1944: Daniel, a soldier, legendary among the Norwegians fighting the advance of Bolshevism on the Russian front, is killed. Two years later, a wounded soldier wakes up in a Vienna hospital. He becomes involved with a young nurse, the consequences of which will ripple forward to the turn of the next century.

1999: Harry Hole, alone again after having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; fairly mundane until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. Ellen Gjelten, his partner, makes a startling discovery. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. In a quest that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. He will be both winner and loser by the novel’s nail-biting conclusion.

The Redbreast won the Glass Key prize for the best Nordic crime novel when it was first published, and was subsequently voted Norway’s best crime novel. The Devil’s Star , Nesbø’s first novel featuring Harry Hole to be translated into English, marked Nesbø as a writer to watch in the ever more fashionable world of Nordic crime.- From the Trade Paperback edition.

尤•奈斯博，風靡世界的挪威作傢，北歐犯罪小說天王，每一部作品都登上挪威圖書暢銷排行榜。他拿過北歐幾乎所有的犯罪小說大奬，包括玻璃鑰匙奬、書店業者大奬等，還獲得英國匕首奬和美國愛倫•坡奬提名，作品被翻譯成40種語言，在50多個國傢齣版，銷量突破3300萬冊。

奈斯博曾是挪威知名的搖滾明星，白天任職於金融業，利用晚上和周末時間演齣。不久，他考得金融分析師執照，被挪威知名證券公司高薪挖走。然而工作和樂團越來越難以兼顧，瀕臨崩潰的奈斯博決定休半年長假。他帶著筆記本電腦，跳上飛機，前往澳大利亞，在那裏寫下瞭日後讓自己聲名大噪的“哈利•霍勒警探”係列的第一部。

奈斯博受到英美犯罪小說名傢一緻擁戴，邁剋爾•康奈利稱贊他是“我至愛的驚悚作傢”。評論傢普遍認為，奈斯博可與丹尼斯•勒翰、詹姆斯•艾爾羅伊、邁剋爾•康奈利、伊恩•蘭金、雷濛德•錢德勒等名傢相提並論，稱他是“挪威犯罪書寫的畢加索”；德國《明鏡》周刊則贊他為“斯堪的納維亞的奇跡”。他的讀者族群廣泛，涵蓋純文學、冷硬推理、黑色小說以及通俗驚悚小說愛好者。