I was interested in this novel because a librarian I know is promoting Nesbo as the author to read after you've read the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.).
Nesbo's mysteries (in addition to working as a musician, he writes a children's series) are a series featuring a police detective with possibly the best name ever: Harry Hole.
The Harry Hole series is: The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, and The Snowman. I think there are two earlier novels, Bat Man and Cockroaches, that have not yet been translated into English. (Bat Man is available in German as Der Fledermausmann.) Usually, I feel that it's important to read the first work in a series, if only because there's so much exposition about the character and the character's background that you miss if you pick up a book later in the series. In this case, I started in the middle, and it may have affected how I perceive the novel.
Harry Hole is a very sympathetic, if troubled, character. He's described as an alcoholic and unstable by his police colleagues. When the first in what turns out to be a series of killings takes place, Harry's commander is chagrined when he discovers that, because everyone else is out on vacation except for his star detective, Tom Waaler, he'll have to call on Harry even though Harry's been out on "vacation" that his boss is pretty sure is one long, long bender.
Like so many detectives, Harry is haunted. He's haunted by the loss of his mother and his sister and by the death of a female colleague, and these feelings are reawakened by the stress he feels as a result of his breakup with Rakel.
Harry has been a drinker for a long time, however. He knows where all the bars in town are; one of his favorites has the delightful name of Underwater.
Besides trying to solve the murder, trying to get Rakel back (harder for Harry because wooing isn't really on his radar), and coping with his night terror, Harry's got another major problem: his colleague, Tom Waaler, is someone he suspects of involvement in the death of his colleague and now he has to work closely with him. If he wants to keep his job. Being a detective is pretty important to Harry Hole, but he's not sure if it worth the price if working with Tom Waaler is part of that price.
The geography of Oslo, and its history, turns out to be important factors in the story. As is so frequently the case, there's a Nazi in the story although his role is not a large one. If you're put off by foreign names, foreign words and foreign place names, especially, this is not the novel for you. If you're game, however, or know Oslo, you'll enjoy the map provided.
Usually, police procedurals do not interest me very much but I will say that Harry's attempts to put together the minimal clues at his disposal not only were creative but really engaged my interest.
I appreciate mysteries very often for their setting and description and The Devil's Star kept my interest by including some interesting facts about pentagrams, diamonds, and the history of building techniques in Oslo.
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