The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
hmonkeyreads's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it quite a bit. My reservation, as it always is with creepy murder books, is that I have mixed feelings about reading such awful things for fun -- and I have questions about the type of person who WRITES such awful things. Hence my three star rating instead of four.
The story has twist upon twist upon twist and while I saw some coming but a few totally blindsided me.
Harry Hole in an interesting character and I'm kind of interested in reading more in the series to get a fuller picture of him but I'm not so sure I'm interested in the dark subject matter.
Bottom line: worth reading if crime/murder is your genre. If it's not, the story is a little grim but not as grim/twisted as the Dragon Tattoo stuff.
The story has twist upon twist upon twist and while I saw some coming but a few totally blindsided me.
Harry Hole in an interesting character and I'm kind of interested in reading more in the series to get a fuller picture of him but I'm not so sure I'm interested in the dark subject matter.
Bottom line: worth reading if crime/murder is your genre. If it's not, the story is a little grim but not as grim/twisted as the Dragon Tattoo stuff.
drkew's review against another edition
1.0
I love a good thriller and the works of Tana French and Kate Atkinson helped me to read
more books by authors on the other side of the Atlantic but this book did nothing for me. The premise had great promise but the writing and the storyline left me feeling underwhelmed.
kristini_'s review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book - definitely a page turner! The storyline was well thought out and the author really had you guessing who the serial killer was right up until the last few chapters. I couldnt put the book down as all the final pieces fell together. However, the author's downfall for me is how he portrays women... quite cliche and misogynistic.
I should also mention that I started this book as an audio book and very quickly switched to reading it....the narrator was just so bad :/
I should also mention that I started this book as an audio book and very quickly switched to reading it....the narrator was just so bad :/
twilliamson's review against another edition
2.0
In 1841, Edgar Allen Poe wrote a short story called "Murders at the Rue Morgue." With it, he invented the modern detective story, and established a number of the tropes for the genre. The villain of the story, ultimately, was an orangutan with a razor blade.
In 2007, Jo Nesbø published the seventh book starring his own police investigator, Harry Hole. In many respects, Nesbø manages to craft a tale in The Snowman that is a showcase of how thrillers are crafted: leave along just enough of a trail of evidence that careful readers can anticipate the action, but leave just enough unstated to keep readers turning pages. The craft of the thriller is all about delayed satisfaction; readers have suspicions of who has done what, and what's going on in the story, but they have to turn the page in order to find out if they are correct. They piece together the story's meaning alongside the detective, in the best of cases. Sometimes, they might beat him to the punch.
So, as a showcase of how to craft a fiction thriller, Nesbø's novel seems to do the trick.
Except that the climax and denouement of the novel somehow manages to be even more ridiculous than Poe's orangutan with a razor blade. Nesbø's vision--not just of crime, but of the society of Norway--just feels like it has been taken from a funhouse mirror, where things never seem like they belong to any kind of actual reality, and while figures are almost recognizable, they're so warped as to strain credulity.
The ridiculous number of twists in the plot would be excusable if the rest of the novel didn't strain the credulity it so desperately wants to have so often. Its 500 pages feel about 200 pages too long, and I don't think alcoholism is robust characterization. But, hey, cross Nesbø off the list of authors I wanted to give a look. I think I've seen enough to know his isn't my style.
In 2007, Jo Nesbø published the seventh book starring his own police investigator, Harry Hole. In many respects, Nesbø manages to craft a tale in The Snowman that is a showcase of how thrillers are crafted: leave along just enough of a trail of evidence that careful readers can anticipate the action, but leave just enough unstated to keep readers turning pages. The craft of the thriller is all about delayed satisfaction; readers have suspicions of who has done what, and what's going on in the story, but they have to turn the page in order to find out if they are correct. They piece together the story's meaning alongside the detective, in the best of cases. Sometimes, they might beat him to the punch.
So, as a showcase of how to craft a fiction thriller, Nesbø's novel seems to do the trick.
Except that the climax and denouement of the novel somehow manages to be even more ridiculous than Poe's orangutan with a razor blade. Nesbø's vision--not just of crime, but of the society of Norway--just feels like it has been taken from a funhouse mirror, where things never seem like they belong to any kind of actual reality, and while figures are almost recognizable, they're so warped as to strain credulity.
The ridiculous number of twists in the plot would be excusable if the rest of the novel didn't strain the credulity it so desperately wants to have so often. Its 500 pages feel about 200 pages too long, and I don't think alcoholism is robust characterization. But, hey, cross Nesbø off the list of authors I wanted to give a look. I think I've seen enough to know his isn't my style.
cyndqls's review against another edition
3.0
hm. this was a weird crime novel (i mean like, the crime itself was weird and fucked up, lol). i don't quite know if these sorts of novels are For Me, and there were aspects of this that i didn't super jive with (primarily just... the way sex was approached? idk, not for me!) but i also didn't hate it. fun foray into a genre i don't typically read
shivani_maurya's review against another edition
3.0
What is it about the women dropping dead that just lures the readers in? Somehow, when the synopsis describes dead women found in outrageous circumstances, my curiosity gets peaked. Is it that they are more relatable in some sense? Reading about the mutilations, is it the knowledge we have of our bodies and its capability to feel pain that fuels the imagination? Will I be just as curious if a book boasted of bodies of men turning up, sans some part or arranged ritualistically? Would it be interesting if the perpetrator was a women offing those men? Or another man killer? I don't know. But what I do know is that I have yet to come across a crime novel about a serial killer who has it out for just men. So it's a little on the nose but, women take the cake in this one as well.
This book was an odd choice for me. It is not the first of the series. I picked it just coz I had it on my kindle since god knows when. And to be honest I didn't like it off the bat. At times there were several threads inside a chapter. The transition is seamless. Which can be annoying if one has to infer two dialogues in, that the place and characters have changed. Took me some time to get used to this "quirk". The story is pretty much standard. A maniac is on the loose, kidnapping and killing women, leaving behind a snowman to mark his "visit". The fun is in chasing him and discovering his motive page by page. Speculations will fly and should, that's kind of the point of sticking with this book.
This book is melting pot of clues, suspects, dead-ends and surprises. A bit anti-climatic at times. But still it redeemed itself from being a total bore. Should you read it? Answer : ¯\_(^_^)_/¯ it wouldn't be a total disappointment. Just more of the same maybe.
This book was an odd choice for me. It is not the first of the series. I picked it just coz I had it on my kindle since god knows when. And to be honest I didn't like it off the bat. At times there were several threads inside a chapter. The transition is seamless. Which can be annoying if one has to infer two dialogues in, that the place and characters have changed. Took me some time to get used to this "quirk". The story is pretty much standard. A maniac is on the loose, kidnapping and killing women, leaving behind a snowman to mark his "visit". The fun is in chasing him and discovering his motive page by page. Speculations will fly and should, that's kind of the point of sticking with this book.
This book is melting pot of clues, suspects, dead-ends and surprises. A bit anti-climatic at times. But still it redeemed itself from being a total bore. Should you read it? Answer : ¯\_(^_^)_/¯ it wouldn't be a total disappointment. Just more of the same maybe.
mintychip's review against another edition
3.0
While I found this book just as thrilling as his other books, I found this one wasn't as well written, and very predictable.
april_golden's review against another edition
4.0
Another awesome installment in the Harry Hole series by my new favorite author.
Of all the Nesbo books I've read, this was by far the CREEPIEST. There were times I was home alone reading, and I had to stop and wait for my roommate to come home because I was getting freaked out. In retrospect, I feel embarrassed to have been scared by it, but when you are reading it, the way Nesbo writes it, you figure out a crucial fact about a page before the character does. You can see where it's heading, and it is terrifying.
Of all the Nesbo books I've read, this was by far the CREEPIEST. There were times I was home alone reading, and I had to stop and wait for my roommate to come home because I was getting freaked out. In retrospect, I feel embarrassed to have been scared by it, but when you are reading it, the way Nesbo writes it, you figure out a crucial fact about a page before the character does. You can see where it's heading, and it is terrifying.
tawnygeorge's review against another edition
4.0
Like a 3.7-8. I'll read the other novels if that's telling at all. I thought the building of the snowman aspect a bit cheesy and force-added just so there was a theme to attach to the serial killer. But overall enjoyable crime novel.
smkean's review against another edition
4.0
This was my first Nesbo, not going to lie I jumped on the wagon to read this when it was adapted to a movie because in my mind anything Hollywood is willing to adapt must be worth a read. I was definitely not disappointed. I really liked this book for a crime thriller, it felt like the perfect blend of procedure, suspense and thriller without any of them being overbearing. I picked up on some of the hints pretty early but that didn't spoil the book for me because it was still full of surprise. If you're just looking for a brutal thrill ride, no this isn't it, it moves a little slower, But if you're like me and get bored with a lot crime novels and all their investigative mumbo jumbo than this has way more thrill than that. I will definitely be checking out more in this series to see if they are also as enjoyable.