REALJimBob

The third book in the Oslo trilogy sees Harry Hole pretty much at the end of his usefulness, as a human being as much as a cop. He's a drunken mess, barely able to wash or turn up for work. Having burnt himself out investigating the shooting of his former colleague, Ellen, he is just about to be kicked out of the force. Obviously, this is far from the first cop-thriller to use the theme of the alcoholic copy who gets fired but they just can't run the force without him. Instead, Hole gets one last case while the boss is on holiday and is unable to sign his release papers. As usual, the focus of the case brings Hole a level of sobriety that he needs to work the case. Waaler makes Hole an offer for a post-cop career.

The most coherent of the three books so far, this was clearly the end-game novel that [a:Nesbø|904719|Jo Nesbø|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1313316680p2/904719.jpg] was building up to. With Ellen's death in [b:Redbreast|7113816|The Redbreast (Harry Hole, #3)|Jo Nesbø|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330419297s/7113816.jpg|1487876] and the introduction of the Prince character too, we've followed that story through [b:Nemesis|7113818|Nemesis (Harry Hole, #4)|Jo Nesbø|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328001653s/7113818.jpg|3023538] to here. While this novel is ostensibly about the serial killer, as with the previous two, it's also about Hole's obsessive hunt for Ellen's killer, the Prince, who he believes is Waaler. This time, they must work together to solve the killings, while neither of them are really able to trust each other.

The Devil's Star is an excellently crafted finale to the series – on the one hand the suspense of the trying to work out who the serial killer is (and obviously if they'll catch him or not); on the other hand while we believe Hole is probably right about Waaler, will he be able to prove it, or will he turn out to be wrong about him anyway? With the end of the Oslo trilogy, it's time for me to go back to the start and read the first two Harry Hole novels now they're finally being translated into English.