A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in...
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Oct 12, 2011
Lakis
rated it: 
The publishers in the English speaking world are trying to promote Jo Nesbo, for obvious reasons, as the next Stieg Larsson. Well, that is, to say the least, ironic since the former came on the scene ten years earlier than the latter.
Anyway, let’s just skip that and focus on the novel at hand. The main protagonist here is Harry Hole, an alcoholic detective who’s spent most of his adult life making one mistake after the other. Now, exactly because of his intoxication he seems to be at t More...
Anyway, let’s just skip that and focus on the novel at hand. The main protagonist here is Harry Hole, an alcoholic detective who’s spent most of his adult life making one mistake after the other. Now, exactly because of his intoxication he seems to be at t More...
Sep 12, 2011
S.D.
rated it: 
Another installment in the Harry Hole series set in Norway. It’s summer in Oslo and while everyone is sweltering, someone is leaving bodies with one finger cut off and a red diamond in the shape of a pentagram. When a diamond isn’t left, a pentagram is carved on a wall. Through several books, Harry has a nemesis—a fellow detective, Tom Waaler, who has a bright future in the minds of the higher-ups, and a distaste for Harry’s habit of showing up drunk. I had read two other Harry books and don
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Jul 26, 2011
I’ve been slow arriving at Jo Nesbo’s Scandinavian crime fiction, and his detective Harry Hole. The books have ridden high in the UK fiction charts over the last year. Nesbo has been likened by some to Steig Larsson, which is unfair since he is a well-established and very successful crime writer in how own right, with a significant body of published work behind him. Devil’s Star is not the first in the series, and may not have been the best place to start, but from what I have read it is typi
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May 29, 2011
The Devil’s Star, by Jo Nesbo, a-minus, narrated by Robin Sachs, produced by Random House Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
And here we get the end of the saga started in Redbreast. Harry has spent the last two years trying to pin down Tom Waaler’s movements and tie them to his partner’s death in the first book. In the meantime, girls start disappearing, but in each case a finger is found from the girls. Harry, almost singlehandedly, has to track down and unmask the real serial k More...
And here we get the end of the saga started in Redbreast. Harry has spent the last two years trying to pin down Tom Waaler’s movements and tie them to his partner’s death in the first book. In the meantime, girls start disappearing, but in each case a finger is found from the girls. Harry, almost singlehandedly, has to track down and unmask the real serial k More...
Apr 14, 2011
Sally906
rated it:
Harry Hole is a detective in Oslo, Norway. He is an alcoholic and is about to be sacked from the Police Force as a result. It is summer, and the police numbers are down as everyone has gone on holidays. When a woman is found murdered – Harry’s boss has no choice but to call Harry in to assist with the investigation. However Harry has a problem (other than the alcoholism) the man leading the investigation is Tom Waaler, and Harry believes that Tom murdered his former partner. It is this belief th
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Feb 17, 2011
Luanne
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I read my first Jo Nesbo book a couple of years ago (The Redeemer) and absolutely loved his recurring character - Detective Harry Hole. Nesbo is a an award winning Norwegian writer whose books are making a splash in North America as well.
The Devil's Star opens with a deliciously drawn scene that starts the book in a most unexpected way. With no one else to call on, Inspector Moller sends Harry Hole to the scene - it looks like a minor incident. It turns out to be anything but. More...
The Devil's Star opens with a deliciously drawn scene that starts the book in a most unexpected way. With no one else to call on, Inspector Moller sends Harry Hole to the scene - it looks like a minor incident. It turns out to be anything but. More...
Jan 27, 2011
Diane
rated it:
The Devil's Star continues the story of police detective Harry Hole, who has been in such other Nesbo novels as The Redbreast and Nemesis. Harry is a mess; he is an alcoholic, too involved in his work (and about to get fired), and these flaws have distanced him from his girlfriend and her young son.
When women are found murdered in Oslo, a serial killer is on the loose, and Hole must work with a detective he believes is involved in the death of his former partner. Her death precipitated More...
When women are found murdered in Oslo, a serial killer is on the loose, and Hole must work with a detective he believes is involved in the death of his former partner. Her death precipitated More...
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Oct 24, 2010
Felice
rated it:
While a huge chunk of the planet has made Stieg Larrsson the new J.K. Rowling I have been attending a different church, The House of Jo Nesbo.
Harry Hole is Nesbo's man. He's a loner, he drinks, he's prickly, he doesn't like authority and cannot successfully sustain a romantic relationship. In other words he has all the attributes of the cliche copper according to detective fiction. What makes him different? Jo Nesbo. In another writer's hands Harry would be the any one of a thousan More...
Harry Hole is Nesbo's man. He's a loner, he drinks, he's prickly, he doesn't like authority and cannot successfully sustain a romantic relationship. In other words he has all the attributes of the cliche copper according to detective fiction. What makes him different? Jo Nesbo. In another writer's hands Harry would be the any one of a thousan More...
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May 18, 2010
Tony
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Nesbo, Jo. THE DEVIL’S STAR. (2003; Eng. Ed. 2010). ****. This is another fast-paced crime novel from this Norwegian author who seems to be gathering quite a crew of fans throughout the world. It’s the third Harry Hole episode to come out in English, and, presumably there are more in the works. Harry Hole is a wreck. He is obsessed about the killing of a former woman police officer who was his partner. He believes that one of his coworkers on the force was behind it and did it to protect
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Apr 07, 2010
Bonnie
rated it:
I received this book from Goodreads and am so thankful that I did! Jo Nesbo has written a real winner in The Devil’s Star. What a great read this is with fleshed-out characters, both likable and repellent, a complex mystery and an even more complex sub-mystery. The dialog is crisp and convincing. Everything moves along briskly. There is a web of interwoven trails and false leads. Harry Hole is the protagonist, an alcoholic cop in Olso obsessed with avenging the death of his partner More...
Apr 06, 2010
fleegan
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 16, 2010
Nancy
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Jo Nesbø is one of the best writers of Scandinavian crime fiction out there today.
summary, no spoilers:
Set in Oslo, Devil's Star features Detective Harry Hole, whose life started zooming out of control when his friend and fellow detective, Ellen Gjelten was murdered while working a case. Harry has spent much of the time since in an alcoholic stupor, neglecting his work to try to catch Ellen's killer, and putting his personal life in the trash. He knows who murdered Ellen, More...
summary, no spoilers:
Set in Oslo, Devil's Star features Detective Harry Hole, whose life started zooming out of control when his friend and fellow detective, Ellen Gjelten was murdered while working a case. Harry has spent much of the time since in an alcoholic stupor, neglecting his work to try to catch Ellen's killer, and putting his personal life in the trash. He knows who murdered Ellen, More...
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Jan 29, 2010
Will
rated it: 
In Oslo, our hero, the very, very human Inspector Harry Hole, is trying to survive his alcoholism one day at a time, or is that one bottle at a time? But self-medicating against regular nightmares about horrific events in his past cannot kill the pain, or lessen his fears. His career is on the skids and his soul is under constant pressure from a dark-side member of the force. Hole’s obsession with work has alienated the woman he loves. His need to prove that a fellow cop is responsible for the
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Feb 15, 2010
Marty
rated it:
Can I make a - perhaps sexist - confession? I normally don't enjoy mysteries written by men. They just tend to be so ... mutilate-y and violent in a way that can seem a tad misogynistic. Also, the protagonist is invariable a troubled machismo douche with something to prove.
So, um, when I picked this book off the HarperCollins review list, I ... thought "Jo" Nesbo was a woman. Gender and cultural stereotype FAIL.
Therefore, I was not into this book as soon as More...
So, um, when I picked this book off the HarperCollins review list, I ... thought "Jo" Nesbo was a woman. Gender and cultural stereotype FAIL.
Therefore, I was not into this book as soon as More...
Jan 17, 2010
Andrea
rated it:
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 s More...
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 s More...
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Feb 04, 2012
Carole
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Harry Hole’s in trouble again. He’s trying to stop drinking, about to resign from the Oslo police force to become a mini cab driver and enjoying his erotic fantasies about his girlfriend Rakel. As if this wasn’t enough, Tom Waaler, his nemesis is now determined to bring Harru into his team by all means necessary. Harry is still grieving the death of his police partner, Ellen Gjelten, and knows that Waaler’s involved but can’t prove it.
After a brief preamble on building techniques in Oslo More...
After a brief preamble on building techniques in Oslo More...
Nov 25, 2011
Terri
rated it:
I really should have read these books in order. While it is not an absolute necessity to read these chronologically since they each stand alone so well, I still wish I had started at the beginning of this series rather than at the end.
However, let me be clear...I find these books fabulous. Such an intriguing protagonist and the plots are tightly constructed mysteries with lots of details that tie together neatly at the end. This title was no exception. Harry's on the track of a m More...
However, let me be clear...I find these books fabulous. Such an intriguing protagonist and the plots are tightly constructed mysteries with lots of details that tie together neatly at the end. This title was no exception. Harry's on the track of a m More...
Aug 08, 2011
Stuart
rated it:
The Devil's Star: This was a great book. I started it and finished it within 24 hours. I had never read anything by Jo Nesbo before, but he was recommended for those who, like me, enjoy the works of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. First, I’d like to give great kudos to the translator (Don Bartlett). I wondered if the book was written in English, so natural and colloquial was the writing, even down to etymology of “nightmare”.
The book starts well, with descriptions of water running th More...
The book starts well, with descriptions of water running th More...
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Dec 26, 2010
KarenC
rated it:
This is really a three and a half star book; didn't feel it was quite as good as The Redbreast or Nemesis, but it held my attention as I whisked through it. Harry Hole is a great character for all his flaws. He is well-described by the author and I can't wait to read more about him. The Redbreast and Nemesis should be read first in this trilogy to get the most out of the ongoing story line. Nesbø introduces a wide range of characters in this book, some of whom are distractions, but all are inter
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May 01, 2010
Kasa
rated it:
Thanks to Mankell and Stieg Larsson, Scandinavia has become the favorite source of above average thriller. Now out of Norway comes Jo Nesbo with the fifth entry in his Harry Hole series. This is not the gloomy, overcast snow clogged Swedish landscape we've come to associate with the the area, but a sun baked Oslo sweltering in the grips of a stultifying heat wave that adds a different dimension to horrific events. The reader doesn't need to have read the prior Hole titles to thoroughly enjoy thi
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Jan 15, 2012
Joe
rated it:
I was tempted to give this novel five stars, very tempted. In the end I decided it didn't deserve five as a standalone work, though it might do as the culmination of "The Oslo Trilogy" (books #3-5 of the Harry Hole series).
This is a really addictive series. The positives from my reviews of the previous books apply equally well to this one, and I think the writing has even gotten a little tighter and the character development more engaging as the series has gone on. Each More...
This is a really addictive series. The positives from my reviews of the previous books apply equally well to this one, and I think the writing has even gotten a little tighter and the character development more engaging as the series has gone on. Each More...
Feb 21, 2011
Staci
rated it:
His finger continued down the column. Leave, leave, sick leave. The Chief Inspector sighed when his finger stopped against the name he had been hoping to avoid.
Harry Hole.
The lone wolf, the drunk, the department's enfant terrible and, apart from Tom Waaler, the best detective on the sixth floor. [p.13]
.....this is the sentence where the reader firsts encounters Harry Hole and how he is perceived by his boss. I was immediately drawn to him for some reason. I like More...
Harry Hole.
The lone wolf, the drunk, the department's enfant terrible and, apart from Tom Waaler, the best detective on the sixth floor. [p.13]
.....this is the sentence where the reader firsts encounters Harry Hole and how he is perceived by his boss. I was immediately drawn to him for some reason. I like More...
Oct 17, 2011
Anna
rated it:
The recommended order for the Harry Hole fans: The Redbreast -> Nemesis -> The Devil's Star (this and Nemesis both refer to the events happened earlier, so you'll enjoy them much more when read in order).
It's an especially hot summer when a woman is found murdered with a finger missing and a red star shaped diamond n her eyelid. The case is assigned to Harry Hole (who's been drinking a lot and barely holds his job after unsuccessful events related to the nailing of the killer o More...
It's an especially hot summer when a woman is found murdered with a finger missing and a red star shaped diamond n her eyelid. The case is assigned to Harry Hole (who's been drinking a lot and barely holds his job after unsuccessful events related to the nailing of the killer o More...
Aug 25, 2010
Margot
rated it:
Detective Harry Hole is everything I could want from a Norwegian detective in Oslo, and more! Alcoholic, clever hunches that are right on track, obsessed with a past case that he can't let rest, and he doesn't play by the rules! I wish all of the series was available in English, but I'll make do. And just when you think the mysterious murders with star-shaped diamonds are all wrapped up in a pretty bow, everything changes!
Here are my favorite parts:
"Harry had felt the gnaw More...
Here are my favorite parts:
"Harry had felt the gnaw More...
May 21, 2011
Laura
rated it:
This book was great! Possibly the best I've read of the genre, and just an amazing story. I was a little unsure about the protagonist (an alcoholic detective), but the characters were actually very endearing and well-drawn. The plot was suspenseful and really hard to figure out ahead of time (even if you read the last chapter halfway through the book, like I sometimes do;) And while some of the good guy/bad guy lines were clearly drawn early in the story, there were a lot of interesting grey
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Feb 13, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
On a roll with mystery/crime novels lately, I was more than happy to take on The Devil's Star when it arrived at my door. I curled up into the back seat of our car on the way home from a trip, and dove in. Let's just say that the two and a half hour trip FLEW by. When we arrived, I was done, completely baffled by the ending (in a good way), and really confused about how we had gotten home so quickly.
The Devil's Star is the brainchild of Jo Nesbo, and is the third Harry Hole novel to More...
The Devil's Star is the brainchild of Jo Nesbo, and is the third Harry Hole novel to More...
Jun 16, 2010
Ronald
rated it:
This is a very good crime novel set in Norway, the authors home country. The characters and the plot are well thought out. I was surprised by a number of turns that the plot took. The main character, police detective, Harry Hole is on his last legs with the police department, his girlfriend, and humanity in general. He has been haunted since his childhood by his quilt of losing his younger sister in a bizarre elevator accident, which he was powerless to stop. Now the young female detective he ha
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Aug 18, 2011
Erin
rated it:
Not much to say here that I haven't said in my last two Jo Nesbo reviews. Once again he manages to have a fairly complicated plot that is engaging as you seek to tie everything together. But Nesbo won't let you, maintaining the suspense and interest throughout the novel. The new layer in this book is that the character of Harry Hole is losing control. Firstly, it is unusual to see a popular writer do this to his protagonist. Hole is certainly not your typical "good guy." Secondly, I ap
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May 02, 2011
Marjolein
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READ IN DUTCH
I had read one book by Jo Nesbo (I don't know how to create that special character) and I liked it, so when I came across Marekors (in Dutch: Dodelijk Patroon) I wanted to read it).
Each fifth day, there's a ritual murder in Oslo. Harry Hole starts with his final weeks at the police due to his drinking problem. But he still gets involved in this case. So is his archenemy, Tom Waaler...
I didn't read all the books about Harry Hole yet, so I couldn't unders More...
I had read one book by Jo Nesbo (I don't know how to create that special character) and I liked it, so when I came across Marekors (in Dutch: Dodelijk Patroon) I wanted to read it).
Each fifth day, there's a ritual murder in Oslo. Harry Hole starts with his final weeks at the police due to his drinking problem. But he still gets involved in this case. So is his archenemy, Tom Waaler...
I didn't read all the books about Harry Hole yet, so I couldn't unders More...
Jun 18, 2010
William
rated it:
The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo
This is a complicated mystery. The fact that it was translated from the Norwegian did not help matters. A serial murder is tracked by an alcoholic cop with one foot in the grave. The murders are almost a subplot to the self redemption of Harry Hole, the alcoholic cop.
Complicated, convoluted, intricate and compelling all describe this story. I had trouble getting into it. I persevered and am glad I did so. Harry Hole is not terribly More...
This is a complicated mystery. The fact that it was translated from the Norwegian did not help matters. A serial murder is tracked by an alcoholic cop with one foot in the grave. The murders are almost a subplot to the self redemption of Harry Hole, the alcoholic cop.
Complicated, convoluted, intricate and compelling all describe this story. I had trouble getting into it. I persevered and am glad I did so. Harry Hole is not terribly More...
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