A review by marcnash21stc
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

4.0

Nesbo's detective hero is Harry Hole and he ticks all the tropic boxes. Reformed alcoholic liable to fall off the wagon, maverick, insubordinate, lone wolf. As this is the first Nesbo I have read, I don't know how repetitive all the personal memories Hole has would become by this the 7th (only 5 in translation though) novel in the series. I did get the sense that the other books were being referred to, which always makes the presumption that the reader is reading them in order. As regards to Hole himself, while all the tropes are readily recognisable and Nesbo doesn't do anything new or subversive with them, some of his insights on life are well observed and redeem the more predictable facets of him. As for plot, there are twists and turns at every corner. I have to say every red herring I spotted early and knew they were falsely being offered up as the murderer and to what purpose. I will admit I didn't guess the actual murderer, but I do always get irritated when the killer personally targets the detective and turns it into a game to the death between the two. Whatever happened to stranger murders being investigated by a policeman with no ties to the case? But for all this, the final revelation of the motivation behind the murders was exceptionally well realised by Nesbo. It was thrilling and fiendishly ingenious and I tip my hat to Nesbo for the fiendish profundity of his ideas. The snowman of the title is an infernal motif (given a resonant association with the killer himself) and the crimes themselves joyfully and gleefully rendered by the author.