The Devil's Star

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Please read Redbreast first - Rated
Of the crime novels I have read in the last year this was my favourite and this includes offerings from Hennig Mankell,John Harvey,both books by that Icelandic bloke,Michael Connelly and Minette Walters.I was surprised that I would warm to a character with the name Harry Hole,( is this a strange translation of a Norwegian name?) but as a dysfunctional character he beats the hell out of Wallander or Rebus.
I liked the book so much that I was almost beside myself with excitement when I found what I thought was the sequel in the form of The Redbreast.It was a big disappointment to discover that allthough this book was printed after Devils Star it is in fact the first book. So if you are new to Jo Nesbo please read Redbreast first and you wont be disappointed.

A Seriously Good Thriller - Rated
Thriller or crime novel ? It seems to be one then the other. But no matter, either way it is a treat to read. The spare, descriptive style of the early chapters gives way to a richer, more complex and emotionally literate style - perhaps a paradigm of development of the central character: Harry Hole. Harry Hole - where does one begin ? - Hole v Rebus in the Inadequate Human Being Stakes ? Hole is a winner by a distance - but in such a way that we might be tempted to invite him into our front room for a psychotherapy session. Plenty of twists and turns and a gripping climax (kept me up to almost 1am - and that's rare these days!).

Takk! - Rated
A serial killer. An alcoholic cop in trouble with his superiors. Yes, the ingredients seem familiar, but Jo Nesbo's The Devil's Star rings a few changes and is an extremely promising introduction to Oslo detective Harry Hole. The solution to the story is all but unguessable and along the way Nesbo gives a refreshing insight into Norwegian society and creates a series of vivid character portraits that add considerable depth to what might have been formulaic material. I particularly liked the relationship between Hole and his nemesis Waaler, the latter a truly repellent character. The plotting is tight, with red herrings judiciously deployed, whilst throughout the writing is measured, sardonic, compelling. Often lurid, with the cast's sexual pecadilloes explored to telling effect, the next in the series cannot come too soon.

Jo Nesbo - The Devil's Star - Rated
Excellent book. Another excellent Scandinavian book. More colourful than a lot of these dour Scandinavian things, too: engaging, likeable Harry Hole is a step above Rebus, a step above Rebus. In the alcoholic stakes, he's probably only trumped by Robicheaux and then only just. He's a mess of a man who only survives in his job thanks to a boss who recognises his talent for what it is, and makes a pleasing change to all the antagonistic authority figures you normally see in novels like this.

Oslo makes for a good and unusual setting to the story, and Nesbo renders it atmospheriocally. The plot is clever, absolutely gripping, very well structured, and Nesbo handles everything very well indeed. Part of what makes this novel great is that this is never really the book, plotwise, that you think it is. It begins with a disappearance, morphs into an interesting serial killer novel, and over 100 pages from the end, when Hole aprehends the killer, it morphs into something quite different. Just when you think the book is winding down and surely can't have far to go, it kicks right off into a tense thriller. There's enough plot here for two good books, but Nesbo condenses it excellently into one. Yet again I look forward to reading even more from this new foreign writer.