About the book

Synopsis

In 1944, Daniel, a soldier legendary among the Norwegians fighting the advance of Bolshevism on the Russian front, is killed. Two years later, a wounded soldier wakes in a Vienna hospital. He becomes involved with a young nurse, the consequences of which will ripple forward to the end of the century.

1999: Harry Hole, working alone having caused an embarassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; fairly mundane until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. Ellen Gjelten, his partner, from his police officer days makes a startling discovery. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. In a quest which takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. He will be both winner and loser by the novel's nail-biting conclusion.

The Redbreast won the Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel when it was published in Norway, and was subsequently voted Norway's best crime novel. The Devil's Star, Nesbø's first novel featuring Harry Hole to be translated into English, marked Nesbø as a voice to watch in the ever-more fashionable world of Nordic crime.