Helpful Score: 6
This was my first Harry Hole mystery thriller but hopefully not my last! Over the years, women have gone missing on the day of a first snowfall. Harry Hole, the only Oslo police investigator with experience catching serial killers in Norway, is alerted to this pattern by a mysterious letter about the Snowman. Thus begins a superb thriller by Norwegian Jo Nesbø; this story has many twists where it seems the case is solved, but that can't be true because there are many pages to go. I appreciated the flashbacks and fragments from perspectives other than Harry's which at first don't fit well, but make sense later. Harry is an interestingly flawed, alcoholic character who uses both intuition and solid reasoning to solve this case. Be warned that there are non-prudish sex scenes and a gruesome ending. Although I was able for once to guess the villain, I thoroughly enjoyed this Scandinavian thriller.
Helpful Score: 4
I'm going against the grain here and am saying that I couldn't even finish this book. The problem for me stems from the fact that most all of the names/places are Norewgian, with long names + accents that I can't pronounce. Consequently, I never could get immersed into the story because the character development wasn't clicking with me. I found my attempts to pronounce the names a completely distraction from the story. A couple of characters were easy to get to know because I could 'hear' their names in my head(detectives Harry Hole and Karine Bratt, for example). Apparently I need to be able to do this in order to enjoy a story.
Helpful Score: 3
Jo Nesbo lives up to the hype. His books are highly original and extremely suspenseful. Harry Hole is a great flawed hero in the tradition of both the hardboiled American detective and the Swedish tormented souls who devote their lives to trying to find order in a world of chaos. Harry is wounded and vulnerable, but still brilliant at his job. The Snowman makes a great nemesis and there are multitudes of twists to keep the reader engaged.
Helpful Score: 1
You will never look at a snowman the same way again. :o
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent book, gotta love the Scandinavian mysteries - there's just something about the desolate dreary winters that works so well with the murder mystery. The graphic parts are few and short but they're pretty graphic. It's the kind of book that sticks with you for a bit, lots of tension and suspense.
Helpful Score: 1
The Snowman is book #7 following Detective Harry Hole. A crime-thriller series orginating in Norway that is gaining wide acclaim worldwide, it lives up to its hype.
A boy notices a suspicious and creepy snowman in his front yard. He wakes later that night and finds his mother missing. As he runs to a neighbor's yard, he notices the snowman in his own yard is now wearing a scarf - his mother's favorite pink scarf. As Harry Hole and his investigative team begin the search, they notice that a huge number of mothers have gone missing over the years. And there's something to do with the snow... For the first time ever, Norway may have a seriel killer on its hands and it's up to Harry Hole to end the disappearances.
I'm new to the series and this is the first one I've read. I'm not one to jump into a series midway but that didn't really affect the story. I figured this book out early on; very early on. I knew exactly who the killer was. Something about the killer/plot/story rang familiar, but surprisingly that didn't ruin the book for me. The book has many twists and turns in the story, as if Nesbo were daring me to change my mind. I didn't, but still I was gripped what was happening. The ending was a little intriguing but I don't know if it's enough to make me want to go out and read this entire series. It's exciting, scary and fast paced. Definitely a good crime-thriller.
A boy notices a suspicious and creepy snowman in his front yard. He wakes later that night and finds his mother missing. As he runs to a neighbor's yard, he notices the snowman in his own yard is now wearing a scarf - his mother's favorite pink scarf. As Harry Hole and his investigative team begin the search, they notice that a huge number of mothers have gone missing over the years. And there's something to do with the snow... For the first time ever, Norway may have a seriel killer on its hands and it's up to Harry Hole to end the disappearances.
I'm new to the series and this is the first one I've read. I'm not one to jump into a series midway but that didn't really affect the story. I figured this book out early on; very early on. I knew exactly who the killer was. Something about the killer/plot/story rang familiar, but surprisingly that didn't ruin the book for me. The book has many twists and turns in the story, as if Nesbo were daring me to change my mind. I didn't, but still I was gripped what was happening. The ending was a little intriguing but I don't know if it's enough to make me want to go out and read this entire series. It's exciting, scary and fast paced. Definitely a good crime-thriller.
I've enjoyed all of the Harry Hole series, but this one was especially good and creepy.
Helpful Score: 1
A slow start, but an amazing fast ending. This was the first book that I have read that was written by a a guy from Norway. The long names of places was a little hard, but I just skipped over them and didn't try to pronounce them. Harry Hole is a great, but flawed detective, born for the job. One might say he is married to the job. This doesn't bode well for his personal life. I thought this book could have been done in less than 500 pages, but I somehow made it through. I may even try another Nesbo book.
The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother's pink scarf. Inspector Harry Hole is convinced there is a link between the disappearance and a menacing letter he received some months earlier. When a second woman disappears Harry's suspicions are confirmed: he is a pawn in a deadly game. For the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his turf, a killer who will drive him to the brink of insanity.
2.5 stars rounded up. A good concept, but I think the translation made the story clunky.
Reading Jo Nebo's 'The Snowman' is like sky diving.Once you're off the ground you begin the climb and then the jump.Suddenly your in a free fall of twists and turns as you descend in a rush. Everything you see seems to go this way and then that way until you pull the rip cord and you land with a surprising jolt. A full rush of suspense with brilliant plotting that's hard to put down. Mystery/crime at it's best - Gery
I've had this book, along with several other Nesbo thrillers, on my shelf for a few years. Finally got around to reading it after seeing a trailer for the movie that recently came out based on the novel.
This is the 7th book in the Harry Hole series but the first I have read. These books were written by a Norwegian author and Hole is a detective for the Norwegian police in Oslo. In this book, Hole is trying to solve a series of murders/disappearances of married women in which a snowman is used as a trademark by the killer. He discovers that the murders may go back several years and seem to be tied to some similar cases that took place in Bergen, Norway. The story is very compelling and leaves the reader with a sense of unease throughout. The killer is adept at throwing Harry off course and there are several false leads before the penultimate conclusion. I would definitely recommend this one to any fan of crime fiction and I'm sure I'll be reading more of these. There were some references in the book to some of the happenings in the earlier novels in the series so I will probably start at the first in the series, The Bat, and read from there...hopefully sooner than later...aye so much to read! I also want to see the movie version although some of the reviews I've read have not been kind...possibly the viewers had not read the source material. We'll see...
This is the 7th book in the Harry Hole series but the first I have read. These books were written by a Norwegian author and Hole is a detective for the Norwegian police in Oslo. In this book, Hole is trying to solve a series of murders/disappearances of married women in which a snowman is used as a trademark by the killer. He discovers that the murders may go back several years and seem to be tied to some similar cases that took place in Bergen, Norway. The story is very compelling and leaves the reader with a sense of unease throughout. The killer is adept at throwing Harry off course and there are several false leads before the penultimate conclusion. I would definitely recommend this one to any fan of crime fiction and I'm sure I'll be reading more of these. There were some references in the book to some of the happenings in the earlier novels in the series so I will probably start at the first in the series, The Bat, and read from there...hopefully sooner than later...aye so much to read! I also want to see the movie version although some of the reviews I've read have not been kind...possibly the viewers had not read the source material. We'll see...
L O N G! Except for the length I would have rated this book four stars. Yes, police investigations sometimes take a long time but this one found me ploughing through the read just to get to the end. The beginning and the end held my interest completely. But after about 300 pages my interest began to flag. This is a good read but understand that it is a long one.
The author is a good writer and takes the reader on many side trips to finally capture the killer. There are several suspects including a dermatologist, a journalist and a policewoman who is involved in the murder investigation. The murders take place on the first snow day of each year and at the end we find why this is so as the author lets us into the mind of the murderer. I like Harry Hole who is a determined and guttsy investigator. There are other interesting individuals in this novel. I liked Katrine Barr, Harry's fellow policemen investigators, Harry's girlfriend and her son, Oleg. All in all this is a good, if lengthy, read.
The author is a good writer and takes the reader on many side trips to finally capture the killer. There are several suspects including a dermatologist, a journalist and a policewoman who is involved in the murder investigation. The murders take place on the first snow day of each year and at the end we find why this is so as the author lets us into the mind of the murderer. I like Harry Hole who is a determined and guttsy investigator. There are other interesting individuals in this novel. I liked Katrine Barr, Harry's fellow policemen investigators, Harry's girlfriend and her son, Oleg. All in all this is a good, if lengthy, read.
L O N G! Except for the length I would have rated this book four stars. Yes, police investigations sometimes take a long time but this one found me ploughing through the read just to get to the end. The beginning and the end held my interest completely. But after about 300 pages my interest began to flag. This is a good read but understand that it is a long one.
The author is a good writer and takes the reader on many side trips to finally capture the killer. There are several suspects including a dermatologist, a journalist and a policewoman who is involved in the murder investigation. The murders take place on the first snow day of each year and at the end we find why this is so as the author lets us into the mind of the murderer. I like Harry Hole who is a determined and guttsy investigator. There are other interesting individuals in this novel. I liked Katrine Barr, Harry's fellow policemen investigators, Harry's girlfriend and her son, Oleg. All in all this is a good, if lengthy, read.
The author is a good writer and takes the reader on many side trips to finally capture the killer. There are several suspects including a dermatologist, a journalist and a policewoman who is involved in the murder investigation. The murders take place on the first snow day of each year and at the end we find why this is so as the author lets us into the mind of the murderer. I like Harry Hole who is a determined and guttsy investigator. There are other interesting individuals in this novel. I liked Katrine Barr, Harry's fellow policemen investigators, Harry's girlfriend and her son, Oleg. All in all this is a good, if lengthy, read.
