Denne krimi er norske Nesbøs syvende værk om vicekommissær Harry Hole.Bogen begynder med en prolog, som udspiller sig i 1980, ”den dag, sneen kom.” En mor efterlader sin teenagesøn i bilen udenfor, mens hun springer ind for at sige farvel til sin elsker – i fyrre minutter! Men hvorfor er der pludselig en snemand uden for soveværelsesvinduet? En snemand, som holder øje med de to indenfor.
Snemandsmysteriet fortsætter i 2004, da en snemand pludselig dukker op foran familien Beckers hus, samme dag som den første sne falder over Oslo. Kort efter forsvinder kvinden i huset, Birte Becker, og efterlader sig en tiårig søn Jonas og sin fysikprofessormand.
Flere kvinder bliver myrdet, og snart tyder det på, at en seriemorder er på spil. En sjælden, arvelig sygdom spiller også en vis rolle, og Harry får brug for alle sine talenter og sin viden om seriemordere fra USA. Harry lider af kærestesorger, fordi Rakel er på vej til at flytte sammen med sin nye kæreste, en dygtig, idealistisk læge, så han kaster sig hovedkulds ud i sagen for at glemme.
Fængslende persontegninger, ikke blot af Harry Hole, der som sædvanlig slås mod alkoholdæmonerne, men også hans kollegaer, ofrene og deres familier, samt den spøjse svampejæger, som skal undersøge Harrys lejlighedskompleks for svamp.
Bogen tilhører min mand; han kom heldigvis til at glemme at afmelde månedens bog.
Jo Nesbø, The Snowman (2010)
This police procedural is Norwegian Nesbø´s seventh Harry Hole story (the fifth that is published in English).
The book begins with a prologue that takes place in 1980 ´on the day when the snow came´. A mother leaves her teenage son in the car outside while she leaps in to say goodbye to her lover – for forty minutes! But why is there suddenly a snowman outside the bedroom window? A snowman who is watching the two inside.
The snowman mystery continues in 2004 when a snowman appears outside the Beckers´ house on the day when the first snow hits Oslo. Soon after the woman of the family, Birte Becker, disappears, leaving a ten-year-old son and a physics professor behind.
More women are brutally killed and soon it seems that a serial killer is at work. A rare, inherited disease also plays a certain role, and Harry needs all his talents plus his knowledge about serial killers from the USA. Besides, he suffers from unrequited love as his dear Rakel is on her way to move in with her new lover, a competent, idealistic doctor, so Harry plunges into the case to forget.
All in all The Snowman offers a brilliant, but scary plot, compelling characters, not only Harry who fights his alcohol demon, but also his colleagues, the victims and their families, plus the rum dry-rot hunter who inspects Harry´s flat for fungi.
The book belongs to my husband; fortunately he forgot to cancel his book club book!
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7 kommentarer:
Dorte, do I need to read this series? Seems like they are all the craze in Denmark and everyone I know are reading them. I haven't gotten around to pick one up yet myself, except I tried the first one some years ago and had to quit after a few pages. But maybe that was just my mood at that particular time...
Yes, Louise, you must!
The first two (which have not been translated into English) you may be able to live without, but in my opinion Harry Hole is the best Norwegian crime series of them all :D
Louise I agree with Dorte [I usually do ;o)] Jo Nesbo and Harry Hole, plus for us English readers translator Don Bartlett, are an irresistible combination.
I would like to second what Dorte and Norman say. Nesbo is a fantastic writer, and Harry Hole is a great character. Dorte, thanks for profiling this.
What a sweet, cheerful little cover, though. If that went on sale in the US people would assume it was an amateur sleuth who build snowmen and solved crimes involving members of a knitting circle or something.
I too think Nesbo is top-notch, though I am not keen on serial killers generally.
I think this series is very good - but sometimes too much on the violent side for me. Also, I often think that the plots are too convoluted/elaborate. However, they are very intelligent novels and I enjoy them. In particular, Harry Hole is an excellent portrait.
I like the way in which the author sets up plots way in advance. I have read the Snowman (review submitted to Euro Crime)just in advance of its English/UK publication, and was fascinated with the way in which Nesbo had set up the plot several books ago.
Definitely worth reading from (3) onwards (I have not read the first 2 as I don't read Norwegian unfortunately), but I have skipped a few pages in most of them when some set-piece horrible scenario is described.
I think The Snowman is the best of the series so far.
I am sure Louise must be convinced now :D
Maxine, I know that one can also find faults with Nesbø, but my husband and I read The Snowman first, and we have been fans of Nesbø ever since.
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