On a chilly November evening in Oslo Norway, the snow if falling. It is the first snowfall of the season. When Jonas awakens in the night he discovers that his mother is gone, and in the yard a snowman has appeared, eerily facing the home instead of the street… and oddly wearing his mother’s scarf around its thick white neck.

Police Investigator Harry Hole is called to the scene of the crime and as the pieces start to fall where they may – Harry starts to see a pattern… many women throughout a series of years that have gone missing, on the first snowfall of a year. When a letter addressed to him arrives all mysterious and creepy, Harry starts to see that he too is becoming a part of the killers master plan…

Jo Nesbo is an author I have heard much about. I liked the titles and covers of his books and have felt for some time now that getting a Nesbo book under my belt was a must do.
Having now done that, I think I can check Nesbo off my “to do” list and move on.
What I liked about the book: I can understand the fanship that has been created around Nesbo’s books. He is well written, and the storyline is dark, yet fascinating. The crime itself is well thought out and detailed so you can not only understand how Harry picks up on the clues and moves forward, but you can also understand how the killer thinks as well. Well yes, CREEPY, it is also very well-developed both factual and fictionally. The narration by Robin Sachs is melt in your mind fantastic!
What I didn’t like about the book: Harry Hole (oh don’t even get me started on his name...) is in my humble and honest opinion… disgusting. The language in the book at times made me cringe, even more so, the actions and descriptions of the many sexual acts that Harry is involved in made me come close to shutting off the audio many times and making an understandably DNF (Did Not Finish) claim to the book and move on.

Why I didn’t turn it off: Unfortunately for me, and probably a win for Nesbo, is that if you could take out all the language and crap that made me want to vomit, the story line is a good one. While this book as a whole did not appeal to me, I can see why it does appeal to others. Nesbo can write great characters (ummm… not in their character itself, but as characters….) and great realistic descriptions.

Will I read Nesbo again? Most likely no, while I did enjoy the writing, he would have to change into a completely different format for me to even consider cracking open one of his books or pushing play without cringing on an audio player.

I had heard a murmur that these books were a bit like Stieg Larsson’s writing (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), which I had only read one of his books but did not finish the series, I personally feel this book is darker and cruder that Stied Larson ever was.

Ok, I will quit beating a dead horse…. errr, snowman here.