Jo Nesbo about The Snowman – YouTube video
Filed under: About books, crime book, Harry Hole, Interview, Jo Nesbo, Norwegian writer, YouTube
Jo Nesbo talks about his most recent crime fiction book, The Snowman (see review).
The Devil’s Star, by Jo Nesbo
Filed under: book review, Harry Hole, Jo Nesbo, Norwegian writer, Prize winning novel, recommendation
Jo Nesbo (Norwegian name Nesbø), author of the best-selling series featuring Detective Harry Hole, has won many prizes for his novels, including the Glass Key, 
the Riverton Prize and the Norwegian Bookclub’s prize for best ever Norwegian crime novel. He and Stieg Larsson are my favorite Scandinavian crime authors for the moment. Jo Nesbo’s first novel published in English was The Devil’s Star, which has sold more than 100,000 copies in Norway alone.
The key character in Nesbo’s books, introduced in The Devil’s Star, is detective Harry Hole. Harry Hole is an angry, hard-drinking, near alcholic, and off-the-rails detective who wants to play the game by his own rules. He is not very likable, but still charming in his own way.
It’s a sweltering summer in Oslo when a young woman is found murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off, and beneath her eyelid is a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five pointed star. Otherwise, clues are few and far between.
Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with Tom Waaler – a colleague the somewhat paranoid Harry suspects of running an arms smuggling gang and of having murdered his partner – and initially Harry Hole refuses to become involved. But he is already on notice to quit the force and is left with no choice but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and go to work.
Five days later, a man reports his wife missing. When her severed finger is found wearing a ring mounted with the same star-shaped red diamond, it seems Oslo has a serial killer on its hands. The case in The Devil’s Star revolves around a riddle of fives: five points to the star, five fingers on the hand, and every fifth day a new victim to be counted. In his pursuit of the truth behind both mysteries, Harry Hole unwittingly finds himself on the run from the police and forced to make difficult decisions about his future as a detective.
The Devil’s Star is an exciting and entertaining book, a great crime novel by an exciting new author! The plot is superb, the action intriguing, inspector Harry Hole has plenty to deal with, and the story is told in a fascinating and appealing manner as well. This is the first book in a great series I suspect you will not want to miss out on!
You can read more about Jo Nesbo and his books at ScandinavianBooks.
Order Jo Nesbo’s The Devil’s Star from amazon UK! Or, if you prefer, order from amazon US: books by Jo nesbo

