The Redbreast: A Harry Hole Novel

Don’t Miss the Netflix series Detective Hole, based on Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, premiering March 26, 2026!

“An elegant and complex thriller. . . . Harrowingly beautiful.” —New York Times Book Review

“Hugely impressive—ambitious in scope, and skilled in execution.” —Los Angeles Times

“Ranks with the best of current American crime fiction.”—Washington Post

Jo Nesbø, the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman, has solidified his spot as one of the most exciting Scandinavian thriller writers in the crime fiction business. The Redbreast is the third installment in Nesbø’s tough-as-nails series featuring Oslo police detective Harry Hole.

Detective Harry Hole embarrassed the force, and for his sins he's 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 Norway's dark past—when members of the nation's government willingly collaborated with Nazi Germany.

More than sixty years later, this black mark won't 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 hideous conspiracy is rapidly taking shape around Hole—and Norway's darkest hour may still be to come.

Detective Harry Hole embarrassed the force, and for his sins he’s 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 Norway’s dark past, when members of the government willingly collaborated with Nazi Germany. More than sixty years later,this black mark won’t 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 Norway’s darkest hour may be still to come.

“Exciting, witty, melancholy and thought-provoking.” - Daily Telegraph (London)

“Paced to grip and twiddle with your insides, this is a fine thriller.” - Sunday Sport

“Shifting effortlessly between the last days of WWII on the Eastern front and modern day Oslo, Norwegian Nesbo spins a complex tale of murder, revenge and betrayal.... Perfectly paced and painfully suspenseful, this crime novel illuminates not only Norway’s alleged Nazi ties but also its present skinhead subculture. Readers will delight in Hole, a laconic hero as doggedly stubborn as Connelly’s Harry Bosch, and yet with a prickly appeal all his own.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“An elegant and complex thriller . . . Ingenious design. . . . The engineering of the interlocking plot pieces is intricate because it has to support Nesbo’s complicated ideas—and dire thoughts—about Norwegian nationalism, past and present. . . . [An] ambitious book . . . Harrowingly beautiful scenes . . . Pristinely translated by Don Bartlett, Nesbo’s book eloquently uses its multiple horrors to advance a disturbing argument: suppressing history is an open invitation for history to repeat itself.” - New York Times Book Review

“Reading The RedBreast is like watching a hit movie.... The pacing is swift. The plot is precise and intricate.... The Redbreast is surprisingly witty at times and often grim. But it’s always smart.” - USA Today

“An elegant and complex thriller . . . Ingenious design. . . . Harrowingly beautiful scenes.” - New York Times Book Review

“Reading THE REDBREAST is like watching a hit movie. Author Jo Nesbo’s scenes are so vivid that you can imagine them playing across the big screen. The pacing is swift. The plot is precise and intricate. The characters are intriguing.” - USA Today

“[A] bold, ambitious thriller.” - Kirkus Reviews

“A fine novel.... The Redbreast certainly ranks with the best of current American crime fiction.” - Washington Post Book World

“Certainly ranks with the best of current American crime fiction.” - Washington Post Book World

“Nesbo has been one of Norway’s leading crime-fiction authors for 10 years, and his American debut shows why.... Nesbo has a terrific feel for character, and Hole, while sharing characteristics with so many similarly melancholic modern cops (including, of course, Mankell’s Kurt Wallander), carves a place of distinction for himself in a crowded field.” - Booklist (starred review)

“Shifting effortlessly between the last days of WWII on the Eastern front and modern day Oslo, Norwegian Nesbø spins a complex tale of murder, revenge and betrayal. . . . Perfectly paced and painfully suspenseful.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Original…demands concentration but it’s worth the effort.” - Literary Review