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The Devil's Star (2003)

by Jo Nesbo

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Harry Hole (5)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,2461114,029 (3.9)165
Fiction. Literature. Mystery. Thriller. HTML: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 the shape of a five-pointed star ?? a pentagram, the devil??s star.
Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.
A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil??s star is key to solving th
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» See also 165 mentions

English (99)  Spanish (3)  French (2)  Czech (1)  Greek (1)  Italian (1)  Dutch (1)  German (1)  Swedish (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (111)
Showing 1-5 of 99 (next | show all)
(2010)Harry Hole is just about to be drummed out of the police department when an apparent serial killer strikes, leaving a five-pointed star diamond as a clue. Harry is brought into the case by his enemy on the force Tom Waaler. Harry eventually learns that it was not a true serial killer, but a jealous husband who uses the serial killings to mask his murder of her and to put the guilt on to his wife's lover. In the mean time, things come to a head with Waaler who is involved with gun smuggling and other corruption. Hole finally kills Waaler in a confrontation at an old apartment complex, by getting Waaler crushed in an elevator. (PW) A serial killer taunts Harry Hole in Nesb's searing third crime novel to feature the Oslo police detective to be made available in the U.S. (after Nemesis). Still suffering from alcohol-fueled demons and obsessed with hunting for evidence against a clearly dirty cop, Hole grudgingly agrees to help look into the murder of a woman whose finger has been amputated and a red diamond stuck under her eyelid. More bodies follow, with the murderer leaving identical five-pointed diamonds (the titular devil's star) at each crime scene. At first the killings appear to be random, but Hole soon discovers an ominous pattern. Nesb¨ brilliantly incorporates threads from earlier novels, including Hole's often tumultuous relationship with his lover, Rakel, without ever losing the current story's rhythm. Even with¥or perhaps because of¥his flaws, Hole is arguably one of today's most fascinating fictional detectives.
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
Nesbo is pretty dang dark, but a creative plot.
Alcoholic former detective, who has incredible instinctual detective skills. Lone wolf.
Broken hearted. Wife and child have left him, but still love him.
Father to a young son he doesn't see often.
( )
  jjbinkc | Aug 27, 2023 |
Great airplane read, but I can't read anything else from him since deplaning. ( )
  Mcdede | Jul 19, 2023 |
This one was a disappointment. The subplot was once again far more interesting than the main storyline. The whole "pentagram serial-killing" seems to be too cliched, and even though that's what the author was going for, I was put off by it. For once, I figured out the murderer early in the book. The clues were all there.
The best part was that Waaler was finally unmasked. The standoff between Waaler and Harry was amazing! I'd been waiting for it since Tom killed Ellen, and it was beautifully crafted.
A good read! ( )
  Chandna_Agarwal | Apr 8, 2022 |
Summary: Detective Harry Hole, still in turmoil over the unsolved death of his partner, is spiraling downward to termination, until asked to work on the case of a serial killer.

Detective Harry Hole’s life is a mess. His former detective partner, Ellen Gjelten was killed and the murder is unsolved. It has estranged him from his partner, Rakel, and eventually his offenses, fueled by his drinking, have mounted to such a point that even his boss, Bjarne Moller, can’t shield him from dismissal.

But there is one more case, or rather a string of them. The murder of Camille Loen, which he walked out on because of being paired with his nemesis Tom Waaler, has turned into a series of murders following a pattern–a finger severed, a red diamond star left somewhere on the victim with another carved in the vicinity, and a shot to the head. Five days later, Lisbeth Barli, a singer living with a theatre impresario goes missing until her finger arrives at the police department. Then in another five days later, a receptionist found dead in a fifth floor restroom.

Hole, the only detective to solve another serial killer case, is asked to assist Waaler, despite his suspicions that Waaler is corrupt. Waaler in turn plays on the imminent dismissal to Hole to try to lure him into his corruption. Meanwhile, it is Hole who figures out the pattern. The five-pointed stars are pentagrams, a demonic symbol. There is a pattern of fives–five days, fifth floors, different digits for each murder. The pattern leads to a suspect and future murder locations. But something bother Hole. It seems a bit too perfect.

This one has a page-turner climax that I will not spoil by discussing it. This was my first Jo Nesbø. I’d heard others recommend his work. Hole is a gritty and flawed character, but like other great detectives, he thinks and muses and keeps thinking. He spots patterns and thinks beyond them. I realized that he has a history that I may have missed by not reading the earlier books (this was a deal on Kindle). Will he self-destruct or find an equilibrium that allows him to survive.

Nesbø sets this in Oslo during the summer, amid the warp and woof of urban life–students, theatre, business. The mounting heat wave provides an atmospheric backdrop as we await the storm to break. A longsuffering boss, a savvy cab driver, and a longsuffering girlfriend and her adoring son all seem to see something beneath the troubled life of this detective. I found myself turning the pages to see how this would all turn out, and find myself wanting to hang in there with this Harry Hole guy as well. ( )
  BobonBooks | Nov 11, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 99 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Jo Nesboprimary authorall editionscalculated
Andersen, Allan HiltonTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bartlett, DonTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bartulović, MislavTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Berntsen, AdaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Čuden, DarkoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Edit, PetrikovicsTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Font i Mateu, LaiaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fouillet, AlexTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Frauenlob, GüntherTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Αρβανίτη, ΓωγώTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kanter, ŞükrüTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Krištůfková, KateřinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Menna, OutiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Montes Cano, CarmenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Olaisen, PerTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Puleo. GiorgioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Saʻd al-Dīn, MarwānTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Shtrykova, A.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vroom, Annelies deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zimnicka, IwonaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
林立仁Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
רות שפיראTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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The house was built in 1898 on a clay base that had since sunk a tiny bit on the west-facing side, causing water to cross the wooden threshold where the door was hung.
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Fiction. Literature. Mystery. Thriller. HTML: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 the shape of a five-pointed star ?? a pentagram, the devil??s star.
Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.
A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil??s star is key to solving th

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O detetive Harry Hole está de volta. Tentando superar a morte da ex-parceira de trabalho, obcecado em provar a culpa do também investigador Tom Waaler, abandonado pela namorada e afundado no alcoolismo, ele ainda tem de lidar com um misterioso assassinato de uma jovem. Quando novas mortes começam a ocorrer, e elementos em comum vão surgindo aos olhos de Harry, ele percebe que está diante de um perigoso serial killer.
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