Jo Nesbó, lauded for his Nordic noir thrillers, doesn’t pull punches. His novels, and now his streaming series, are not for the squeamish. But the characters are fascinating, the plots, twisted, and the settings, dark and foreboding. It all adds up to stories that draw in readers and watchers until those final, satisfying scenes.

Nesbó most recent novel, Wolf Hour, was set, not in Scandinavia, but in Minneapolis, another cold, isolated part of the planet, where the police department’s best detective, Bob Oz, spent most of his time drowning his sorrows in alcohol. (Read the review.) In the Netflix series, Oslo Homicide Detective Harry Hole (Tobias Santelmann) also seeks relief in the bottle. At times, when he’s on a case, he can maintain sobriety, but one bump in the road, and he’s once again guzzling scotch. The series is based on Nesbo’s thriller The Devil’s Star, where a serial killer leaves a red ruby star on the dead woman’s body.

Five years ago, a young woman working in a bank was shot to death by a masked bank robber. Hole thought the killing was strange, since the men had escaped with the money and had no reason to kill anyone. But his failure to solve the case haunts him and drives him to drink, eventually involving him in a drunk driving accident which kills his partner. 

Tobias Santelmann as Harry Hole., Pia Tjelta as Rakel Fauke in Harry Hole Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Hole is now sober and dating Rakul Fauke (Pia Tjelta), whose young son, Oleg (Maxime Baune Bochud), bonds with the detective. Oleg attends a swim camp and is having trouble diving off the high board. Hole goes with him, dives first, and soon Oleg finds the courage to follow. 

Joel Kinnaman as Tom Waaler in Harry Hole Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

While Hole is occupied with Oleg, his partner, Ellen (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal), has been following someone suspected of smuggling guns into Oslo. She’s shocked when she finds the suspect meeting with a police detective, Tom Waaler (Joel Kinnaman). She tries to contact Hole, but the call does’t go through. By the time Hole sees that she’s called, it’s too late. Waaler brutally kills Ellen and stages the scene so it appears the suspect did the killing. Hole knows Waaler is guilty, but can’t prove it.

Frank Kjosås as Willy Barli in Harry Hole Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Distraught over Ellen’s death, Hole is once again drinking. Rakul breaks off their relationship, saying she can’t be with him if he’s often drunk. At work, his superior officer tells Hole he’s no longer on the department’s high profile case, finding a serial killer targeting young women. Instead, he’s sent to interview Willy Barli (Frank Kjosås) whose wife is missing. When her shoe turns up outside her apartment building, her name is added to the list of women who might be victims of the killer. Although the police can’t find her body, they do receive in the mail her finger, the signature of the killer. Three women have now died and the clock is ticking.

Waaler is in charge of the case, but he’s also working with a group of rouge cops who take extreme means to effect change in how justice is delivered to the accused. Waaler and his supporters believe that police officers should be more heavily armed. To set the stage, they smuggle drugs and guns into Oslo and arm rival gangs. When war breaks out and people die, they make the case that police need to be better armed to fight back. Elected officials, however, do not agree.

Joel Kinnaman as Tom Waaler, Tobias Santelmann as Harry Hole in Harry Hole Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Of course, Waaler and others are also in it for the power and the money. Because Hole is having trouble holding onto his job, Waaler approaches him with a pitch to join the movement. Hole plays a dangerous game, agreeing to take on an assignment, but working on a plan to gather the evidence needed to catch Waaler. Doing so, however, will place someone he loves in peril. 

Maxime Baune Bochud as Oleg, Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Tobias Santelmann is terrific as Hole. He’s up for the physical battles, but it’s when he has to deal with his demons that we see his emotional battles. His scenes with Bochud, the young actor playing Oleg, are particularly touching. Because Oleg doesn’t understand why Harry drinks, he steals a bottle of wine and drinks most of it. Harry finds him and, failing to explain alcoholism, he promises never to drink again if Oleg promises never to start.

Kristoffer Joner as Øystein Eikeland in Harry Hole Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

As the villain, Kinnaman can appear to be a dedicated police officer, but in a nanosecond deliver violence so grisly and unexpected it’s jarring. (These are times when you might need to take a break and, dare I suggest, a drink.) Another standout is Kristoffer Joner who plays Øysten Eikeland, a taxi driver who is one of Hole’s childhood friends and often comes to his aid. 

Detective Hole’s nine episodes are in Norwegian, but can be watched with English dubbing and subtitles. The ending makes it clear that there will be season two of Detective Hole. The setup in the last few minutes of episode nine predicts that Hole’s efforts to clean up the police force will go on.

Top: Tobias Santelmann as Harry Hole in Harry Hole Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024