Ep. 71 The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø Vs. Detective Hole (2026)

Send us Fan MailA tiny red pentagram hidden beneath an eyelid is the kind of detail that gets under your skin fast, and it is the spark that drives Jo Nesbø’s mystery thriller The Devil Star and Netflix’s Norwegian crime drama Detective Hole. I’m Lluvia, a New York City actress and lifelong reader, and I’m putting the novel and the 2026 miniseries adaptation head-to-head with a spoiler-light approach that protects the core “who did it” while still giving you the real comparison you came for.I talk through the chilling setup in Oslo, why the missing fingers and the devil’s star pattern push the police toward serial killer territory, and why Detective Harry Hole is both the perfect investigator and his own worst enemy. Then I get into the adaptation choices that actually matter: Netflix opens with a bank robbery cold case that the book does not include, uses flashbacks to accelerate Harry’s psychological backstory, and builds extra pressure around guilt, addiction, and fallout in his personal life. If you have ever wondered why streaming shows reshape a character to hook new viewers, this is a clean example of that craft in action.I also unpack the strange but fascinating decision to start the series on book five of the Harry Hole saga, what that means if you have not read the earlier novels, and how the show’s ending changes the aftertaste with a cliffhanger and an extra reveal tied to the arms-dealer thread. Finally, I share my ratings for both the book and the show, plus why the series edges out the novel by the tiniest margin thanks to performance and atmosphere.If you like dark, gritty detective fiction, Scandinavian noir, and smart book-to-screen adaptation talk, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a rating and review so more readers and listeners can find me.All episodes of the podcast can be found on our website: https://booksvsmovies.buzzsprout.com/shareConnect with me: Instagram | Threads | Bookshop | Goodreads | Blog