulge and to thwart evil plots by one of his colleagues. Jo Nesbo write a long, detailed polic procedural here which has ver few faults. This is my second Nesbo book and I look forward to many more hours of pleasure from books yet to be written.

When it comes to crime fiction, I'm not an easy mark. I look for intricate but credible plots, well-developed characters, richly drawn settings, and lean dialog that compliments and develops the story, the characters and the setting, rather than as a misplaced prop which tries to make the hero some kind of cross between Chris Rock and Dirty Harry. So when I say that you should do whatever it takes to find a copy of Jo Nesbo's "The Devil's Star", and "The Redbreast" that precedes it, trust me that is worth the extra effort and extra bucks. (Neither of these novels, originally published in Norway and later translated to English by Don Bartlett and published in England are easily - or cheaply - found). "The Devil's Star" starts brilliantly - the journey of a drop of water through a century-old Oslo apartment building that ends with one of the most original renderings of a murder discovery that I can remember. This cleverly told opening sets a literary and mystery high bar that never lets up and never betrays the author's implicit promise to the reader of an intelligent, complex, and appropriately brutal Scandinavian crime masterpiece. It is an unusually hot summer in Oslo, and most of the population, including the police force, is on holiday when a young woman is found dead in her apartment - one finger short and a red star-shaped diamond inserted under an eyelid. Harry Hole, the renegade Oslo inspector introduced in "The Redbreast" is assigned to the case with his nemesis, top brass-favorite Tom Waaler. To say the Hole has fallen on hard times is like observing Norwegian winters may get chilly - he is in an alcoholic stupor, despondent, suicidal, barely functional, and alone - the result of his obsession with the crimes he's certain Waaler committed in the preceding novel. When a second body shows up, similarly desecrated and adorned, it is feared that Oslo has a serial killer on their hands, setting the stage for an epic tale of crime and deception, of demons real and demons imagined. Nesbo's Harry Hole is the maverick cop we've all seen many times before - unconventional and anti-bureaucracy, an alcoholic who is perpetually one step or one day or one punch away from a forced retirement. But from the talented Nesbo's pen, Hole takes on depth and baggage beyond the common - the tragic hero whose obsessions win the reader's empathy while driving those close to him further away while his unorthodox methods and atypical supporting cast unravel the puzzle - or in this case, a veritable smorgasbord of puzzles. For in a somewhat unusual twist, unresolved and nearly forgotten threads of "Redbreast" show up here, where they are taken decidedly and decisively to truly chilling, suspenseful, and ultimately redeeming conclusion. So like I mentioned - this is crime fiction about as good as it gets. Intelligent and convoluted in a totally consumptive way, with twists and turns and clever head fakes - that rare novel that will have you scratching

This is a complex thriller set in Norway with an unusually intricate plot and an exceptionally well developed main character --I purchased this in Scotland and finished it within a little more than a day. This is is in the same genre as the stories written by Henning Mankell in the Kurt Wallender series. I would rate this story dealing with a serial killer on a par with Mankell's best. The suspense grinds away and the plot has multiple twists which keep the reader constantly on edge. I am purposely writing a very general review so as not to give away the many twists of this great mystery --it just never lets up and the quality of the writing is superb. This is a s[pecial accomplishment as the story is translated into English. This book far surpasses writings by Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke and even some of Mankell's work.