The Snowman - a review

The seventh installment featuring Nesbo’s antihero police detective, Harry Hole, shows us again why he is the current reigning Scandinavian author writing for American audiences.
By using the US presidential elections to establish a timeline for his latest novel Nesbo immediately establishes a rapport with his American audience and makes this a truly international novel, so much that we forget he has us running around the streets of Oslo not New York, so we can concentrate more on the storyline.
And what a story! Hole, the recovering alcoholic, as usual strikes out on his own, following a path of investigation that only he seems to understand, a veritable Norwegian Colombo, with the exception that he is tall, blonde energetic, he does however have the subtle power to interpret the clues that others squander. Hole is the dragon-chaser, seeing serial-killers where Norway never has. Serial-killers are an American phenomena in the police world and Hole is considered quite barmy for even considering Oslo could entertain one of their own.
For several years women have gone missing in Norway, and now both bodies and snowmen are showing up in Oslo. When Hole is assigned a new female partner, Katrine Bratt, a transfer from another department, the two of them discover a link between the snowmen Hole is chasing to one that appeared in case of a missing police detective a decade before and the clues start to fall into place. The fast paced action never stops in the this police procedural that takes you down and around so many thrills, chills and false leads that your head spins.
Nesbo’s style is persuasive, irreverent and hard-boiled. He takes you places you thought you’d never go and then ties you up and leaves you there alone! Be prepared to wowed.