Warning: This post contains spoilers for Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole.
Netflix’s Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole—an adaptation of The Devil’s Star, the fifth book in Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s bestselling Harry Hole novel series and adapting the fifth installment, The Devil’s Star—begins with what appears to be a classic Nordic noir mystery. A killer starts claiming victims across Oslo, and each crime scene features the same disturbing signature: a missing finger and a red diamond shaped like a pentagram.
Assigned to the case is detective Harry Hole (Tobias Santelmann), a brilliant but deeply troubled investigator whose unconventional methods often put him at odds with his colleagues. As the killings continue, the evidence seems to point toward a ritualistic serial killer moving through the city disguised as a bike courier. But as the investigation unfolds, Harry begins to suspect that the crimes are not what they seem. At the same time, Harry is growing certain that Captain Tom Waaler (Joel Kinnaman), a respected police officer, is involved in a web of corruption within the department and sets out to prove it.
Series director Øystein Karlsen has known Nesbø for about 20 years, so their collaboration on the show “was probably easier for me than it would have been for a lot of other people,” he says. “We know each other well enough to be frank and to let the series be the boss, and then whoever has the best idea wins. Of course, this is a universe that Jo has lived with for 30 years, so he knows exactly what it’s like.”
Let’s break down the biggest twists in Netflix’s Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole.
What is the meaning behind the pentagram?
One of the most puzzling elements of the murders is the recurring pentagram symbol left at each crime scene. Alongside it, investigators notice another disturbing pattern: each victim is missing a different finger. Over time, Harry discovers how the two clues are connected: A pentagram is a five-pointed star,…
