Harry Hole is probably the best qualified detective in Oslo but troubled on many levels. He does not respond well to authority, plays poorly with others, has serious issues with alcohol, and has just found that the woman he loves just slightly more than her small son Oleg, is going to start living with someone else. Additionally, after solving a high priority case he made a television appearance, unfortunately having consumed too much alcohol, and made a fool of himself. Shortly afterward, Harry received a letter taunting him about a serial killer case he had solved, signed by The Snowman

Abruptly the time becomes 2004 and we are with Harry Hole as he meets his new partner Katrine Bratt, newly transferred from the Bergen Police Department. Almost immediately they are directed to the scene of a missing woman. Her son Jonas awakened in the night to find her gone, wet footprints on the stairs and an unexplained and newly erected snowman outdoors with her scarf around its neck.

The father had been on a business trip out of town and is well alibied. Routine investigation establishes the fact that her cell phone is not found in their home, but is still transmitting a signal. Harry starts putting things together and returns to the snowman in their yard to discover the missing cell phone within the mysteriously erected snowman.

Very shortly, another woman is reported missing and he again responds to the scene. Apparently, she had been in the barn killing a couple of chickens when accosted. Investigating the woods around her home, her head is discovered atop a newly constructed snowman.

It is hard for the police to avoid the conclusion that a serial killer is operating within the area. Nesbo uses other flashbacks to buttress a very complicated plot that keeps turning on itself. All of this amidst the principal characters reflecting upon not only social, but also political issues.

Jo Nesbo’s characters are diverse, complex and realistic. The setting is very well utilized and contributes an adhesive quality to the fast paced story; it keeps unexpectedly unraveling just as you think you are beginning to understand what is happening. It is doubtful that even a very experienced mystery reader will even come close to figuring out this plot.

It is therefore not surprising that many critics have dubbed Jo Nesbo the heir apparent to Stieg Larsson.

--Thea Davis