Variety is the spice of life

Luckily, I am stumbling in sequence, while reading this series till now. The story takes over from SNOWMAN and probably was written with the same flow and thought process I guess. Pretty racy and the story moves so fast that, before you realize there are 3 murders already and the initial setup and with a villain on maniac mode, it all leads up for an interesting climax. The story begins with a SAW (psycho killer movie) like setup where a lady is killed by Leopold’s Apple. Probably Nesbo spent quite some research about this torture device I guess. Its referenced multiple times and is almost mentioned in reverence(!!) There is another rifle that makes constant appearance across many stories. It works if you read the series in continuance, for it reiterates the similar setup, be it the bar they frequent, the repeated characterizations like smoking, alcoholic behavior, climate, above all – how tall Harry is(which is a near constant trivia in all the books!!) over a period of time, you get ...

I would never know if I am in binge reading mode of pending books from 2014 or I really do want to finish this Harry hole series. But with 5th book on the trot in this series, should say, I am much more comfortable reading this author now as compared to book one. There is a general familiarity about the repeat characters and even the places and newspaper that are referenced. The cold climate, the regular pub which Harry visits, his dormitory like house and its greyish hue, his nicotine addicted chain smoking drive and his off-on relation with alcohol and his girlfriend, most of the setup carry a sense of familiarity and luckily, even though I boarded the series halfway, have been almost reading it in a sequence. With that background, I can safely say, Snowman is the best of the lot till now. This one is much unlike the other novels. Its fast- for a change and is quite racy. Though there were still many chapters (read murders) that could’ve been chopped off/edited and it still wouldn’...

“Harivarasanam..vishvamohanam” Gilsbert is seen channeling his inner KJY, belting out the devotional song in all his splendor, passion plus-sed. The reason for such a travesty being, junior had taken to listening YouTube song videos and by chance had stumbled upon the video of KJY singing the song and had taken an immediate liking to it. He always try to sing the song with his own lyrics and would be seen humming it during all his play time. Gilsbert, was doing the lyric correction, telling junior about the right pronunciation when he saw the next door neighbor, who usually pass by, stopping near his house. “Unga paiyana paaditrunthaan?” asked him with a curious look. Gilsbert, beaming with that “Eendra pozhuthil perithu uvakkum than maganai chaandron ena kaetta thanthai” look (en thaai thaan peruma padanuma..naangalum paduvom. Ennelaam padaporengarathu poga poga theriyum!!) “aamaanga. Intha song ivanuku romba pudikum” The moment he heard the word “song” that guy gave a look as...

I was way too anxious, eager and enthusiastic after reading the first three novels by Swanson and was awaiting his next release for almost 4 months. May be the disappointment on his latest novel was because of the hype generated by his previous three blockbuster releases, but even if I had started on this one as the first of the lot, it wouldn’t have made much difference, but for the fact that I wouldn’t have bothered to try the rest of his novels. After reading this one, felt that either he was In a deadline rush to finish the script or simply gave up. The premise is nauseating to say the least – incest. And like the pattern he follows from his previous novels, where every character is as damaged as the villain – rather the most negative of the lot, here, with such a disgusting subject, every single character undergoes abuse or has illicit relations. Adultery is the norm or almost like way of life for every character. The biggest put off being the weak characterization –the strong po...

Yet another one on the Harry hole series and the more I read into the series, the more I am convinced that there is a definite template emerging, just like other series of novels. Like the previous novels, climate takes place regular mention and is almost omnipresent. Maybe there is a strong underlying reason to the repeated reference? May be its a metaphor to the kind of characters involved in the stories- harsh and unyielding, changing colors and basically cold in nature, literally and figuratively. The other common aspect that could be noted was the reference to America and its presidency. There is a grudgingly sarcastic attempt to mock Norway’s dependency on USA and for Norway’s role or the lack of it on the major wars. In this book, it’s the Serbian war which takes the parallel story route alongside the recurring storyline involving Harry, just like Redbreast, that dealt with Norway’s role on WWII. There are lot of interesting titbits around the salvation army. You wouldn’t have g...