Du sang sur la glace

Blood on Snow #1

by Jo Nesbø

Quand on gagne sa vie en supprimant des gens, il peut être compliqué, voire dangereux, d’être proche de qui que ce soit.
Olav est le tueur à gages attitré d’un gangster qui règne sur la prostitution et le trafic de drogue à Oslo.
Lorsqu’il tombe enfin sous le charme de la femme de ses rêves, deux problèmes de taille se posent.
C’est la jeune épouse – infidèle – de son patron.
Et il est chargé de la tuer…

Un thriller haletant, par l'auteur de la saga "Harry Hole".

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Scandinavian Literature

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 2, 2014

About the author

Jo Nesbø is a bestselling Norwegian author and musician. He was born in Oslo and grew up in Molde. Nesbø graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics with a degree in economics. Nesbø is primarily famous for his crime novels about Detective Harry Hole, but he is also the main vocals and songwriter for the Norwegian rock band Di Derre. In 2007 Nesbø also released his first children's book, Doktor Proktors Prompepulver.

Series:
* Harry Hole
* Doktor Proktor

For exclusive content about Jo Nesbø and his books, register for the official fan newsletter: https://jonesbo.com/newsletter/

Reviews

[David Putnam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Unbelievably good. Stunning. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed this book.
Nesbo is hit and miss with me, mostly his Harry Hole books which don’t work every time. Too dark, depressing. I’ve read them and like them, but they are nothing like Nesbo’s stand alones. Loved, Headhunter, and The Kingdom, and now, Blood On Snow, his best so far. Loooved it.
The story is about a reluctant hit man, who couldn’t make it doing other nefarious criminal jobs. This book's structure reminds me a little of Richard Stark books (Donald Westlake), his heist novels but with much more depth of character and story. At its heart this is really a love story. Olav is searching for love but first he has to find the definition of love. The novel is violent and dark and at the same time has one of the most tender and loving and genuine sex scenes that I have read in a long time.
Nesbo makes great use of the environment; it was too cold to make snowman the snow wouldn’t hold together, the color contrast with the different colors of blood against the white; some really amazing writing here. The story twist three times at the end which is difficult to do without getting a, “Sure, right,” from the reader. Nesbo pulls it off with verve and élan. This is without a doubt my favorite Nesbo book (so far. I’m still working through them). There are gangsters, hit man, women, and true love in this book, what more could a reader ask for.
David Putnam Author of The Bruno Johnson series

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Nordic Noir! I came across this article about the origin of Scandinavian noir:
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2...

This review: We go into the mind of a killer – a hired hit man. Yet he’s a ‘caring’ kind of guy. He visited a victim of one of his robberies in the hospital. He won’t get involved in prostitution because he tells us he can’t beat up women and ‘falls in love too easily.’



In fact he’s still kind of in love with a prostitute who can’t hear or speak and walks with a limp. Our anti-hero speculates “I don’t know what these things have to do with each other, but it’s a bit like once you start getting bad cards, they just keep coming.” He gives us his philosophical insights but always adds “…but what do I know.”

Our hit man has his own bad cards problem. He’s dyslexic, although he manages to read a lot, and he’s terrible at math (so he can’t get into drug dealing either). He was dealt bad cards with a brutal father and an alcoholic mother.

He made a big mistake on his latest job for hire. So I don’t give away plot, I’ll put it this way: he killed the wrong person and the person he killed was a relative of his boss. Now he knows his boss will have him killed. And the boss realizes that because his hit man knows he will have him killed, the hit man will have to kill his boss. I think this falls into the category of “Great minds think alike.” So the boss loads up with bodyguards.

There are good lines that come from the perspective of the perverse world he lives in:

“You shouldn’t believe everything you believe…”

“She was everything he wished he didn’t want.”



A good story set in Oslo and a fairly short read, essentially a novella. A bit of gore. The author is best known for his dozen police procedurals following detective Harry Hole, although this book is not one of them. (I liked the Harry Hole novel The Snowman.)

Photo of a strret scenein Oslo from runvel.gr on pinterest.com
The author from guardian.co.uk

[Evgnossia O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can someone explain to me what happened in this story?

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nesbo's as usual exhausting the reader with his over-the-top imagery, blood-bath-ery, badassery, and every other kind of assery unimaginable out there.

Who would imagine getting chatty with their victim since the murder happens right before Christmas?

A dyslexic killer enamoured with romance and philosophy. Some cartoonish opposition (so that we would have something to look forward, plotwise). Fantastically dysfunctional familial ties. Picturesque everything.

The protagonist misses out on university, even though he's shown as better read than average, even for his dyslexia. Why? He just can't, not with him feeling his father's toxic shadow. So, he just makes up romance for himself (almost at random) and ultimately does himself ... no favours.

Makes one think about the 'extra' people who by some really bad luck get over the board of the world, of socicety, of everything. The ones who are outsiders due to a bunch of things: bad parenting, some disability, some crack across their soul that prevents them from ... from something, from anything.

Starts hilarious and then turns sad, all the way being gruesome. I wonder, what's it with JN that his characters are always so very entertainingly messed up?

Q:
I don’t know why, but the old man who was behind the counter of the post office when we went in was in a big hurry to develop psychological problems. (c) Yeah, right. Why would he bother?


Q:
Life seems simple when you’re sufficiently ill. (c)
Q:
The snow was dancing like cotton wool in the light of the street lamps. Aimlessly, unable to decide whether it wanted to fall up or down, just letting itself be driven by the hellish, ice-cold wind that was sweeping in from the great darkness covering the Oslo fjord. Together they swirled, wind and snow, round and round in the darkness between the warehouses on the quayside that were all shut for the night. Until the wind got fed up and dumped its dance partner beside the wall. And there the dry, windswept snow was settling around the shoes of the man I had just shot in the chest and neck. (c) Picturesque much?
Q:
We made love. ... I was scared she would disappear. ... It was like holding moonlight. Just as soft. Just as impossible. (c)
Q:
It had been just like I had dreamed it would be. And hadn’t believed it could be. I was so tired that I had to get some sleep. But so happy that I didn’t want to. Because when I fell asleep, this world, this world that I had never much cared for until now, would cease to exist for a while. And, according to that Hume guy, the fact that I had until now woken up every morning in the same body, into the same world, where what had happened had actually happened, was no guarantee that the same thing would happen again tomorrow morning. For the first time in my life, closing my eyes felt like a gamble. (c)
Q:
I don’t actually know a lot about snow—or much else, for that matter—but I’ve read that snow crystals formed when it’s really cold are completely different from wet snow, heavy flakes, or the crunchy stuff. (c)
Q:
Either way, the snow under him made me think of a king’s robe, all purple and lined with ermine, like the drawings in the book of Norwegian folk tales my mother used to read to me. She liked fairy tales and kings. That’s probably why she named me after a king. (c)
Q:
As I walked home I imagined a snowman rising up from the snowdrift, one with clearly visible veins of blood under its deathly pale skin of ice. (c)
Q:
Here are four things I can’t be used for. Driving a getaway car. ...
I can’t be used in robberies. ...
And I can’t work with drugs, that’s number three. ...
Okay. Last one. Prostitution. ...
And stalactites grow faster than I can write. (c)
Q:
The problem’s more that I have a weak, sensitive nature, as my mum once put it. I suppose she saw herself in me. ... Like her, I’m the sort of person who’s just looking for someone to submit to. Religion, a big-brother figure, a boss. ... I can’t do math either... (c)
Q:
... it’s a bit like once you start getting bad cards, they just keep coming. (c)
Q:
I thought it best to give her a gentle start, just hand-jobs. ... She stood there in floods of tears while Pine yelled at her. Maybe he thought she’d hear him if he shouted loud enough. (c)
Q:
I said ... I’d smash his nose into his brain. To be honest, I’m not sure there was much left of either of them. (c)
Q:
Every so often I suppose we all need to feel that we’re living up to our parents. (c)
Q:
I don’t have to drive, and I mostly kill the sort of men who deserve it, and the numbers aren’t exactly hard to keep track of. Not right now, anyway. (c)
Q:
... in a market run by charlatans, idiots and amateurs, even a distinctly average man could end up king of the castle. (c)
Q:
... I was thinking. I usually try to avoid doing that. It’s not an area where I see any hope of improvement with practice, and experience has taught me that it rarely leads to anything good. (c)
Q:
Sometimes good news is so improbably good that it’s bad. (c)
Q:
I liked looking in on other people. Always had done. (c)
Q:
You’ve only been there until now because there hasn’t been anyone else. You filled a vacuum that I never used to know existed. (c)
Q:
... a man doesn’t get that fucking turned on by you laughing loudly and shrilly in that way deaf people do because he’s managed to write “What lovely eyes you’ve got” with four separate spelling mistakes. (c)
Q:
I had all the time in the world. I liked waiting. I liked the time between making the decision and carrying it out. They were the only minutes, hours, days of my admittedly short life when I was someone. I was someone’s destiny. (c)
Q:
You know someone’s okay if they can ignore things they can’t do anything about and move on. Wish I was like that. (c)
Q:
“It’s complicated.”
“We’ve got plenty of time, ... And as you can see, I haven’t got a television.” (c)
Q:
The fact that he called me lad instead of my name may have been because he didn’t know it, or didn’t want to show me any respect by using it, or else saw no reason to let me know how much—if anything—he knew about me. I guessed the last of the three. (c)
Q:
My mother was so weak. That was why she had to put up with more than even the strongest person could have handled. (c)
Q:
My father said I was studying to become an idiot...
my father used to ask what I thought I was going to do with all that reading. If I thought I was better than he and the rest of the family. They’d managed fine, doing honest work. They never tried to put on airs by learning fancy words and getting lost in stories. When I was sixteen I asked why he didn’t try doing a bit of honest work himself. He beat me black and blue. Said he was raising a kid, and that was enough work for one day. (c)
Q:
I sat there on the shore looking out over the sparkling surface, thinking that this is what we leave behind, a few ripples in water, there for a while and then gone. As if they’d never been there. As if we had never been here. (c)
Q:
“You shouldn’t believe everything you believe, Brynhildsen.” (c)
Q:
“Listen. I’m someone who has chosen to earn their daily bread killing other people. I’m inclined to give people a bit of leeway when it comes to their actions and decisions.” (c)
Q:
... I walked out of the church and I breathed in the raw, cold winter air that still tastes of sea salt even when ice has settled on the fjord. (c)
Q:
And why did that thought pop up just then? Maybe because it suddenly felt like time was waiting for something again, another squeezed second, a spring coiled tight. (c)
Q:
The snowman was properly done. Adorned with a hat, a blank stone grin, and stick arms that seemed to want to embrace the whole of this rotten world and all the crazy shit that happened in it. (c)
Q:
Loose change counts as money. (c)
Q:
She was his own humiliation. And the best, the most human, the most beautiful thing he knew. (c)

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hit man with a heart.

A Norwegian hit man to be more exact. From the best-selling author of the fabulously well to do Harry Hole series, Jo “I can write like Mickey Spillane when I want to” Nesbo, his 2014 fast paced novella (translated into Murican by Neil Smith) is a fun departure from his Hole mystery writing.

Not a Scandinavian murder mystery, but most definitely still Nordic Noir. This is a dark and gritty journey into underworld Oslo. Set in the late 70s, Nesbo leads us into the shadowy world of Norsk crime as a hit man gets his signals crossed and gets sideways of some heroin dealers. We meet a walrus mustachioed kingpin named The Fisherman and a host of sinister and thuggish characters and ne’er do wells.

Actually, Nesbo channels his inner Jim Thompson and comes up with a cold pulp fiction with some attention-grabbing twists and turns.

Not for everyone, perhaps, but for fans of Nesbo and for crime pulp fiction readers.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Nesbø book, so I didn't know what to expect. It's a fast read, but it felt like a first draft of a novella, rather than a completed work.

Blood on Snow is the story of a "fixer" named Olav, which means he's a contract killer. Olav has a dry sense of humor and says killing is the only thing he's good at.

"To sum up, let's put it like this: I'm no good at driving slowly, I'm way too soft, I fall in love far too easily, I lose my head when I get angry, and I'm bad at math. I've read a bit, but I don't really know much, and certainly nothing anyone would find useful. And stalactites grow faster than I can write."

One day Olav is asked to kill the wife of a powerful crime boss. But things take an unusual turn when Olav falls in love with the woman he's supposed to kill. Meanwhile, Olav senses that the boss is now trying to fix him. There is going to be a lot of bloodshed before the story ends!

I thought Olav's narration was amusing and I was entertained by the plot, even though I saw the twists coming. But the book felt meaningless. This story passed through my fingers as lightly as falling snow, and I will forget it as soon as it touches the ground.

[Mohammad Hrabal · Rating 4 out of 5]

این رمان خیلی جذاب بود تا این حد که نمی‌شد آن را حین خواندن زمین گذاشت و به قول مترجم حتی می‌شد که در یک نشست آن را خواند. اگر کتاب‌های جذاب، جنایی، مهیج و ادبیات و سینمای اسکاندیناوی را دوست دارید فکر می‌کنم از این کتاب هم لذت می‌برید.
در حین خواندن کتاب، فیلم‌های اخیر هم وطن نسبو، هانس پتر مولند به خاطرم می‌آمدند و فکر می‌کردم که این کتاب هم انتخاب خیلی خوبی هست که توسط این کارگردان فیلم بشود. در ضمن اگر دو فیلم آدم برفی و کارگماران (انگلیسی شان را آخر گذاشته‌ام) را دیده‌اید بدانید که از کتاب‌های ایشان اقتباس شده‌اند. و در آخر امین اکبری عزیز ممنون بابت پیشنهاد خوبی که دادید.
Headhunters (2011) 7.5 Meta:72. Morten Tyldum
The snowman (2017) 5.1 Meta: 21. Tomas Alfredson
********************************************************************************
خون بر برف را می‌توان جزو سینمایی‌ترین آثار نسبو به شمار آورد، زیرا توصیف‌های وی از کنش‌ها و شخصیت‌ها یادآور فیلم‌های گنگستری دهه‌های سی و چهل، وسترن‌های اسپاگتی دهه‌ی شصت میلادی، ملودرام‌های اجتماعی جنایی و به ویژه فیلم‌های تارانتینو است. پیشگفتار مترجم. ص 9 کتاب
چه چیزی باعث می‌شود متوجه بشویم که خواهیم مرد؟ در آن روزی که می‌پذیریم مرگ فقط احتمال نیست، بلکه واقعیت نحسی است که از آن گریزی نیست، چه اتفاقی می‌افتد؟ بدیهی است که هر شخص منطق خودش را دارد، اما در مورد من دیدن مرگ پدرم بود. دیدم که چقدر پیش پا افتاده و عینی است، درست مثل مگسی که به شیشه‌ی جلوی ماشین می‌خورد. در واقع، جالب‌تر از آن اینکه وقتی به این درک رسیدیم، چه چیز باعث می‌شود دوباره شک کنیم؟ چون باهوش‌تر شده‌ایم؟ مثل آن فیلسوفی که اسمش دیوید نمی‌دانم چی بود و نوشته بود اگر چیزی چند بار اتفاق بیفتد، بدین معنی نیست که دفعه‌ی بعد باز هم اتفاق می‌افتد؟ بدون اثبات منطقی ما نمی‌دانیم که تاریخ خودش را تکرار می‌کند. یا شاید چون هرچه پیرتر می‌شویم و به آن نزدیک‌تر می‌شویم، بیشتر می‌ترسیم؟ یا شاید هم کلاً مسئله دیگری است؟ مثل اینکه یک روز چیزی را ببینیم که نمی‌دانستیم وجود داشته. چیزی را حس کنیم که نمی‌دانستیم می‌توانیم حسش کنیم. مثل وقتی که به دیواری ضربه می‌زنیم و پژواک صدای تو خالی را می‌شنویم و متوجه می‌شویم شاید پشت دیوار، اتاق دیگری هم باشد. امیدی جرقه می‌زند، امیدی که تو را می‌خورد و می‌تراشد و نمی‌شود اعتنایش نکرد. امید به اینکه شاید راه فراری از مرگ باشد، راهی که هیچ چیز درباره‌اش نمی‌دانستی. امید به اینکه هدفی است. روایتی است. ص 33 و 34 کتاب
بعضی زن‌ها اصلاً نمی‌دانند چه چیزی به صلاحشان است، فقط عشقشان را بروز می‌دهند، بدون آنکه چیزی در عوض بخواهند. به نظر می‌رسد همین یک طرفه بودن رابطه‌شان اوضاعشان را وخیم‌تر می‌کند. به گمانم بیچاره‌ها فکر می‌کنند روزی عوضش را خواهند گرفت. شیدایی امیدوارکننده‌ی چاره ناپذیر. یکی باید به آن‌ها بگوید که کار جهان این طور پیش نمی‌رود. ص 39 کتاب
فیلم دیدن را دوست دارم. نه به اندازه‌ی کتاب خواندن، اما فیلم خوب همان کار را می‌کند. تشویقت می‌کند از زاویه‌ی دیگری به همه چیز نگاه کنی. ص 61 کتاب
در ساحل دریاچه نشستم و به سطح پرتلالو آب نگاه کردم و با خودم فکر کردم این تمام چیزی است که باقی می‌گذاریم، چند موج خفیف در آب، چند لحظه‌ای موجود و بعد ناموجود. انگار نه انگار که موجی وجود داشته. انگار نه انگار که مایی وجود داشته‌ایم. ص 88 کتاب
زل زدم به جهانی که هیچ معنایی و هیچ انسجامی نداشت؛ مردم مذبوحانه فقط در پی زیستن زندگی‌ای بودند که به هر کداممان داده شده، از روی غریزه در پی اقناع هر میل مشمئز کننده‌ای، و در پی سرکوب اضطراب‌های معطوف به تنهایی و درد احتضارمان که به محض آگاهی از فانی بودن به ما دست می‌دهد. صفحات 158 و 159 کتاب

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This relatively slim novel is a stand-alone from Jo Nesbo, the creator of the great series featuring Norwegian homicide detective Harry Hole. The protagonist is a contract killer named Olav who works for a crime boss in Oslo. Olav is one of the best "fixers" in the business and approaches his work with a cold-blooded efficiency until he is given the job of killing a woman who has taken a lover, thus infuriating her husband.

In preparation for the hit, Olav watches the woman for several days from an apartment across the street from hers and finds himself feeling sympathy and some affection for his target. This doubtless violates virtually all of the guidelines in the Hitman's Handbook, but of course, it's great for the reader because of the conflict it creates in Olav.

The story is narrated by Olav, and the reader can't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for the guy, in spite of his profession. The choices that he makes will have significant consequences for himself as well as for his targets, and that's really all one can say about the plot without giving away significant developments.

One can say that this book is up to the high standards that Nesbo has set in the Harry Hole series. As always, the characters are well drawn, and the setting--here, Olso in the dead of winter--is rendered very well. The moral issues are also very interesting, and this is a book that should appeal to any serious fan of crime fiction.

Parenthetically, I had the opportunity to hear Nesbo at a book event this week while he's touring for the new Harry Hole novel, The Thirst. He's a very interesting guy and it was a lot of fun listening to him talk about the origin of the series and about his own life as a writer. If he makes it to your town, he's definitely worth seeing.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Свежа и доста прилична ретро кримка от автора на поредицата за Хари Хуле.

Запознаваме се с Улав от Осло, който си е малко улав и комай не е способен да върши много неща.

Но може да убива, да се влюби дълбоко и да мечтае красиво. Колко от вас могат да се похвалят, с поне едно от тези три умения?

Кратичка новела, но отлично изпипана - хареса ми!

Намирам корицата със стилизирания "снежен ангел" за по-красива и подходяща, с оглед на сюжета.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jo Nesbo loves his dark but charismatic bad guys and Olav Johansen is such a one.. He is a fixer(read hit man) employed by a drug dealer to dispatch of unwanted people. He is very good at his job until it comes to women and when he is asked to kill the boss's wife he comes unstuck.

Olav is an amazingly intricate character and the author packs a lot about him into a novella length story. Dark humour, an anti hero, violence and even love - now I need to read the second book.

[HaMiT · Rating 2 out of 5]

یه داستان نسبتا کوتاه و خیلی معمولی که نویسنده سعی کرده بود با خون، خونریزی و خشونت بیشتر، جذابترش کنه که زیادم موفق نبود

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly satisfying tale of a hitman with a human heart and the capacity to take risks out of love and an emerging sense of justice. This stand-alone novella from the author of the popular series about Norwegian detective Harry Hole gives you the interior view of the minimalist life of Olav, who has the job as “fixer” for a powerful gangster in Oslo. He acquired the position by default after inadequacies in other positions such as pimp or getaway driver. The few people he had to kill were not worth grieving over. But this time his target is the beautiful young wife of his boss due to her infidelity. In spying on her, Olav can’t help feeling empathy and attraction for her. His actions lead him inevitably to a deadly breach with his boss, and has to seek recourse with his competitor in the heroin trade, known as “The Fisherman”. This has lots of atmospherics, dialog, and suspense, brought out very effectively in the audiobook version read by Patti Smith.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable (and very dark) read with a sympathetic anti-hero.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we follow Olav, a hitman and his next job. Will he kill the wife of his boss? Why is he ordered to do so and what role does the son of his boss play here? Then we have Maria, a women working in a supermarket... what will Olav do and how will this unusual tale about a hitman or fixer as it is called here end? Entertaining, melancholic, a bit depressing but nevertheless a true page turner. Had expected a different ending, but that's my problem. Really recommended!

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first experience with Jo Nesbo came about two years ago when I received his first Harry Hole novel, The Bat, as a gift. Honestly, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I found that the story was all over the map like a dysfunctional GPS. However, when I heard he had recently released a stand-alone thriller*, I thought I would give him another shot. I’m glad I did.

Blood on Snow tells the story of Olav, a “fixer” for a heroin dealer in Olso. When a job goes awry, Olav becomes his boss’ target. Reaching out to his boss’ competitor, Olav sets out to “fix” his former employer before fleeing Norway forever.

While I usually love stories that meander, sometimes a straightforward story with a simple plot can get the job done just as well, as long as the writing does its job in sustaining my interest, which Nesbo does in spades here when it comes to the novel’s protagonist and narrator, Olav.

Nesbo’s Olav is a simple man who longs for companionship but due to the nature of his work, is unable to form a substantial relationship with anyone. Throughout the course of the story, you learn of his troubled childhood, his battle with dyslexia accompanied by a limited education; effectively endearing him to the reader. He’s a very sympathetic killer – a man whom the system has seemingly failed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he spends the whole two hundred pages whining and playing the poor me card, but you definitely feel like he deserves better.

Blood on Snow has inadvertently motivated me to revisit Nesbo’s signature Harry Hole series. I’ve got to assume the series gets better as evidenced by how much I enjoyed this quick read.

*The novel is no longer a stand-alone as a sequel entitled “The Midnight Sun” is currently being written.

Also posted @ Every Read Thing

[amin akbari · Rating 4 out of 5]

به نام او

یک رمانِ جنایی- روانشناسانه نفس گیر
با اینکه عاشق ژانر جنایی پلیسی هستم ولی متاسفانه آنطور که باید در این زمینه کتاب نخوانده ام
امیدوارم در سال آینده کتابهای زیادی در این حوزه بخوانم
ضمن اینکه از یو نسبو هم خواهم خواند

[Zahra saeedzade · Rating 5 out of 5]

راستش رمان خون بر برف را مدت ها پیش خوانده ام. از طرح روی جلد و اسم رمان خوشم آمده بود. ولی با یک رمان جنایی نفس گیر روبرو شدم. رمانی که پنجاه صفحه ی اولش را خواندم و روز بعد با اینکه خیلی خسته بودم و تازه از کار برگشته بودم آمدم چند صفحه ای را بخوانم و زمین بگذارم. اما مگه می‌شد؟ با وجود خستگی همان شب تمامش کردم. آنقدر ریتم رمان تند بود و آنقدر شخصیت اصلی احساساتش را خوب بیان کرده بود که ما به راحتی با قاتل همدردی می کردیم به خاطر قتل پدرش و شغلی که انتخاب کرده بود. خودش انتخاب کرده بود که یک آدمکش حرفه ای باشد. داستان هم خیلی خوب شروع می ششود و هم خیلی خوب به پایان می رسد. هیچ جا از رمان مکث ندارد. سریع است و پر از تصاویر درگیری زیبا.
داستان از جایی شروع می شود. که رئیسش ماموریت جدیدی به او می دهد. این ماموریت با باقی ماموریت ها فرق دارد. این بار باید زن رئیس را بکشد. ... در حین انجام ماموریت درگیر رابطه ی عاطفی می شود و بخش های مختلفی از گذشته اش را به یاد می آورد.
پاراگرافی از رمان:
"عکسی به ذهنم رسید که وقتی پسربچه بودم در کتابی دیده بودم. قلمروی حیوانات1: پستانداران، از کتابخانه ی دایچمان. عکس دشت سرنگتی در تانزانیا یا همچین جایی بود. سه کفتار لاغر، خشمگین و برآشفته که تازه شکارشان را زمین زده بودند یا اینکه تازه شیرها را از شکارشان رانده بودند. دوتایشان آرواره هایشان را درون ششکم دریده گورخر فروکرده بودند. سومی به دوربین نگاه می کرد. سرش آغشته به خون بود و دندان های تیزش را نشان می داد. اما نگاهش بیشتر در خاطرم مانده. نگاهی که آن چشم های زرد به سمت دوربین و به بیرون از صفحه ی کتاب نشانه رفته بودند. نوعی هشدار بود. این مال تو نیست، مال ماست. گورت را گم کن. وگرنه تو رو هم می کشیم."
پ.ن: تا به حال به خیلی ها این کتاب را معرفی کردم هیچکدام حتی یک نفر هم نبوده که از این کتاب خوششش نیاید.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 1st book in the 'Blood on Snow' series by Jo Nesbo.
The lead character Olav Johansen is a seasoned criminal with a sordid past and whose one success in life is as a 'fixer'. He is employed by the drug baron Daniel Hoffmann to kill his wife Corina Hoffman who he suspects of adultery. While casing the proposed crime Olav becomes infatuated by Corina and his plan changes when he witnesses the abusive lover and decides he is a more deserving victim. This decision has life threatening consequences that spiral out of control.
Not in the same league as the 'Harry Hole' series but proved a decent read.

[Parastoo Ashtian · Rating 4 out of 5]

چه چیزی باعث می‌شود متوجه بشویم که خواهیم مرد؟ در آن روزی که می‌پذیریم مرگ فقط احتمال نیست، بلکه واقعیت نحسی است که از آن گریزی نیست، چه اتفاقی می‌افتد؟ بدیهی است که هر شخص منطق خودش را دارد، اما در مورد من دیدن مرگ پدرم بود. دیدم که چقدر پیش پاافتاده و عینی است، درست مثل مگسی که به شیشه جلوی ماشین می‌خورد. در واقع جالب‌تر از آن اینکه وقتی به این درک رسیدیم، چه چیز باعث می‌شود دوباره شک کنیم؟ چون باهوش‌تر شده‌ایم؟ مثل آن فیلسوفی که اسمش دیوید نمی‌دانم چی بود و نوشته بود اگر چیزی چند بار اتفاق بیفتد، بدین معنی نیست که دفعه بعد باز هم اتفاق می‌افتد، بدون اثبات منطقی ما نمی‌دانیم که تاریخ خودش را تکرار می‌کند.

از متن کتاب

[Paula Mota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ainda estava vivo e aprendi uma coisa nova. Que T.S. Eliot tinha escrito aquela frase sobre a solidão. Sempre pensei que tinha sido aquela mulher, como é que se chamava? George Eliot? “Magoado, ele nunca sairá magoado - foi feito para magoar os outros.” Não é que acredite em poetas. Pelo menos, não mais do que acredito em fantasmas.

Este domingo, com o horário de inverno, começou a altura do ano que mais me deprime, quando escurece a uma hora que, para mim, ainda é o meio da tarde; o dia que marca o início de vários meses em que a penumbra prevalece sobre o meu amado sol. Ainda assim, adoro aquela horinha extra que a mudança de horário me dá, que me permite sempre fazer mais do que o costume, o que desta vez se traduziu numa novela nórdica inteira em que me senti um pouco melhor com o mal dos outros: noite escura às 16h, temperaturas negativas e neve, muita neve. É neste cenário branco que conhecemos Olav Johansen, um criminoso romântico, cujas dificuldades de aprendizagem e um tumultuoso passado familiar lhe conferem uma sensibilidade muito própria e uma conduta moral peculiar.
Incapaz de conduzir discretamente automóveis depois de um roubo, de assaltar bancos com receio que provocar traumas às vítimas, de vender droga por não saber fazer contas e poder cair em tentação, de se dedicar ao proxenetismo por não ser capaz de bater em mulheres e facilmente se apaixonar por elas, resta-lhe o mais violento dos caminhos, ser assassino a soldo. E fá-lo com êxito há quatro anos, quando o chefe o incube da derradeira missão: despachar a própria mulher.
Para quem já viu muitos policiais e filmes noir com Humphrey Bogart e afins, sabe como tudo se desenrola, mas nem isso torna a leitura de “Sangue na Neve” menos empolgante, com cenas de suspense e reviravoltas bem arquitectadas, que a mim, curiosamente, me fizeram torcer pelo assassino, rodeado por pessoas piores do que ele.
“O que nos pode levar a gostar de um assassino?” pergunta a frase da capa. Sem dúvida a forma cativante como o autor cria esta personagem complexa, um homem humilde que sabe muito mais do que parece, que sofre de dislexia mas se esforça para ler o que requisita na biblioteca, que abdica dos seus rendimentos por remorsos e, não menos importante, aprecia o sarcasmo.

Não sei porquê, mas o velhote que estava atrás do balcão da estação de correios quando entrámos estava cheio de pressa para desenvolver problemas psicológicos. Parecia ter-se ido completamente abaixo só porque o cano da minha espingarda estava vagamente apontado na direção dele. (...) Então, fui visitá-lo ao hospital.(…) Parei à entrada da enfermaria e olhei para o velhote. Estava a ler “A Luta de Classes”, o jornal comunista. Não é que tenha alguma coisa contra os comunistas como indivíduos. OK, talvez tenha. (...) Por isso senti-me um pouco culpado por ter ficado muito melhor por o tipo estar a ler “A Luta de Classes”. (…) Mas deixei de fazer assaltos. Afinal, não havia garantia que o próximo fosse um comunista.

[fคrຊคຖ.tຖ · Rating 4 out of 5]

امتیاز واقعی 3/5
پایان خیلی خوبی داشت. از اون غافلگیری‌هایی که می‌فهمی اوه جریان چیز دیگه‌ای بود!...

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never went and looked through Jo Nesbo’s page of books he had written on Goodreads, and I only know him because of his Harry Hole novels, but he writes other books, too.

Some of those are a series of books for kids that revolve around farting.

And he also has this stand alone novel that was written under a pseudonym and is being released this spring.

I’ve only read one of Nesbo’s books before, so I’m not all that familiar with how his novels go. But the one that I read was a fairly dense and involved one, at least as far as the genre goes. More in the vein of someone like Tana French instead of someone who has a whole shelf of mass markets in the bookstore that all have some pun or the same word used in every single title.

This is different though. It’s not a police procedural, or detective focused or whatever you want to call his Harry Hole novels. Instead it is about a fixer, a guy who kills people for a living.

It’s tough for me to read one novel by a guy who is writing about a kind of depressed and layered detective and then read a novel about a hit man and not think and compare him to Lawrence Block. I’m sure Block isn’t the first person to have a detective type series and also dip into writing from the perspective of killer—it would seem like a thing people would do who enjoy letting their imaginations run wild in this kind of way.

This is quite different than Block’s Hit books though. The characters are similar in that they are both detached loners who probably read too much (does Keller read actually, it seems like he should, I can’t remember for sure, way to go Greg at giving unknown facts again!). But the fixer in Nesbo’s book, Olav, does his work for a the local crime kingpin specializing in prostitution and heroin.

When you’re in that line of business it’s good to have someone on the books who can get rid of people for you. Especially when there is some upstart trying to lure away some of your junkies.

It’s a weird thing to have as a favorite part of the book, but I loved the part where Olav is describing why he became a fixer. I won’t butcher the reasons, but basically he showed himself to be inept at being a driver, a stickup man or a pimp because of his psychological weaknesses and feelings for other people; but he’s shown himself quite capable at killing people for money.

Like Block, there is a definite amount of romanticizing going on about the character of someone who would choose to be a professional killer—it’s more like the John Cusack from Grosse Point Blank, than some goon or psychopath (my mind just went kaput when trying to come up with another pop-culture reference there, because everyone I could think of was also some kind of romanticized anti-hero, oh well. Add your own below or tweet it at #gregsnotclever (actually don’t, I’ll never know if you do)). This might be the liberties authors can take with the characters they create, or it could be how professional killers really are, I don’t think I actually know any professional killers.

Olav’s got a problem though, one which I never considered before would be a problem for a hit man. Because of the nature of his work he just happens to know too much, like literally where the bodies are buried, and he’s getting concerned that this is making him more of a liability than an asset to his boss.

Then he’s given a new assignment. And it’s a doozy. His boss wants Olav to kill the boss’s wife.

And that is what this book is about.

I only gave it three stars. Not because I didn’t enjoy it, I did quite a bit. I flew through it, but I kept comparing it to the first Block novel and it just wasn’t as good as that. And it was also fairly quick and it started to run out of steam at one point. My enjoyment was probably closer to four stars (however you would quantify enjoyment to abstract star ratings), but when I’m comparing it to other books I’ve enjoyed I feel like for my future self I should see that it was good but not great. You really needed to know this bit of reasoning that I went through.

The ending (spoilers!, don’t click if you haven’t read it) is weird. The turn that the second to last chapter took was just bizarre. I kind of saw the betrayal coming, and I had a feeling that things weren’t going to go well for Olav (although i held out the idea that maybe they would and Nesbo would keep him alive for a sequel), and none of it was all that surprising—but then following up the penultimate chapter with how the book actually wraps up was just a what the fuck did you just do kind of moment. I feel like this would have worked better in a movie, and it wasn’t that it didn’t work, but the whole finding out that the very end was just the imagination of a dying Olav, and then seeing how it actually ended up from the girl’s point of view was kind of jarring for the type of novel this was.

Although that said, the last chapter was quite good. It was just a weird departure for the way the rest of the novel had been, and it made me think that the novel could have been stronger if he had incorporated more of this character in the main story instead of her just being a phantom type presence in Olav’s life.

The following is just some rambling, and might be better skipped because it really doesn’t have all that much to do with the book, but more about the position that Olav put himself into, it might contain a couple of spoiler type things for the trajectory the novel takes, but nothing unexpected if you read what the novel is about. I’ll put it in spoiler tags though, just because it’s so much of an aside that you might not want to even have the words polluting your visual and mental space.

Towards the end of the novel Olav says that he doesn’t have a boss, he just has a guy he does jobs for.

Olav lied here, maybe not consciously, maybe he believed that his employer wasn’t his boss but he did have a boss and he his life and choices were being influenced by his boss.

He did his killings for just one guy, and as he realized early on in the novel, it was possible that he was becoming a liability instead of an asset to his employer.

In a real job when you become more of a liability than an asset you get fired (or as they say downsized)—this can be because what you do is redundant, or it could be because you are ‘good’ at your job, but your job could also be done by someone for a lot less money. So your value at being ‘good’ at your job is a minor asset compared to the larger liability of paying you more than say someone in a third world country or some fresh into the real world college graduate who will be happy to do what you are doing for a lot less cash.

This might be unfair (ok, it is) but there is nothing that you can do about it when someone with a balance sheet decides that it’s better for their bottom line if you went and fucked off and figure out some other way to get by.

As an employee, Olav has fairly limited choices and as he does more work and most likely becomes better at his job he is also putting himself into a more precarious situation. When he decides to ‘branch’ out his only real option of people to turn to is his bosses main competitor. And since he’s been whacking that dudes men for a living you can imagine that this might be a difficult relationship to foster with goodwill.

Compare Olav to Block’s Keller, who truly doesn’t have a boss. He has a broker of sorts, a middleman who finds him his work but he’s much more of a freelance hit man. He’s a couple of steps removed from becoming a knowledge liability, and even if he gets on the bedside of someone who would like to see him terminated it’s something that he can deal with, without having to have his whole life turned upside down and shattered (that’s if he survives this thing, but that’s just one of the risks that people in this type of work probably face).

Olav has all his eggs in one basket and even if he survives the events in this book he is going to be left in a difficult situation. He’s like the middle-aged guy whose just been downsized. The work had been steady and good while he had the job, but once his employer had enough of him he loses just about everything.

If Olav really didn’t have a boss he probably would have had more resources to deal with the ‘problems’ that arise in this novel, and the what comes next for him if he makes his way through these problems is very uncertain.

For someone like Keller this would be a minor setback, an obstacle to get by, but not the kind of event that has the definite possibility of just being a complete, you’re life as you know it is completely fucked and nothing will ever be the same.

I don’t know why I thought I should go on about this—Poor Olav as a symbol of all of us who have our entire future’s wrapped up in the whims of sociopathic spreadsheet wielding goons.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend has been recommending the novels of Jo Nesbo to me for a while, so when I saw “Blood on Snow” at my local bookstore I picked it up. It is an excellent & quick read. Perfect for a sunny day, or a cozy winter weekend by the fire.
At 180 pages, this tautly paced thriller is worth your time. Nesbo has an excellent facility for words and there are no extra ones here. Yet, the characterization is complete, there is definitely an inner psychology to the protagonist, and the novel is not underwritten in the slightest.
The plot is simple; a “fixer” named Olav is given an order by his boss to kill his wife. And the story propels to its excellent conclusion from there. There were numerous plot twists and turns, the writing is good, and I thoroughly enjoyed the voice of Olav, who tells us most of the story from his first person perspective. Not to be redundant, but I am so impressed by how much depth and characterization Nesbo is able to create in such a short work!
“Blood on Snow” is my first Jo Nesbo book. It will not be my last.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read enough of Jo Nesbo! Blood on Snow is the first of a new series and it's an excellent beginning. I love the main character, Olav. He's a fixer, but he has a conscience and I love a little dark humor when someone is on the chopping block.

[Daiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

The storytelling, characters, descriptions, dialogues and whole action somehow reminded me of Quentin Tarantino movies. Also, quite broken, disturbed, psychotic characters seems to be Nesbo forte. I liked Olav, the main character, the'fixer' who falls in love too easily, which also seems to be his biggest weakness.

I would not say the book is among my favorites but I definitely enjoyed all aspects of it. I can move on to part 2 now.

[Mohammad Mirzaali · Rating 5 out of 5]

باعث می‌شود قلب آدم تندتند بزند و گاهی مچاله شود. از بهترین رمان‌های جنایی که در عمرم خوانده بود

[Mary Goth · Rating 4 out of 5]

خلاصه داستان: روایت زندگی وهم‌آلود یک آدم‌کشِ اجیری که خوانش پریشی داره و حتی توی ادراک داستان‌های زندگیشم یک‌جور "پریشی" خاص داره. درگیر عجیب‌ترین چیزها و عشق‌ها می‌شه! خاصه، واقعاُ خاصه و تماشای زندگی از زاویه دیدش جذاب!


امروز خریدمش، امروز هم خوندمش و تموم شد!
هیچی از نویسنده‌اش نمی‌دونستم. حتی نمی‌دونستم کجاییه یا ژانر کتابش چیه؟ فقط بخاطر عنوانش برش داشتم. یک کابوس تکرار شونده دارم که تیر خوردم و کنار یک ماشینی در حالی که روی زمین افتادم و همه‌‌ی برف‌ها رو خونی کردم می‌میرم. سوای این، من عاشق برف و سرمائم. عاشق خون هم هستم. و بنظرم این زوج کنار هم جذاب‌ترینن!
به این علت‌ها هم بود که خریدمش. بعد فهمیدم نویسنده‌اش یک عضو بند راک و بعداً پاپ بوده. خب! صنعت موسیقی نروژ، حداقل بلک متالش، منو شیفته کرده. از فرهنگ قدیمیشون و خدایان اسکاندیناویشونم خوشم میاد! (شاید باورتون نشه رد پای این فرهنگ هم توش هست! یک عدد زره‌ی وایکینگی که جون نجات می‌ده!)
بعد فهمیدم ژانر جناییه... من عاشق هرچی جنایت و جرم‌شناسی که وجود داره هستم.
اوه! همه می‌دونند که من شیفته‌ی روسیه‌ام... باز شدن پای شهرهای مرزی روسیه و مافیاش به داستان رو بگو که چقدر جذبم کرد!
صفحه به صفحه پیش رفتم و همه‌چیز بیشتر و بیشتر باب طبعم شد!
با همه‌ی اینها تا ۱۰۰ صفحه‌ی اول فکر می‌کردم فقط یک قصه‌ی معمولی جناییِ سرگرم‌کننده‌ست که قلمش خوبه و ارزش یکبار خوندن داره...
اما آخرهاش و پایانش، باعث شد بفهمم که نه! این اثر جدی-جدی خیلی فاخره...
موندگار می‌شه. تازگی داره... فلسفه داره...
همه چیز داره!
و می‌شه بارها توی قلعه‌ی ذهنیم بهش رجوع کنم و بازم به وجد بیارتم و نکات ریز و درشت ازش یاد بگیرم.
از من بپرسی می‌گم بیشتر روانشناختی و رازآلوده تا جنایی صرف!

[Ceecee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written and intriguing novella about Olav, a fixer or contract killer, with a kind heart. I like the descriptions of some of the insalubrious characters who are easy to picture. I like the occasional black humour and there are some interesting twists. An easy, quick read and if you like Jo Nesbo then definitely worth your while.

[Wilma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bij de eerste zin dacht ik...in wat voor kinderlijk verhaal ben ik nu weer belandt? Toch echt een goede 'Nesbo'...!! Ik hou van zijn eenvoudige, ingenieuze en rauwe schrijfstijl...nu lezend in het tweede deel...wordt vervolgd!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as captivating as the Harry Hole series. Still good, cause Nesbø.

3.5*