27 March 2011

Book Review: The Snowman by Nesbø

The SnowmanThe Snowman by Jo Nesbø

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I came to this book after reading The Leopard by the same author, which I found disappointing. My wife bought it, and I wasn't particularly keen to read it, as I thought it might be similarly disappointing, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was vintage Jo Nesbø, except perhaps for the last couple of chapters.



Oslo detective Harry Hole is asked to investigate the case of a missing woman with his new partner Katrine Bratt, who urges him to check older unsolved cases in Bergen that seem to have some similarities. When a second missing woman is found murdered, it seems that a serial killer may be at work.



Towards the end, however, the story shows the same descent into the improbable that characterises The Leopard throughout, and the figure of the boozy Scandiwegian detective seems well on its way to becoming a literary cliche. Perhaps this is because Nesbø's publishers have taken to hyping him as "the next Stieg Larsson", which is a pity, because Nesbø writes better as Nesbø than as a faux Stieg Larsson.



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3 comments:

James Higham said...

Strange - I ouwent back to a a different Leopard [de Lampedusa] the other day. Any clue as to the plot of this one?

Steve Hayes said...

I wondered how Good Reads keeps track of different books of the same title, and it appears that it doesn't, and confuses them. Nesbo's one is at: Goodreads | The Leopard by Jo Nesbo - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists. I haven't read de Lampedusa's one, though I believe it is a family saga.

Steve Hayes said...

Actually Good Reads has got so confused about it that it has the book in two places, and the real page for it is at Goodreads | The Leopard by Jo Nesbo- Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

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