The Snowman

A Harry Hole Novel

By: Jo Nesbø, Don Bartlett

Narrated by: Robin Sachs

Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity.

Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf.

Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he’s received and the disappearance of Jonas’s mother - and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised - and constantly revised - by the killer.

Fiercely suspenseful, its characters brilliantly realized, its atmosphere permeated with evil, The Snowman is the electrifying work of one of the best crime writers of our time.

©2011 Jo Nesbo (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Jo Nesbø is my new favorite thriller writer and Harry Hole my new hero.” (Michael Connelly)

Nesbo is the Cat and I am The Mouse

This is the best I've experienced of an excellent Harry Hole series. I know Nesbo is toying with me by bringing in so many possibilities as to who is really the Snowman. It is a very difficult case for Harry and I can see so many escape routes to naming the evil villain. But, just like the cat who lets the mouse think he is home free, Nesbo in one swoop cuts off each promising avenue after I've committed to it. What a game of cat and mouse - and I'm loving it!

It was interesting to view some suspects and the actual murderer from Harry's perspective and then have a pause in the investigation to get a back story from their viewpoint.

The ending for this yarn takes you on a roller coaster ride of suspense. Be prepared to be immersed into a top notch detective story.

Very good listen for parts of story

I thought this book was overall a very good listen (and read since I also downloaded the book and read it). I like the narrator, even though he does not have the most dynamic style of reading.
I enjoyed the book's drama, and mystery - the overall desire to know "who dunnit" is a fun thing to experience in books. I had that real sense of needing to know who was doing these terrible crimes.
The only reason I did not give this book 4 stars (because there are few books I would give 5 stars to) was because the story breaks down a bit toward the end when Detective Harry Hole thinks he knows who the killer is, and it is absurd. It is so contrived for about 50 pages that I was skimming through pages, and fast forwarding through the listening to the book.
The end wraps up in a more believable way, but I had been thrown from being on pins and needles. Let's face it - those of us who like listening to mysteries/thrillers love being on pins and needles. It's a hard thing for a writer to keep us there in a convincing way.
I will certainly read/listen to more of Jo Nesbo's books. Overall, Nesbo is a very good, tight author who has good plot!

Glad I gave this series a second chance

What did you love best about The Snowman?

The interweaving of flashback scenes with present day to ratchet up the tension and keep the reader guessing.

Any additional comments?

4.5 stars. A labyrinthine plot (in the best way), a gifted but flawed investigator (with humanity and depth), an assortment of supporting players with distinct personalities and drives, a richly textured history for the main players, and a feeling of dread as each new victim goes missing combine to make this a really excellent mystery-thriller. I picked this up after being very disappointed in the first book of the series (disappointed enough that I did not finish it), so I am glad I read a few reviews and saw that this book (the seventh in the series following Harry Hole) received glowing reviews. Clearly Nesbø hit his stride some time after the first book and this was well worth the time. I look forward to other books in the series and was also interested to learn that this book is being adapted into a film for release this year. I just hope that the film does the book justice and that viewers perhaps choose to pick up the book first. Recommended.

Probably just not my taste

Any additional comments?

At times I wanted to say,"jeez, lighten up." This book was relentlessly grim. Being grim is OK, I just thought it could have used more character development to make me care about the people a little more and draw me in more. I read another book by Nesbo and I had the same reaction. But I know a lot of people really like him, so maybe people like me, who go for Pride and Prejudice,etc., are not the natural audience here.

Fun & Grusome

Fun detective thriller. The Snowman is a great idea of a case, really different. It is written so that you can work-out the mystery yourself if you are a careful listener, which i always love. The only negative is the setting & character names. Because it is an unfamiliar place to me and the names are very traditional I had a hard time keeping them straight for a while. Similar to "girl with a dragon tattoo"

Outstanding!

It's a murder mystery, suspense, and thriller that actually *IS* all of those things! I was on the edge of my seat the entire story. Really exceptional book; I will be checking out more from this author!

Great voice for this book.

Love this voive for this story! It's hard to turn off this book, it's great!

A great series

I accidentally discovered the Harry Hole series of books, and am enjoying all of them so far. They can be a little dark at times, but that makes the character(s) interesting and multilayered.

Some Parts, But Not Other Parts

Harry Hole is yet another "non perfect," but brilliant detective with bad habits, and a problem committing to the woman he loves (who loves him) and the child who he loves (who is the son of the woman he loves and another man) who loves him. All this happens as he tries to deal with the re-opening of a cold case file for a serial killer called The Snowman who he wants to get once and for all. Not that original, but Nesb0 tries. Rakel is an amazing character as the woman Harry loves. She's all devotion to Harry, but cannot say it. Oleg, her son, wants Harry to be the father he never had, but Harry is tormented with finding purpose in his life....and he sees The Snowman as his sobering light amidst the booze he tries to stop drinking. It sounds inventive, but Nesb0 weaves a story that is quite complicated, and you can loss a bit amongst the twists. The good think about this audio book is Sachs' relaxed delivery. He doesn't change his voice except a little bit to convey different characters, and these inflections lift an otherwise run-of-the-numbers murder mystery. A bit of a letdown considering what I heard about it.

Excellent story!

Very good thriller and excellently read! Set at the edge of your seat for this book!