Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The Snowman

This was simply not a book for me. The amount of times I started and stopped reading was absurd. It was really giving me reading slump vibes. However, if I’m going to say something positive about it (and I will since I know some people would and have eaten this book up) it would be that the author is very creative. I haven’t read murders like this before. Nor have I read a plot or reasoning for killing like this before! I don’t think that makes up for how convoluted and confusing the whole plot and story structure was, but it’s something.

Content Warnings

danajoy's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.25

Content Warnings

ashleymg99's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I read this as part of StoryGraph‘s Read the World challenge for Norway.

The first half of the book was slow and hard for me to get into - but the further into it I got, the more invested I became, and the more it started to pick up. Overall, I thought it was a good mystery, and one that the reader can solve on their own, which is always nice.

Spoilers in my critique - don’t read if you want to try and solve the mystery!

my biggest complaint is that I felt like the murder was “solved” too many times - every suspect they investigated was definitely the culprit, but when there’s still 200 pages left in the book, you know that they have the wrong person! It just made you start to think that any person who was a suspect couldn’t be the killer, and it took some of the suspense out of the scenes where they interrogated or accused people. Of course, Nesbø explains this away in the book and even uses it as a plot device (with the whole “Katrine breaking down, which only lead to ANOTHER “we caught the killer!”), but as the reader, I was getting tired of them saying they “caught the killer” so prematurely every time. If the police weren’t so i competent, they probably could have solved the murder in half the time! Remember kids, #ACAB, not just in America)

Content Warnings

ruthmoog's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

My favourite thing about this was descriptions of Norway, specifically Bergen - the rainiest city in Europe - and Oslo - even the Kon Tiki museum gets a mention! - and Flåm too. Although, these are the scene for some grizzly unusual murders in the book.

Harry is an anti-hero, living with addiction and a dual reputation as a great detective and a terrible detective. He is fixated on sex and this seems to impact on all his relationships with women, and this feels like a book written from a male perspective.

There are lots of sub-plots which are parallels, eg the difference between Mathias and Rakels reactions to infedelity, the relationship to Norway's African communities through the shop and the unofficial medical clinic and the relationship with racism and popularity.
But mostly there are so many clunky absurd happenings, from the symbolic snowmen, the surreal action-movie montents from Harry, the mould man, the super clever detective moments juxtaposed with the super stupid detective moments... Argh.

Anyway, I thought it was good but not amazing. The murders were creative and horrible. I felt it would make a good movie, so I will probably watch the film interpretation.

Content Warnings

elumpio's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

joewooley's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

thatbookmarkbabe's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

purplemuskogee's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

As a thriller, it's not all bad - I genuinely didn't know who the killer would be until I had a third of the book left. The plot itself was quite clever, although there were maybe too many red herrings - with culprits being found who ended up not being the right person, etc.

What really ruined the book for me was the misogyny, and despite the theme (the serial killer only kills women, for a very specific reason) it was not the only reason for it. There's just now redeemable character there. The women are either victims (of the serial killer), or props. They are always somewhat mysterious, sexy, and every interaction between them and the main character involves some sort of sexual tension - mostly on the part of the hero, Harry Hole, as what the female characters think... we just don't know. It became so much that it was kind of gross - every time a female character appears, there's a neat paragraph on the male's character's dick, her legs, what he would do to her.

I read very few male authors - in fact, I try and avoid them unless I am sure that I won't be absolutely disgusted when I read them, but I craved a thriller like I do every time come late December. This reminded me exactly just why I normally stick to female writers.

Content Warnings

More...