Which book inspired Jo Nesbø’s ‘Detective Hole’ on Netflix?
Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole is a chilly Nordic noir that will be hitting Netflix in 2026 – but does the series have its origins in the literary world?
Detective Hole – pronounced “Hoo-lah” – will follow troubled investigator Harry Hole as he searches for a serial killer in his native Oslo, Norway. The series’ cast is filled with faces who will be familiar to Nordic viewers, with Exit and The Arctic Convoy’s Tobias Santelmann playing the titular detective. He will be joined by the likes of Pia Tjelta (Made in Oslo, State of Happiness), singer Dagny (Home for Christmas), Anders Danielsen Lie (The Worst Person in the World, Bergman Island), and Ane Dahl Torp (Home Ground, Charter).
Undoubtedly, the most recognisable face in the cast, though, is Joel Kinnaman, the Swedish actor who has starred in a host of Hollywood movies and TV shows in the last decade or so. The Suicide Squad and House of Cards star will play Tom Waaler, a corrupt detective who acts as Hole’s amoral nemesis.
Speaking to Tudum, director and executive producer Øystein Karlsen said Detective Hole “is a great mix of a fast-paced whodunit and a genuine drama with real people and lives the viewer can relate to — and it has more twists and turns than I can remember having seen in any thriller series.”
So, is ‘Detective Hole’ an adaptation of a book?
Yes. Detective Hole is based on a series of Jo Nesbø books that have sold over 50 million copies worldwide and been translated into 50 languages. There have been 13 thrillers centred around Hole, meaning there is plenty of material for the show to explore.
The first season of the Netflix show is an adaptation of The Devil’s Star, the fifth book in the Hole series. Karlsen revealed, “It’s the first time the series starts viewing the story solidly from Harry’s perspective, it feels like, and it’s an incredible page-turner of a book. You will have to watch it twice to realize you could have figured it out along the way, but a beer on me at Schröder’s if anyone gets the whole plot before it ends — unless you’ve read the book, of course.”
Karlsen was adamant, however, that the show would not simply seek to recreate each book exactly. He wants the show to be its own thing, while still instantly recognisable to Hole’s legions of fans. He said, “For me, storytelling isn’t about serving people what they think they want, but what they didn’t know they wanted. We will try to create something fresh, exciting, and surprising with respect to the book version of Harry.”
Either way, Netflix will hope this TV adaptation of Hole’s macabre universe works out better than the 2017 big-screen incarnation starring Michael Fassbender. The Snowman, directed by Thomas Alfredson, was a critical and commercial disaster that didn’t realise the beloved detective’s stories in a manner that satisfied fans or non-fans.