He’s Harry Hole, pronounced Hoo-leh, a Scandi-Noir icon, created by best-selling Norwegian author, Jo Nesbo.
He has adapted one of his own novels, The Devil’s Star, for this excellent Netflix crime series.
Like most fictional detectives, Harry is tormented, dysfunctional, a recovering alcoholic, battling old demons, that include the death of his partner in a crash, when he was drunk driving while pursuing a bank robber, five years earlier.
Tobias Santelmann plays him as a weary, unapologetic misanthrope, softened just a little by the presence of a girlfriend (Pia Tjelta) and her cheeky preteen son, Oleg (Maxime Baune Bochud)
Still haunted by the bank heist, in which a hostage was killed, he wants to reopen the case and is up against an evil, corrupt colleague, Tom Waaler (Joel Kinnaman). His new partner Ellen (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) is killed when she is unable to reach him, while he is bonding with Oleg. The shock and horror at her brutal murder reduces him to tears. There’s also a serial killer on the loose, so there’s no peace for Harry.
The plot kicks off with a heatwave in Oslo—a rare happening that reflects the mounting pressure on the police, trying to control drug gangs, when the discovery of a woman’s severed finger marked with a pentagram, sets off a hunt for a serial killer whose method is as ritualistic as it is grislyÂ
Since Nesbo himself is showrunner, he ensures the intricate plot isn’t lost in translation. The series does not sacrifice mood for pace, so it is a slow-burn thriller.
Visually, the show, shot by Ronald Plante, is stunning. Directors Oystein Karlsen and Anna Zackrisson avoid making make Oslo touristy. The city look attractive, yet menacing, marked by a harsh and melancholic music score (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis), adding to Harry’s taste that runs to Ramones.
The nine-episode Detective Hole is bleak, dark and borderline depressing, but also utterly gripping.
Detective Hole
Created by Jo Nesbo
Cast: Tobias Santelmann, Joel Kinnaman, Pia Tjelta and others
On Netflix
