History Literature / HarryHole

* {{Bishounen}}: Mikael Bellman and Gusto's looks are described this way.

* Bishounen: Mikael Bellman and Gusto's looks are described this way.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: This is how [[spoiler:Waaler]] justifies their actions to Harry in ''The Devil's Star'', saying that Norway has long become far too soft on criminals and that traditional laws are not sufficient, meaning that extreme or illegal actions are necessary to better the country. However, given the way they act in many other situations and the insight the narration gives regarding their thought process, it's far more likely that they just do what they does because they're a sadistic bully who gets off on exerting power over people weaker than them, and all their visionary talk is just to fool Harry into thinking he will be doing some good if he decides to work under them.

* AssholeVictim: Bernt Brandhaug from ''The Redbreast'' is an entitled bureaucrat who abuses his position and influence to cheat on his wife and sleep with younger women, and when he takes an interest in Rakel, Harry's love interest, he moves to get him sent to Sweden and blackmails Rakel into sleeping with him by threatening her with the custody case of her son Oleg. [[spoiler: When her father, the killer, discovers this, he murders Brandhaug, in no small part because he reminds him of Brockhard, the doctor who tried to keep him and Helena apart.]]

* CHildByRape: One of [[spoiler: The Snowman's]] victim had gotten raped in the past and the paternity test proved that the child was biologically the rapist's, not her husband. [[FromBadToWorse This puts her on the killer's target list, as he assumes that she's an adulteress.]]

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: This is how [[spoiler:Waaler]] justifies his actions to Harry in ''The Devil's Star'', saying that Norway has long become far too soft on criminals and that traditional laws are not sufficient, meaning that extreme or illegal actions are necessary to better the country. However, given the way Waaler acts in many other situations and the insight the narration gives regarding his thought process, it's far more likely that he just does what he does because he is a sadistic bully who gets off on exerting power over people weaker than him, and all his visionary talk is just to fool Harry into thinking he will be doing some good if he decides to work under him.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Tom Waaler. He is normally quite polite to most people, but it's made very clear that it isn't genuine.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: This is how [[spoiler:Waaler]] justifies his actions to Harry in ''The Devil's Star'', saying that Norway has long become far too soft on criminals and that traditional laws are not sufficient, meaning that extreme or illegal actions are necessary to better the country. However, given the way Waaler acts in many other situations and the insight the narration gives regarding his thought process, it's far more likely that he just does what he does because he is a sadistic bully who gets off on exerting power over people weaker than him, and all his visionary talk is just to fool Harry into thinking he will be doing some good if he decides to work under him.

* ChickMagnet: Harry manages to catch quite a lot of female attention throughout the books, despite being described as not particularly handsome and being quite an eccentric person who's difficult to deal with.

** Harry's police colleague and trusted associate [[MeaningfulName is called]] [[Series/BarneyMiller Bjarne Mjølle]]. Officer Mjølle is an Americanophile who often affects cowboy gear and loves old-time country and western music.

** In the beginning of ''The Redeemer'', Bjarne Moller, who's retiring from his position as head of Oslo police and getting transferred to another precinct, gives Harry a watch as a going-away present, and attention is drawn to it multiple times. [[spoiler: It turns out that the watch was the same kind Tom Waaler had, and that it signaled membership in a corrupt government conspiracy which both he and Waaler were unknowingly a part of.]]

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: In ''The Redbreast'', Bjarne Mjølle, Harry's boss, chides him for suspecting his colleague Waaler, despite the fact that Waaler is described as a horrible person with crypto-fascist views and [[spoiler: it's revealed that he's a neo-nazi sympathizer who helps them by using his police connections to smuggle weapons.]] In ''Nemesis'', Harry's newer colleague Beate starts seeing Waaler and initially ignores Harry's warnings not to get involved with him. [[spoiler: She ends up paying the price.]]

* BeneathSuspicion: Shows up in most of the books, but particularly notable in ''The Snowman''.

* MeaningfulName: Waaler (whose name is derived from "wall") explains that his family were builders who worked on the construction of houses in Norway. He states that he's always enjoyed building things himself, and compares his activities [[spoiler: such as weapon smuggling, aiding neo-nazis, dealing with corrupt politicians, killing people to protect these activities]] to building cathedrals, saying that "no cathedral has ever been built without human bones and blood".
* MyGreatestFailure: Harry crashed a police car on a chase while intoxicated and got his partner killed, while he himself survived.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: In ''The Redeemer'', Salvation Army officers Jon and Robert Karlsen have this dynamic, with Jon being the responsible, sensible and principled brother who is set up for promotion at the novel's beginning, and Robert the impulsive, dangerous sibling who is said to have raped teenage girls.[[spoiler: It's brutally subverted when it turns out it's the opposite: Jon Karlsen is a serial rapist, embezzler and murderer, while Robert was the principled one trying to put an end to his brother's crimes. Jon's plot to hire the Redeemer and have his brother murdered forms the backbone of the plot.]]
* FreudianExcuse: The killers in ''The Snowman'' and ''The Leopard'' both have them, but Nesbø makes it plain that this does not in any way absolve them of responsibility for their actions.

** FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: In ''The Redeemer'', Salvation Army officers Jon and Robert Karlsen have this dynamic, with Jon being the responsible, sensible and principled brother who is set up for promotion at the novel's beginning, and Robert the impulsive, dangerous sibling who is said to have raped teenage girls.[[spoiler: It's brutally subverted when it turns out it's the opposite: Jon Karlsen is a serial rapist, embezzler and murderer, while Robert was the principled one trying to put an end to his brother's crimes. Jon's plot to hire the Redeemer and have his brother murdered forms the backbone of the plot.]]