Snowman by Jo Nesbo - book review

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’t have made any difference to the ending and would’ve only made it racier, it was still at a manageable level. The parallel story track was almost non-evident, except for the initial portion where Rakel (his girlfriend) splits up and meets someone else and even that has been threaded into main storyline and for the fact that it leads up till the climax is simply brilliant. The storyline is maybe a Norwegian equivalent of Jack the ripper myth, only in this case, the villain is quite closer to the hero. But the twist would hardly be surprising if one sees too much logic into a thriller novel. When the key informant is found to be lying about one of the various who-dun-it’s he should’ve been a suspect halfway into the book and not so late. It robs off the surprise factor in the end. Other than that, it’s quite interesting and with so many murders happening and with each murder a new suspect being identified and with each of those suspects ends up getting killed, it’s a bloodbath out there. Wonder why the chief never complaints to Harry after each time he comes up with a  suspect (and the sureness with which they claim him to be the villain) only to end up being wrong. No one says a thing about how sure Harry always is and how unsure he becomes once the suspect is either caught or about to be caught. The most lenient of police chief character ever I would guess.

Gils verdict – Snowan, I feel, is the best book of the series so far and as compared the previous books the translation was much better and crisp or maybe I am getting used to the flow. Either way, this book would be a delight to thriller genre fans.