About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

THE DEVIL'S STAR
by Jo Nesbø and Don Bartlett, trans.
HarperCollins, March 2010
452 pages
$25.99
ISBN: 0061133973


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Jo Nesbø's THE DEVIL'S STAR opens in the middle of a sweltering summer heatwave in Oslo. A young woman has been found murdered in her shower. A finger on her hand has been severed and a red diamond shaped like a pentagram found under her eyelid. When, days later, another woman disappears and her severed finger is sent to police headquarters, the Oslo police find themselves chasing a serial killer who manages to slip in and out of homes, busy streets, and public places without ever being observed. The gruesome case is assigned to two of Oslo's most accomplished detectives: Harry Hole, who has spent most of the summer on a world-class bender, and Tom Waaler, Hole's most reviled adversary and the man he believes is responsible for the murder of his partner, Ellen Gjelten (an event which took place in THE REDBREAST).

Readers already familiar with Nesbø's alcoholic, chain-smoking, deeply haunted but brilliantly talented Harry Hole will find the reticent detective much where they left him in previous installments of the series—bent on his own self-destruction, but still not completely able to turn his back on police work. Since his partner's death, Hole has become increasingly obsessed with proving that the well-respected Waaler is responsible, conducting a vigilante investigation which has devastated his relationship with his girlfriend Rakel and her son Oleg, whom he has come to look on as a son. Moreover, Hole's constant absences from work, lack of professionalism, and whiskey-soaked sprees have pushed even Crime Squad Chief Inspector Bjarne Møller—Hole's most constant defender—to request his dismissal from the police force. Hole's experience tracking down a serial killer make him a valuable addition to the current investigation, but it might well be his last.

Although THE DEVIL'S STAR is the fifth installment in the Harry Hole series (the third to be translated into English), readers unfamiliar with these novels would be well-advised to start here. Nesbø deftly introduces Hole's ample backstory and integrates his antagonistic relationship with the insidious Waaler extremely well with the rest of the novel's plot. As for the serial killer set-up—even those who tire of this narrative device will likely be drawn into the investigation. Nesbø cleverly integrates the murderer into the fabric of the story so as to give the reader clues to who the person is, but the eventual denouement —almost operatic in its grotesque reveal—will surely create some surprise in even the most jaded readers.

THE DEVIL'S STAR is a standout installment in the already monumentally popular Harry Hole series. With Hole back on an upswing at the novel's end—sober and somewhat redeemed among his peers and loved ones—it's anyone's guess where Nesbø will take his dynamic anti-hero next.

Reviewed by Larissa Kyzer, March 2010

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]