Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole’s Villain Outshines Reacher In 1 Way

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While ‘Reacher’ is widely considered the best of the ‘dad shows,’ a new crime thriller coming to Netflix looks like it might address a major weakness the show had.

While several shows have attempted to copy the success of Reacher, few have matched the popularity and critical acclaim of the Alan Ritchson series. Despite some minor inconsistencies, Reacher consistently earns positive reviews and attracts a huge audience. Currently, it’s easily Prime Video’s most valuable action thriller, and rightfully deserves to be called the ultimate ‘dad show’.

Despite this, Netflix’s new crime thriller, also adapted from a book series, could be more successful in one key area.

Reacher Has Always Had A Villain Problem, But Netflix’s Detective Hole Won’t Be The Same

Alan Ritchson is fantastic as Jack Reacher, bringing a strong presence and perfectly capturing the character’s quiet, humorous personality. However, the show has consistently had trouble creating compelling villains since its first season. Too often, they come across as cliché or uninspired, failing to feel like a real challenge for such a powerful hero.

Season 3 of Reacher featured villains, Paulie and Quinn, who felt more threatening and had a more personal rivalry with Reacher, making it a bit better than previous seasons in that respect.

Quinn and Paulie, despite being memorable, weren’t as complex as the best villains in crime dramas, likely because they didn’t have enough screen time. But the upcoming Netflix series based on Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole books appears to be avoiding this issue.

Okay, so right from the start, “Detective Hole” sets up a really compelling rivalry – it’s immediately clear there’s bad blood brewing. Joel Kinnaman plays Tom Waaler, and let me tell you, he’s fantastic as this detective’s partner in crime – a truly scary and effective bad guy. This isn’t just a one-off conflict, either; it’s something that’s been going on for a while in the books the show is based on, and it gives “Detective Hole” a sustained tension that I really appreciate – something that, frankly, “Reacher” sometimes misses.

Detective Hole Books’ Original Author Is More Involved With The Show Than Lee Child With Reacher

Beyond the established dynamic between Harry Hole and Tome Waaler, the Netflix series Detective Hole has another significant advantage. Jo Nesbø, the author of the original books, is writing for the series directly, meaning the show will stay very true to the source material and offer a faithful adaptation of the crime thriller novels.

With Reacher consistently successful for three seasons and expected to remain popular, it’s probably too early to say if Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole will be a true competitor on Netflix. However, the new crime thriller has a lot going for it: it’s based on strong source material, the author is directly involved, and it features a compelling villain, suggesting it could be a big hit.

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2026-02-07 05:58