Netflix’s Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole—an adaptation of The Devil's Star, the fifth book in Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s bestselling Harry Hole novel series and adapting the fifth installment, The Devil’s Star—begins with what appears to be a classic Nordic noir mystery. A killer starts claiming victims across Oslo, and each crime scene features the same disturbing signature: a missing finger and a red diamond shaped like a pentagram.
Series director Øystein Karlsen has known Nesbø for about 20 years, so their collaboration on the show “was probably easier for me than it would have been for a lot of other people,” he says. “We know each other well enough to be frank and to let the series be the boss, and then whoever has the best idea wins. Of course, this is a universe that Jo has lived with for 30 years, so he knows exactly what it’s like.”
One of the most puzzling elements of the murders is the recurring pentagram symbol left at each crime scene. Alongside it, investigators notice another disturbing pattern: each victim is missing a different finger. Over time, Harry discovers how the two clues are connected: A pentagram is a five-pointed star, and the killer appears to be constructing a symbolic pattern around the number five. Each victim is missing a different finger, and together the severed digits form a complete hand. At first, the symbolism leads investigators to believe they are dealing with a ritualistic killer obsessed with occult imagery. The red pentagram-shaped diamonds found at the crime scenes reinforce that theory.
"There are a lot of red herrings in this show," says Karlsen. "Hopefully your mind will change from episode to episode about who you think has actually done it. At the end of the day, even though there’s a lot of psychological and personal drama going on, it is a whodunit series.”
Who is the Bike Courier Killer?
But Harry realizes that something about the murders feels artificial. The murders follow the pentagram pattern too precisely, almost as if someone deliberately designed them to point toward Martin.
That explains how the seeds ended up under Lisbeth’s fingernails—and why the finger was later mailed to the police. For Harry, this becomes the technical proof linking Willy directly to Lisbeth’s murder.
The letters revealed that Lisbeth had secretly been sending money to Martin and was planning to leave her husband. Consumed by jealousy and humiliation, Willy murdered Lisbeth. But instead of simply covering up the crime, he devised a far more elaborate revenge plan.
While Martin unknowingly supplied the diamonds, Willy carried out the killings himself while disguised as a bike courier. By staging the crime scenes with severed fingers and pentagram diamonds, Willy constructed the image of a ritualistic serial killer and used Martin as a scapegoat.
What happened to Lisbeth’s body?
Harry discovers another body: Lisbeth’s sister Toya was in Willy's apartment and found out what happened. Willy killed her too. Before Harry can arrest him, Willy flees onto the balcony of his apartment. In the chaos that follows, he falls from the building to his death. The Bike Courier Killer’s reign of terror has ended—but Harry’s biggest threat is still alive.
“He’s operating in sort of a gray zone where he’s able to justify for himself that what he’s doing is morally right, even though the means to get there isn’t exactly by the book,” says Karlsen.
Why does Tom Waaler kidnap Oleg?
In the final episode, Tom kidnaps Oleg Fauke, the young son of Harry’s girlfriend Rakel, in order to force Harry into a confrontation. Earlier, Harry had arranged for Martin to be temporarily released from prison so they could prove that the arms smuggler was not the serial killer and expose Tom’s corruption.
During the violent confrontation that follows, Harry manages to handcuff Tom to the elevator door as it begins descending. Tom’s arm becomes trapped in the door frame and is severed as the elevator moves, leaving him to bleed to death. With Tom dead, Harry rescues Oleg and escapes the trap alongside Martin, who after returns to prison.
In a secret meeting held after Tom’s death, two masked figures gather to discuss the future of their organization. When the leader removes her mask, the audience discovers that it is Agnes Sjølid—one of Harry’s own superiors inside the police department.
In a post-credits scene, Harry is searching for answers about Tom’s past. He travels to the neighborhood where Tom grew up and speaks with a local shop owner known as Solo, whom Tom had previously described as his best friend. Solo, however, tells Harry that the two were never friends. Instead, he recalls Tom as a lonely child who grew up in a troubled household, with an abusive father and a difficult upbringing. The conversation also hints at lingering questions surrounding the suspicious death of Tom’s father years earlier.
The brief exchange leaves Harry with the sense that he never fully understood the man he had been chasing—and suggests that the story behind Tom Waaler may be even more complicated than it first appeared. “The fact that Harry tries to figure out what happened to Tom after his death, and why he became the way he is, is also his way of trying to understand himself and how someone like Tom could have gone in a totally different direction and had a great career,” says Karlsen.
Will there be a second season?
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole.
Assigned to the case is detective Harry Hole (Tobias Santelmann), a brilliant but deeply troubled investigator whose unconventional methods often put him at odds with his colleagues. As the killings continue, the evidence seems to point toward a ritualistic serial killer moving through the city disguised as a bike courier. But as the investigation unfolds, Harry begins to suspect that the crimes are not what they seem. At the same time, Harry is growing certain that Captain Tom Waaler (Joel Kinnaman), a respected police officer, is involved in a web of corruption within the department and sets out to prove it.
Let’s break down the biggest twists in Netflix’s Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole.
But Harry begins to question the too-perfect pattern. Every detail—the order of the missing fingers, the placement of the diamonds, and the timing of the killings—feels too carefully constructed. Instead of revealing the psychology of a serial killer, the pentagram is actually designed to mislead the police. The elaborate symbolism pushes investigators toward the idea of a deranged murderer, when in reality the crimes are part of a calculated plan meant to frame someone else.
Who is the Bike Courier Killer?
By the end of episode six, suspicion points to Martin Aminov, a smuggler connected to international weapons trafficking and the trade of blood diamonds. Martin frequently travels through Oslo and is linked to the distinctive pentagram-shaped diamonds that appear at the crime scenes. As the investigation intensifies, the evidence begins to point toward him as the serial killer: Martin’s criminal background, his access to the diamonds, and his repeated presence in Oslo during the murders make him appear to be the perfect suspect.
Then, the case takes a disturbing turn when police receive a finger in the mail that belongs to Lisbeth Barli, who disappeared earlier in the season. When investigators find biological material under Lisbeth’s fingernails containing fennel seeds, they trace it to the restaurant Theatercaféen, where her husband, the respected theater director Willy Barli, had eaten on the day she disappeared. Because fennel seeds take around 12 hours to pass through the digestive system, Harry realizes what Willy must have done. After killing Lisbeth, Willy cut off her finger and hid it inside his rectum before the police searched his apartment with a dog after he reported his wife missing.
Harry secretly enters Willy Barli’s apartment and accuses him of being responsible for the deaths of Marius Veland, Camilla Loen, Lisbeth Barli, and Barbara Svendssen, and Willy ends up telling the truth. Years earlier, during their honeymoon in Prague, Willy discovered that Lisbeth had been having an affair with Martin Aminov. Although he initially believed the relationship had ended, he later found letters proving that they were still in contact.
Pretending to be a buyer, Willy contacted Martin and arranged for him to deliver weapons and pentagram-shaped diamonds to Oslo every five days. This ensured that Martin would repeatedly travel to the city during the same period when the murders were taking place.
What happened to Lisbeth’s body?
When Harry confronts him, Willy admits that he kept Lisbeth's body hidden inside his apartment the entire time. In a chilling attempt to preserve her body, he sealed it inside an air mattress filled with alcohol.
Throughout the series, Harry suspects that his colleague Captain Tom Waaler is hiding something. Tom appears to have connections to several criminal operations, and he even does business with arms smuggler Martin.
In the later episodes, it becomes clear that Tom has been working as part of a larger criminal organization. This secret network orchestrates gang conflicts to eliminate rivals and profits from the resulting arms sales. Harry’s relentless pursuit of the truth makes him a liability. Which is why Tom ultimately decides to remove him and Martin permanently.
Why does Tom Waaler kidnap Oleg?
Tom's plan is simple: lure Harry to a secluded location, kill both him and Martin, and stage the scene so that it appears Harry murdered the smuggler before taking his own life. This way, Tom would get rid of two problems and prevent them from revealing anything. But Harry anticipates the trap. He arranges their meeting in a university dormitory hallway where surveillance cameras are still installed from the serial killer investigation, hoping to capture proof of Tom’s crimes.
“Both Harry and Tom are three-dimensional. They don’t always do the right thing, and sometimes they justify the wrong reasons for what they’re doing. Harry isn’t an easy guy to connect with, but he does make wrong choices. At the end of the day, you still feel that Tom is a bad guy and Harry is our hero. He’s not a poster-boy hero, but he has a core in him that makes you root for him,” says Karlsen.
The revelation confirms that corruption runs far deeper than even Harry knows. Tom was only one member of a larger network embedded within the institution meant to uphold the law. The group decides to remain quiet for now, waiting for the right moment to resume their operations.
Karlsen notes that Tom mirrors Harry in many ways. “They’ve sort of fallen down on different sides of the knife’s edge they’re balancing on, but it could have been the other way around. A lot of the things that Harry does will make the audience go ‘oh no, don’t do that,’ and then he does it anyway, and the same goes for Tom. They’re more similar than your first impression of them, and in another world they probably could have been friends.”
Will there be a second season?
According to Øystein Karlsen, whether Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole continues comes down to how audiences respond to the first season. He says that although Jo Nesbø has written more than 10 novels and another story is on the way, any decision on a follow‑up will depend on viewer interest. “Jo and I have talked about it, and we do have an idea for what could be a sequel or which book would be best,” he says. “Now, it’s just up to the audience whether they like it or not.”
Netflix’s Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole—an adaptation of The Devil's Star, the fifth book in Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s bestselling Harry Hole novel series and adapting the fifth installment, The Devil’s Star—begins with what appears to be a classic Nordic noir mystery. A killer starts claiming victims across Oslo, and each crime scene features the same disturbing signature: a missing finger and a red diamond shaped like a pentagram.
Series director Øystein Karlsen has known Nesbø for about 20 years, so their collaboration on the show “was probably easier for me than it would have been for a lot of other people,” he says. “We know each other well enough to be frank and to let the series be the boss, and then whoever has the best idea wins. Of course, this is a universe that Jo has lived with for 30 years, so he knows exactly what it’s like.”
One of the most puzzling elements of the murders is the recurring pentagram symbol left at each crime scene. Alongside it, investigators notice another disturbing pattern: each victim is missing a different finger. Over time, Harry discovers how the two clues are connected: A pentagram is a five-pointed star, and the killer appears to be constructing a symbolic pattern around the number five. Each victim is missing a different finger, and together the severed digits form a complete hand. At first, the symbolism leads investigators to believe they are dealing with a ritualistic killer obsessed with occult imagery. The red pentagram-shaped diamonds found at the crime scenes reinforce that theory.
"There are a lot of red herrings in this show," says Karlsen. "Hopefully your mind will change from episode to episode about who you think has actually done it. At the end of the day, even though there’s a lot of psychological and personal drama going on, it is a whodunit series.”
Who is the Bike Courier Killer?
But Harry realizes that something about the murders feels artificial. The murders follow the pentagram pattern too precisely, almost as if someone deliberately designed them to point toward Martin.
That explains how the seeds ended up under Lisbeth’s fingernails—and why the finger was later mailed to the police. For Harry, this becomes the technical proof linking Willy directly to Lisbeth’s murder.
The letters revealed that Lisbeth had secretly been sending money to Martin and was planning to leave her husband. Consumed by jealousy and humiliation, Willy murdered Lisbeth. But instead of simply covering up the crime, he devised a far more elaborate revenge plan.
While Martin unknowingly supplied the diamonds, Willy carried out the killings himself while disguised as a bike courier. By staging the crime scenes with severed fingers and pentagram diamonds, Willy constructed the image of a ritualistic serial killer and used Martin as a scapegoat.
What happened to Lisbeth’s body?
Harry discovers another body: Lisbeth’s sister Toya was in Willy's apartment and found out what happened. Willy killed her too. Before Harry can arrest him, Willy flees onto the balcony of his apartment. In the chaos that follows, he falls from the building to his death. The Bike Courier Killer’s reign of terror has ended—but Harry’s biggest threat is still alive.
“He’s operating in sort of a gray zone where he’s able to justify for himself that what he’s doing is morally right, even though the means to get there isn’t exactly by the book,” says Karlsen.
Why does Tom Waaler kidnap Oleg?
In the final episode, Tom kidnaps Oleg Fauke, the young son of Harry’s girlfriend Rakel, in order to force Harry into a confrontation. Earlier, Harry had arranged for Martin to be temporarily released from prison so they could prove that the arms smuggler was not the serial killer and expose Tom’s corruption.
During the violent confrontation that follows, Harry manages to handcuff Tom to the elevator door as it begins descending. Tom’s arm becomes trapped in the door frame and is severed as the elevator moves, leaving him to bleed to death. With Tom dead, Harry rescues Oleg and escapes the trap alongside Martin, who after returns to prison.
In a secret meeting held after Tom’s death, two masked figures gather to discuss the future of their organization. When the leader removes her mask, the audience discovers that it is Agnes Sjølid—one of Harry’s own superiors inside the police department.
In a post-credits scene, Harry is searching for answers about Tom’s past. He travels to the neighborhood where Tom grew up and speaks with a local shop owner known as Solo, whom Tom had previously described as his best friend. Solo, however, tells Harry that the two were never friends. Instead, he recalls Tom as a lonely child who grew up in a troubled household, with an abusive father and a difficult upbringing. The conversation also hints at lingering questions surrounding the suspicious death of Tom’s father years earlier.
The brief exchange leaves Harry with the sense that he never fully understood the man he had been chasing—and suggests that the story behind Tom Waaler may be even more complicated than it first appeared. “The fact that Harry tries to figure out what happened to Tom after his death, and why he became the way he is, is also his way of trying to understand himself and how someone like Tom could have gone in a totally different direction and had a great career,” says Karlsen.
Will there be a second season?
According to Øystein Karlsen, whether Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole continues comes down to how audiences respond to the first season. He says that although Jo Nesbø has written more than 10 novels and another story is on the way, any decision on a follow‑up will depend on viewer interest. “Jo and I have talked about it, and we do have an idea for what could be a sequel or which book would be best,” he says. “Now, it’s just up to the audience whether they like it or not.”
Hence then, the article about breaking down the ending of netflix s nordic crime series jo nesbo s detective hole was published today ( ) and is available on Time ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Breaking Down the Ending of Netflix’s Nordic Crime Series Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole )
Also on site :