The Devil's Star

By Jo Nesbo
(Harper, Hardcover, 9780061133978, 464pp.)

Publication Date: March 2010

Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover

Categories: Mystery & Detective - General

Selected by Indie Booksellers for the March 2010 Indie Notables

Jo NesbØ is a musician, songwriter, economist, and one of Europe’s most critically acclaimed and successful crime writers today. His first novel featuring Police Detective Harry Hole was an instant hit in Norway, winning the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel—the most prestigious crime-writing award in Northern Europe. Norwegian readers voted The Redbreast the best Norwegian crime novel of all time. NesbØ lives in Oslo.

A serial killer is on the loose in Norway, leaving his victims with mysterious, star-shaped, red marks on their bodies. It's up to hard-drinking, crime-fighting detective Harry Hole to track down the murderer in novelist Jo Nesbo's Scandinavian thriller. More at NPR.org

“Searing. . . . Nesbo brilliantly incorporates threads from earlier novels, including Hole’s often tumultuous relationship with his lover, Rakel, without ever losing the current story’s rhythm. . . . Hole is arguably one of today’s most fascinating fictional detectives.”
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A fine novel. . . . THE REDBREAST certainly ranks with the best of current American crime fiction.”
-Washington Post Book World

“Readers now can savor NEMESIS. . . . Nesbo’s storytelling abilities are incomparable. NEMESIS is crime novel as art form and great entertainment.”
-USA Today

“The dense plot is supremely detailed. . . . A crisp, clean translation. . . . Satisfying.”
-New York Times Book Review

“Bucks the trend… Nesbo’s long-range plotting is careful, and the debate about the Norwegian elite’s behaviour during the war cleverly managed.”
-London Review of Books

“A gripping tale of political intrigue and sprawling global corruption. . . . With plenty of shootouts and intensely described chase sequences, The Redbreast certainly delivers.”
-Kirkus Reviews

“Nobody can delve into the dark, twisted mind of a murderer better than a Scandinavian thriller writer.”
-Vogue

“A complex tale of murder, revenge and betrayal . . . perfectly paced and painfully suspenseful. . . . Readers will delight in Hole, a laconic hero as doggedly stubborn as Connelly’s Harry Bosch, and yet with a prickly appeal all his own.”
-Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A well-crafted rollercoaster of a book. . . . Nesbo sets a cracking pace, the shambolic Hole is exasperating and endearing by turns, and a series of spectacular plot twists lead to a thrilling finale. Highly recommended.”
-The Guardian (London)

“In crime fiction terms, the ongoing Harry Hole is epic along the lines of something Count Tolstoy might have dreamed up. . . . Tremendous emotional resonance.”
-Toronto Star

“[A] bold, ambitious thriller. . . . It’s well worth sticking with the story; both the hero and the villain are as compelling as the portrayal of Norwegians doing whatever it takes to survive the war and then paying the price. Nesbo bids fair to turn Norway into serious competition for Sweden as Scandinavia’s crime center.”
-Kirkus Reviews

“Nesbo offers up another top-notch mystery thriller, thickly layered, perfectly plotted, and briskly paced to keep readers hooked. With ties to events in The Redbreast, this is an excellent sequel. . . . Recommended for all fiction collections and essential for Scandinavian crime lovers.”
-Library Journal

“Superb.”
-Daily Telegraph (London)

“An elegant and complex thriller . . . Ingenious design. . . . Nesbo’s book eloquently uses its multiple horrors to advance a disturbing argument: suppressing history is an open invitation for history to repeat itself.”
-New York Times Book Review

“Astonishingly confident. . . . The Devil’s Star scores with an intriguing plot and Nesbo’s mastery of pace and tension.”
-The Times (London)

“There’s Nordic noir, and then there’s Nesbo noir. Jo Nesbo’s reputation as the reigning bad boy of Norwegian crime fiction has grown steadily in the USA with the critically acclaimed novels The Redbreast and Nemesis and now THE DEVIL’S STAR.”
-USA Today

“Jo Nesbo has a credibly scary line on the power of corruption, and his complex plot culminates in a nail-biting episode with overtones of The Day of the Jackal.”
-The Independent

“Nesbø has a knack for Euro noir.”
-Entertainment Weekly

“Readers new to this whitehot series will be impressed by Nesbø’s generous plotting and his insight into dark places in the human soul.”
-Kirkus

“Nesbo returns with another novel that is every bit the multitextured, complexly plotted, psychologically rich thriller that made Redbreast such an unqualified success. . . . No doubt about it: Nesbo belongs on every crime-fiction fan’s A-list.”
-Booklist (starred review)

“[A] beautifully executed heist drama. . . . Expertly weaving plot lines from Hole’s last outing to feature the inspector, The Redbreast (2007), Nesbo delivers a lush crime saga that will leave U.S. readers clamoring for the next installment.”
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Jo Nesbø is my new favorite thriller writer and Harry Hole my new hero.”
-Michael Connelly

“Reading THE REDBREAST is like watching a hit movie. . . . The pacing is swift. The plot is precise and intricate. . . . THE REDBREAST is surprisingly witty at times and often grim. But it’s always smart.”
-USA Today