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A review by max_j_b
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
3.0
I didn’t think I’d be reading another Scandinavian murder-mystery so soon… After enjoying the mostly-excellent [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327868566s/2429135.jpg|1708725], I was recommended this book by a friend on Goodreads- while I don’t think it quite lives up to Stieg Larsson’s novel, I was still entertained by The Snowman.
Starring a detective named Harry Hole (LOL) who specializes in catching serial killers, this story is actually the 7th in an ongoing series focused on his mystery-solving. While there are some moments throughout the book that require background knowledge of events from the previous books, it mostly stands on its own and can be enjoyed as a separate entity.
Amongst the compelling mystery elements, I think that there is about 100 total pages of fluff and unnecessary detail. We didn’t need a victim perspective chapter for every single murder, in my opinion, and there are a lot of obvious red herring bait-and-switches that play out. I also predicted who the murderer was, literally from the very first moment they appeared. This doesn’t make me especially clever or anything, it’s just that the way the person is introduced is… not subtle. I spent the whole book waiting to be proven right, until the “shocking” climax.
As by-the-numbers as the mystery turned out to be, I still enjoyed myself for the most part. The writing style was chilling (pun intended) and brutal, the kills were imaginative, and the main characters Harry and Katrine were great. There was more depth to the story than I would have expected, and certain characters get taken to surprising places, psychologically speaking. I’m not sure I’d care to read another book in this series, but I’m glad I picked this one up. I give it a 6.5 out of 10.
(UPDATE): a major reason I had for reading this was because a movie adaptation starring Michael Fassbender was coming out- Fassbender is one of my favorite actors, so I was looking forward to it- not anymore. I haven’t seen it yet, but people seem to universally agree that it was garbage. Oh well!
Starring a detective named Harry Hole (LOL) who specializes in catching serial killers, this story is actually the 7th in an ongoing series focused on his mystery-solving. While there are some moments throughout the book that require background knowledge of events from the previous books, it mostly stands on its own and can be enjoyed as a separate entity.
Amongst the compelling mystery elements, I think that there is about 100 total pages of fluff and unnecessary detail. We didn’t need a victim perspective chapter for every single murder, in my opinion, and there are a lot of obvious red herring bait-and-switches that play out. I also predicted who the murderer was, literally from the very first moment they appeared. This doesn’t make me especially clever or anything, it’s just that the way the person is introduced is… not subtle. I spent the whole book waiting to be proven right, until the “shocking” climax.
As by-the-numbers as the mystery turned out to be, I still enjoyed myself for the most part. The writing style was chilling (pun intended) and brutal, the kills were imaginative, and the main characters Harry and Katrine were great. There was more depth to the story than I would have expected, and certain characters get taken to surprising places, psychologically speaking. I’m not sure I’d care to read another book in this series, but I’m glad I picked this one up. I give it a 6.5 out of 10.
(UPDATE): a major reason I had for reading this was because a movie adaptation starring Michael Fassbender was coming out- Fassbender is one of my favorite actors, so I was looking forward to it- not anymore. I haven’t seen it yet, but people seem to universally agree that it was garbage. Oh well!