Netflix’s Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole Premieres With a Flawless 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Okay, there’s a new Nordic noir in town, and if you’re always on the lookout for a nail-biting crime series to sink your teeth into, you might want to check out Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole on Netflix. This is the one based on Jo Nesbo’s best-selling Harry Hole novels—yes, that’s really the detective’s name, and no, they’re not shying away from it.

The Basics: Serial Killers and Some Very Norwegian Angst

Season one landed on Netflix on March 26, dropping all nine episodes at once—which, honestly, is just asking to be binge-watched over a rainy weekend. The show adapts The Devil's Star, the fifth book in the series, so we’re midstream for Harry but don’t worry—this isn’t one of those, ‘You need to have read the books to follow along’ situations.

The premise? It’s classic, moody Scandinavian crime: Harry Hole (played by Tobias Santelmann), a deeply talented but equally self-destructive detective, is on the hunt for a serial killer slinking through the gloomy streets of Oslo. But as much as he’s chasing criminals, he’s locked in a tense, brooding rivalry with another cop—Tom Waaler (played by Joel Kinnaman), who’s essentially what you’d get if you crossed a police detective with a Bond villain. Waaler is smart, ruthless, and, inconveniently for the criminal justice system, totally rotten to the core.

Why People Are Talking About It

The early chatter has been suspiciously positive—Detective Hole kicked off its Rotten Tomatoes life with a perfect 100% score. That rarely happens, and it’s probably already fueling talk about more seasons to come. Critics are digging the show’s mix of sharp mystery plotting and complicated characters—so it sounds like this isn’t just another gloomy Nordic detective drama (though, to be fair, it absolutely is that too).

So, What’s the Hook?

• Tobias Santelmann is front and center as Harry Hole, a detective with more baggage than Oslo's main train station.
• Joel Kinnaman plays Tom Waaler, his 'colleague' and nemesis—a cop who’s not just bending the law, but basically using it for origami.
• The series is directly adapted from Nesbo’s fifth book, so anyone who’s been craving a Harry Hole story worthy of the page should be happy. (If you saw Michael Fassbender in The Snowman, don’t worry—this is already a lot better.)
• The plot’s got Harry trying to clear the city of a serial killer, while also watching his own back from Waaler inside the force. So you get a murder mystery and a sideways police thriller in one broody, stylish package.

What’s the Vibe?

Netflix is selling it as a ‘twisty’ thriller but, really, it’s as much about the ethically murky power struggle between two cops as it is about catching a killer. There’s a definite cat-and-mouse dynamic—except they’re both cats, and one of them is also, somehow, a rat.

Netflix's official pitch really leans into the character conflict:

'Underneath the surface, Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole is a nuanced character drama about two police officers –– and supposed colleagues –– operating on opposite sides of the law. Throughout the first season, Harry goes head-to-head with his longtime adversary, the corrupt Detective Tom Waaler, as the two navigate the blurred ethical lines of the criminal justice system. But only time will tell whether Harry can catch the serial killer –– while also bringing Tom to justice –– before it’s too late.'

One Last Thing

If you like your mysteries gloomy, your detectives complicated, and your villains occasionally holding a badge, Detective Hole should probably be next in your Netflix queue. And if the early reviews are anything to go by, this might be the rare translation from page to screen that actually works.