The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

Here’s what I liked most about The Snowman: (1) The main character. (2) The plot twists.

What I didn’t like about The Snowman: (1) For some reason the Scandinavian names of the characters in the book made it illogically hard for me to keep up with who was who. (2) Other than the main character, I didn’t engage with the other people in the book.

Both #(1’s) above are somewhat related because the main character in the book had one of the few pronounceable names – and what a name it was – Harry Hole. I kid you not.  Harry wasn’t a particularly likable guy, but he carried the plot along well enough.

On the other hand, Nesbø was masterful at taking the reader down dead-end trails and making you read on to find out what the hell was going on. 

Here's the plot. There are a series of murders of women and Harry Hole (snicker, snicker), in between drinking binges, tries to find the killer. His efforts are pretty lame and the plot has no backbone, but you really don't care because there is suspense, blood, drama, a surprise ending, and the story moves along at a quick clip.

In the photo to the left, author Joe Nesbø looks like the type of guy I would fall tragically in lust, I mean love, with - a bad boy.  

In the photo to the right, he looks like a psychotic meth-dealer.

Need a good murder mystery to take your mind off of ________ (fill in the blank)? Read The Snowman by Joe Nesbø.