Netflix Thriller With A 91% Score on Rotten Tomatoes

Netflix had high hopes when they released Jo Nesbøs Detective Hole on March 26th, but must have been taken by surprise when their series soared in viewership on its streaming platform.

There was a lot of buzz before its release due to the success and popularity of the books. But even with all that hype, it still managed to surpass expectations with a high score rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Detective Hole’s character was written 30 years ago by Jo Nesbø and has since then featured in 13 books. This is the first TV series that Jo’s character, Detective Hole, is in; the only other time was the feature film Snow Man back in 2017.

The first season consists of 9 episodes from the adaptation of the fifth book in Jo’s best- selling crime series. There is no word yet on whether there will be a second season, but with that kind of success, there is a strong possibility we will see Detective Hole again.

Jo Nesbø Brilliance

Jo Nesbø is a brilliant writer whose success speaks for itself in the sales of his books. An author who doesn’t limit himself to Scandinavian taste. It’s the project that he has been involved in the most. More often than not, when a script reaches a director, it tends to lose a bit of the author’s magic, but here we get to see the unvarnished Jo Nesbø version.

He is the one who asked if his book could be done as a TV series, and they said yes, that is what they were planning to do. Jo had a few other requests, including getting a Norwegian cast, filming it in Oslo, and personally requesting director Øystein Karlsen.

Jo said Universal approached him at the right time because if they had waited any longer, the rights for the book would have run out. They agreed to the fact that he had previously worked with them on Snow Man.

Joel Kinnaman delivers a powerful portrayal of Tom Waaler — a deeply complex character he navigates with effortless ease and quiet conviction. The performance stands as a testament to his considerable talent and a reminder of why he remains one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors. Bringing a character like this to the screen is no small feat.

Waaler demands that an actor embody not just menace, but layers of trauma, psychological. darkness, and emotional volatility — and Kinnaman rises to that challenge, not forced or exaggerated. No stranger to rough-edged, morally complex roles, Kinnaman has long demonstrated a gift for raw intensity. Yet with Tom Waaler, he reaches something altogether new — a level of intimidation that is as unsettling, this is without question, one of his finest and most commanding performances to date.

Tobias Santelmann plays the Detective in the hit series, and we can see why he connects so naturally with the audience. Hole is quite different from other protagonists; he is a flawed man carrying more burden and baggage than most main characters. And this is precisely what makes him human. The audience — whether they know him from the novels or not — sympathise with him immediately, and Tobias only adds to that effect.

He is such a humble soul, having only good things to say about Jo, and has spoken openly about always being a fan of Jo’s Detective Hole series. He would read it at home, while travelling, or even on holiday. He also admitted to loving the universe Jo created through his writing.

During an interview, Tobias said he was happy universal took its time in deciding to do this project because had they done it before, he would have been too young.

You can watch Detective Hole on Netflix.