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A review by april_does_feral_sometimes
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
5.0
'The Snowman', creeped me out! Lovely! It was sooooooo good! I was up all Saturday night because I couldn't stand not knowing how the book would end. There were three possible suspects, and I truly thought it could be any one of them up to the last chapters. I was completely unable to suss out the mysteries. I held my breath so often I damn near burst a blood vessel. Maybe I did.
There are horrors in life which I hope never cross my path and there are horrors that are deliciously fun - afterwords. Then, there are reads which perform both of the intricate dances of horror together, like this book.
This is the 7th book in the Norwegian detective Harry Hole mystery series. If your eyes went wide at reading 'Norwegian' and you thought, "uh oh - hardboiled and graphic", gentle reader, well, ok then, yes. But it is not graphic in a sadistically lingering manner the way some 100% Horror genre novels do. However, 'The Snowman' definitely follows the established protocols for the insane serial killer genre. If you are smiling right now, gentle reader, then I highly recommend this book, and this literary mystery series, to you. (Personally, snowmen are now part of my irrational fears collection of awful things, right behind clowns.)
I think this particular novel in the series can be read as a standalone, but many of the reasons for Harry Hole's complicated life (his bosses want to fire him for alcoholism and insubordination, his work partners tend to be murdered, his girlfriends love/hate him, he has sort of adopted an ex-girlfriend's son emotionally, he is considered the police team's resident serial-killer expert) has more depth and intensity if the series is read in order, beginning with 'The Bat' https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19710826-the-bat, a book, by the way, whose plot is referred to in 'The Snowman' again and again.
I have a small bit of advice: 'The Bat' was written before the author firmed up his 'voice' for Harry Hole, so it might mislead a reader new to the series into thinking the detective has occasional summers of redemption instead of the continual dark cold misery Hole lives with. Hole has no illusions, whatsoever, about how evil people can be because of his cases - book after book....
The plot whips back and forth between the past and present at first, which I think was done a touch clumsily, so I thought I couldn't give this novel the five stars it might deserve. The initial clumsiness of handling the time changes annoyed me so much. However, it ends up being such a high-octane intricate plot, all is forgiven.
I apologize if you were expecting a story synopsis - I think this plot is WAY too much fun in discovering what happens as a cold read!
There are horrors in life which I hope never cross my path and there are horrors that are deliciously fun - afterwords. Then, there are reads which perform both of the intricate dances of horror together, like this book.
This is the 7th book in the Norwegian detective Harry Hole mystery series. If your eyes went wide at reading 'Norwegian' and you thought, "uh oh - hardboiled and graphic", gentle reader, well, ok then, yes. But it is not graphic in a sadistically lingering manner the way some 100% Horror genre novels do. However, 'The Snowman' definitely follows the established protocols for the insane serial killer genre. If you are smiling right now, gentle reader, then I highly recommend this book, and this literary mystery series, to you. (Personally, snowmen are now part of my irrational fears collection of awful things, right behind clowns.)
I think this particular novel in the series can be read as a standalone, but many of the reasons for Harry Hole's complicated life (his bosses want to fire him for alcoholism and insubordination, his work partners tend to be murdered, his girlfriends love/hate him, he has sort of adopted an ex-girlfriend's son emotionally, he is considered the police team's resident serial-killer expert) has more depth and intensity if the series is read in order, beginning with 'The Bat' https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19710826-the-bat, a book, by the way, whose plot is referred to in 'The Snowman' again and again.
I have a small bit of advice: 'The Bat' was written before the author firmed up his 'voice' for Harry Hole, so it might mislead a reader new to the series into thinking the detective has occasional summers of redemption instead of the continual dark cold misery Hole lives with. Hole has no illusions, whatsoever, about how evil people can be because of his cases - book after book....
The plot whips back and forth between the past and present at first, which I think was done a touch clumsily, so I thought I couldn't give this novel the five stars it might deserve. The initial clumsiness of handling the time changes annoyed me so much. However, it ends up being such a high-octane intricate plot, all is forgiven.
I apologize if you were expecting a story synopsis - I think this plot is WAY too much fun in discovering what happens as a cold read!