Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole review: Nordic noir series plays the grim hits but fails to stand out

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A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Around the early 2010s, Scandinavian crime fiction—often called Nordic noir—became hugely popular worldwide, expanding from books to television and film.

Crime fiction often features a flawed, yet brilliant, main character who solves crimes, typically set in Scandinavia. These stories are known for being gritty, dark in tone, and often depict intense violence.

Following the popularity of crime dramas like The Killing and The Bridge, both the US and UK began developing similar shows. One example was a 2017 American film adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s novel, The Snowman, which received overwhelmingly negative reviews.

After nearly a decade, a new effort is underway to adapt the popular Nordic noir character Harry for the screen. This time, Netflix is handling the adaptation and is basing it directly on the original source material.

Detective Hole is a nine-episode Norwegian TV series created by the author of the original novels, Jo Nesbø. Fans are eagerly anticipating this adaptation, hoping it will be a faithful and well-done portrayal of both the character and the books.

I haven’t read any of Jo Nesbø’s books, so I’m not sure how his biggest fans will react to this adaptation. But based on what I do know, it definitely captures the feel of his novels and is a great example of the Nordic noir style you see in Scandinavian crime dramas.

This is generally positive, but ultimately holds the series back from truly innovating beyond its source material.

This first season of Detective Hole is based on “The Devil’s Star,” the fifth book in Jo Nesbø’s popular Harry Hole series.

The story centers on Harry, portrayed by Tobias Santelmann, a troubled police officer in Oslo who’s battling alcoholism. He’s highly regarded for his ability to solve crimes, but also known for being difficult to work with.

Harry works with an officer named Tom Waaler, but they’ve been rivals for years. Harry has always believed Waaler is corrupt, though he’s never found any evidence to support his suspicions.

Waaler has a unique sense of what’s right and wrong, and when a serial killer starts targeting women in the city, his views clash with Harry’s, putting them on opposing sides of the investigation.

Detective Hole truly shines with its well-developed main characters. Pia Tjelta and Ellen Helinder deliver strong performances in their roles, but the story largely revolves around the dynamic between Tobias Santelmann as Harry and Joel Kinnaman as Waaler.

Santelmann delivers a perfect performance as Harry. He convincingly portrays a hardened man worn down by life, but still shows a gentle side, especially in his interactions with his girlfriend, Rakel, and her son, Oleg.

I have to admit, even when he’s at his worst and seems totally fixated on one thing, I still feel sorry for him and really want him to succeed. It’s such a different feeling than what I have towards Waaler, who just doesn’t evoke that same empathy in me.

Kinnaman delivers a career-best performance as Waaler. He portrays a disturbingly complex and fascinating character who is easily the most compelling part of the show’s first season, and provides a great contrast to Harry. Watching Kinnaman explore such dark and intense emotions is consistently captivating.

The conflict between these two sides is definitely the highlight of the nine-part series, which also includes a serial killer plotline, as you’d expect.

The story follows familiar tropes of the genre, successfully creating a suspenseful and unsettling mood – even though it takes place during a bright, sunny summer.

This story features a high number of brutal murders. Whether or not you’ll enjoy following Detective Hole depends on how much you appreciate that level of violence in the genre.

The story has lots of unexpected developments, but it remains surprisingly easy to understand and engaging. Unlike some crime shows that deliberately try to be complicated and confusing, this one doesn’t feel needlessly difficult to follow.

There was a moment near the end of the series that genuinely surprised me – I actually gasped and sat forward, which is a great sign that the mystery was resolved in a satisfying way.

This new series is similar to Netflix’s ‘Dept. Q,’ which was inspired by the Nordic noir books of Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Department Q and Detective Hole are quite different in tone. Department Q is much more comedic, while Detective Hole is consistently dark with only occasional moments of humor.

Despite some differences, these two works share many common elements. Both feature a troubled police officer who is a bit of an outsider, grappling with a past trauma related to a case. They also share a similar visual style – a muted color scheme and a generally dark and serious tone.

Both series suffer from a similar problem: they’re too long. Each has nine episodes, and like the first season of Dept. Q, this new show stretches what could have been a tight, six-episode story, resulting in a slow pace and repetitive plot points.

This is definitely a problem, but what’s even more concerning is that the show consistently lacks originality and fresh ideas.

It seems harsh to criticize Detective Hole now, considering Jo Nesbø’s first book was published in 1997. Back then, the novels likely felt original, innovative, and bold.

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Whether released 15 years ago or instead of the 2017 movie, this series would likely still feel timely. However, in today’s media landscape, it feels like a familiar story we’ve seen many times before.

The show is clearly satisfying for existing fans, but those unfamiliar with it might find it a bit drawn-out and unremarkable. It’s a decent crime drama that passes the time, but doesn’t really offer anything new or special.

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Authors

James HibbsDrama Writer

James Hibbs writes about TV dramas for TopMob, covering shows on streaming services and traditional channels. Before becoming a writer, he worked in public relations, first at a business-to-business agency and then at Fremantle, an international TV production company. He has a BA degree in English and Theatre Studies, and a Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.

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2026-03-21 00:35