The Stonecutter - A Novel

Early one morning, a six-year-old boy sneaks away to play on a forbidden part of Fjallbacka’s coastline. When he stumbles upon the bloody body of a recently murdered woman, a real-life nightmare unfolds. Worse yet, the police soon uncover two more skeletons buried beneath her, young campers whose disappearance has baffled investigators for decades. 

Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram—a five-pointed star—is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers—and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice.

Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see.

One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil's Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Detective Harry Hole embarrassed the force, and for his sins hes been reassigned to mundane surveillance tasks. But while monitoring neo-Nazi activities in Oslo, Hole is inadvertently drawn into a mystery with deep roots in Norways dark past, when members of the government willingly collaborated with Nazi Germany. More than sixty years later, this black mark wont wash away-and disgraced old soldiers who once survived a brutal Russian winter are being murdered, one by one. Now, with only a stained and guilty conscience to guide him, an angry, alcoholic, error-prone policeman must make his way safely past the traps and mirrors of a twisted criminal mind. For a conspiracy is taking rapid and hideous shape around Hole . . . and Norways darkest hour may be still to come.