The Devil's Star (Norwegian: Marekors, literally "The Nightmare Cross", 2003) is a crime novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, the fifth in the Harry Hole series. An English-translated version of the book named The Devil's Star was translated by Don Bartlett.
The story moves between two parallel themes – the appearance of a new serial killer terrorizing Oslo, and Harry Hole's ongoing feud with the corrupt and utterly ruthless fellow police officer Tom Waaler, which was already a major part of the plot of the two previous books, "The Redbreast" and "Nemesis". Eventually, the two issues converge – enabling Harry to resolve both in the course of a single cataclysmic night.
Contents
Plot introduction
A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star – a pentagram, the devil's star.
Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Hole is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.
A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil's star seems to be the key to solving the riddle.
Synopsis
Pursuing his suspicions during the Nemesis investigation, Inspector Harry Hole attempts to convince the Chief Inspector that his colleague, Tom Waaler, is a criminal arms dealer known as 'The Prince' and mastermind behind the murder of Ellen Gjelsten, Harry's former collaborator and best friend. Due to a lack of evidence, Hole is refused and goes on an alcoholic binge. Hole's superior reluctantly sends termination of employment papers to the Chief Inspector, but Hole gets a short reprieve as the Chief is on holiday for three weeks and thus cannot sign them.
Meanwhile, a murder victim is discovered dead in her shower, shot in the head. Waaler is appointed to lead the investigation, but Hole and his former partner Beate Lønn are attached to his team. Hole, investigating the murder scene, discovers a small, red, five-pointed diamond under the eyelid of the victim and that a finger is missing from her left hand. Another murder is presumed when the director of a theatre production of My Fair Lady reports that his wife has gone missing. Her finger is later sent to Kripos; it has a ring on it with a small, red five-pointed diamond. A few days later a third victim is found, this time in the female toilets at a law firm, also on the floor and a five-pointed red diamond on the body. Yet again a finger has been removed.
Waaler – who has heard about Hole's suspicions – offers to include him in his illegal dealings, dangling the large financial benefits as an inducement. In return, Hole has to perform an initiation task. Hole is initially confused as to why Waaler is effectively admitting his guilt, but is reminded that, as an alcoholic, Hole's evidence would not be sufficient to convict him if he went to his superiors. He agrees to think about the offer. Meanwhile, a chance sighting of a pentagram brings Hole a flash of inspiration. The five-pointed diamonds found on the victims are in a similar shape – known as a Devil's Star – and provide a major clue as to the next possible murder locations, which are kept under surveillance: one is in a student residence hall and the other is a house on the outskirts of Oslo, owned by Olaug Sivertsen.
While investigating this house, Lønn discovers that the likely murderer is Olaug's son, Sven. She informs Hole by phone as he and Waaler are checking out the other prospective crime scene. Hole gives this information to Waaler, who immediately leaves to assist Lønn. Hole, using recently installed CCTV cameras, notices another pentagram on a student's door. Eventually, the body of the victim is found at the residence hall and is determined to actually be the first victim of the killer, murdered five days before the first discovered victim. Meanwhile, Waaler apprehends Sven, but his threats to shoot him ultimately lead Lønn to realise that he intended to murder Sven instead of arresting him, leading her to agree with Hole's suspicions.
Adaptation
Netflix adapted The Devil's Star as a series, with Øystein Karlsen directing, and Nesbø writing the script. The series, entitled Jo Nesbø's Detective Hole stars Tobias Santelmann as Harry Hole, Joel Kinnaman as Tom Waaler and Pia Tjelta as Rakel Fauke premiered in March 2026.