History Literature / HarryHole

* WhamEpisode: The status quo is challenged in every book, but so far ''The Knife'' takes the cake: [[spoiler:Rakel Fauke dies and her killer turns out to be one of the long-standing positive characters, Harry's friend and fellow policema. Also Harry himself is revealed to have sired a biological son, with Katrine Bratt.]]
* WhiteMansBurden: Discussed. In ''The Leopard'', [[spoiler: Tony Leike]] genuinely believes in the concept, saying that the africans were never better off than when being colonized and shown the ways of civilization, and that if left alone they would be left to their "barbaric ways". Either that, or he's using it as a self-serving excuse to profit off the country.

* TheAlcoholic: Harry has a very severe problem with it. He manages to get it under control multiple times throughout the series, but just the same something traumatic or devastating happens that often drives him to drink again.

* {{Bathos}}: Despite the books being seemlingly straight-laced thrillers, Nesbø frequently writes in subtle nodes of BlackComedy, most notably having the crimes Harry have silly or even outright absurd elements to them.

** Even more so in [[spoiler:''The Knife'', when the killer - Rakel's killer, to boot - turns out to be good, old, well-liked Bjorn Holm.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: The murderer of ''The Snowman'' [[spoiler: targets unfaithful women. His FreudianExcuse is discovering his own mother cheating as a teenager, and finding out that his hereditary disease which led his classmates to bully him was inherited from the man she was having an affair with]].

* ToughLove: Filip Becker from ''The Snowman'' is introduced as a very stern and no-nonsense man, who's cold and strict to his son, bordering on abusive at points. However, it's revealed that he acts this way because [[spoiler: he suspects that his wife has been cheating on him, and that Jonas isn't his biological son. He turns out to be right. Near the end of the book, once it's finally confirmed that his wife was one of the Snowman's victims, he breaks down crying and accepts Jonas as his son, telling him he loves him, suggesting that they'll have a better relationship going forward.]]

* BlackComedy: Many of the novels contain elements of black comedy. One of the complaints about the [[Film/TheSnowman2017 2017 film version]] of ''The Snowman'' is that it plays a lot of the black comedy elements (such as the fact that the serial killer leaves snowmen, [[CrossesTheLineTwice sometimes containing human body parts]], at the scene of his crimes, or [[spoiler:the [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote-esque]] way the killer is eventually dispatched]]) ''completely straight''.

* ChekhovsGun: In ''The Redbreast'', Sindre Fauke, a soldier who deserted the norwegian forces who fought for the nazis in WorldWar2, mentions to Harry multiple times that he's writing a book about the truth of Norway's involvement in the war compared to the whitewashed version that people are told about. [[spoiler: Upon reading the book, it confirms Harry's suspicion that "Sindre Fauke" is in fact Gudbrand Johansen, who killed the real Sindre Fauke to punish him for desertion, and developed a split personality based on his friend Daniel Gudeson due to the trauma of the war and a grenade explosion that sent shrapnel into his forehead.]]

* 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".

* TheAlcoholic: Harry, of course.

** Tom Waaler, another corrupt cop who despite his awful personality manages to get a lot of good press and promotions thanks to his efficiency in police work, to the point he is being eyed for a promotion to chief by the time of ''Devil's Star''.[[spoiler:. He is eventually killed during a confrontation with Harry and his crimes are exposed.]]

* DealWithTheDevil: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. The narration explicitly states that Harry considers [[spoiler: Waaler's]] offer to him in ''The Devil's Star'' as the equivalent of selling his soul.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Truls Berntsen, to Bellmann's wife Ulla. Although she starts considering him less abhorrent when [[spoiler:he risks his life to rescue her from being a hostage, while Mikael sits there and does nothing]].

* TheAtoner: Red-herring suspects often turn out to be this. [[spoiler:In particular,]] ''Knife'' [[spoiler:has multiple examples. There's Roar Bohr, whose suspicious activities are all ultimately a result of the fact that he's still avenging his sister's rape and subsequent suicide, which he blames himself for not preventing, and there's Peter Ringdal, whose suspicious activities are all ultimately a result of the fact that he's dedicated his career to making up for the hit-and-run he was involved in many years ago.]]

* AbusiveParents: Near the end of ''The Devil's Star'', it's revealed that [[spoiler: Tom Waaler]]'s father was abusive and regularly beat him at home. It's heavily implied that he had something to do with an accident that led to his father's death.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [[spoiler: Tom Waaler]] is described as having crypto-fascist views, including unflattering opinions of homosexuals, non-whites, and women. Also, the killer in ''The Snowman'' is revealed to be [[spoiler: intensely misogynistic. He regards any unfaithful women as "whores" and thinks they deserve to die, notably not sharing this ire towards the men they have affairs with.]]

** Tom Waaler, another corrupt cop who despite his awful personality manages to get a lot of good press and promotions thanks to his efficiency in police work, even being praised for [[spoiler: murdering two of his customers to cover his tracks. He is eventually killed during a confrontation with Harry in ''The Devil's Star'' and his crimes are exposed.]]

* WeCanRuleTogether: In ''The Devil's Star'', [[spoiler:Tom Waaler]], in an attempt to get Harry off his back, tries to get him to join his operations instead. He knows that Harry is going to be dismissed from the force and is having a bad patch with his love interest, so he flatters him and offers to have the dismissal withdrawn and a much larger salary if he is willing to work for him. [[spoiler: Harry seems to accept at first given the desperate situation he's in, but it turns out to be just a ploy so he can get evidence incriminating Waaler.]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In ''The Redeemer'', it's revealed that [[spoiler: Harry's boss Bjarne Møller joined a conspiracy involving various police officers and government officials, which participated in various illegal activities like weapon smuggling. He did this under the belief that it was necessary to take extreme measures to fight organized crime in Oslo. Eventually he realizes that he became an accessory to the self-serving corruption of the group when Waaler is exposed, but it's too late, both in the sense that the damage has already been done in the form of the good men and women he's lost and that he can't back out of it easily without endangering his loved ones. He ends up divorcing his wife over it and gets transferred to another city as punishment. Harry eventually figures this all out and speaks to Møller, but declines to arrest him because he feels they are NotSoDifferent. Bjarne disappears and it's revealed in ''The Snowman'' that he committed suicide because he couldn't live with the guilt.]]

* CowboyCop: Harry himself.

* BenevolentBoss: Bjanre Moslash and Gunnar Hagen are both fairly tolerant and supportive towards Harry, with Gunnar even volunteering to be TheScapegoat in Harry's place on one occasion, before the conclusion of the case eliminates the need for a scapegoat.

* AbhorrentAdmirer / StalkerWithACrush: Truls Berntsen, to Bellmann's wife Ulla.

* BeneathSuspicion: A staple of the books is that the killer is someone you would never expect. It's especially notable in ''The Snowman'', where [[spoiler: the killer, Matthias, is hiding in plain sight from the very beginning.]]

* ChickMagnet: Gusto from ''Phantom'' is described as absurdly handsome, and has women eating out of the palm of his hand wherever he goes.
* 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.]]

* DrugsAreBad: It is highly unlikely that anyone who reads ''Phantom'' will have any desire to try opiates afterwards.