The Devil's Star (, literally "The Nightmare Cross", 2003) is a crime novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, the fifth in the Harry Hole series. An English-translated version of the book named The Devil's Star was translated by Don Bartlett. The story moves between two parallel themes – the appearance of a new serial killer terrorizing Oslo, and Harry Hole's ongoing feud with the corrupt and utterly ruthless fellow police officer Tom Waaler, which was already a major part of the plot of the two previous books, "The Redbreast" and "Nemesis". Eventually, the two issues converge – enabling Harry to resolve both in the course of a single cataclysmic night. Plot introduction A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star – a pentagram, the devil's star. Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Hole is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work. A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil's star seems to be the key to solving the riddle. Synopsis Pursuing his suspicions during the Nemesis investigation, Inspector Harry Hole attempts to convince the Chief Inspector that his colleague, Tom Waaler, is a criminal arms dealer known as 'The Prince'. Due to a lack of evidence, Hole is refused and goes on an alcoholic binge. His superior reluctantly sends termination of employment papers to the Chief Inspector, but Hole gets a short reprieve as the Chief is on holiday for three weeks and thus cannot sign them. Meanwhile, a murder victim is discovered dead in her shower, shot in the head. Waaler is appointed to lead the investigation, but Hole and his former partner Beate Lønn are attached to his team. Hole, investigating the murder scene, discovers a small, red, five-pointed diamond under the eyelid of the victim and that a finger is missing from her left hand. Another murder is presumed when the director of a theatre production of My Fair Lady reports that his wife has gone missing. Her