Book 2 of 2013: The Snowman, by Jo NesbØ

Book 2 of 2013: The Snowman, by Jo NesbØ (Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett)

Good thriller, and I liked it, but I have to say that it didn't completely blow me away.  There’s a hard-nosed cop with issues, a serial killer, the story has twists, and it is thrilling…but it’s supposed to be, right?  I used to like reading mystery / thriller novels a lot, but reading this didn't make me want to run out and start one of his other novels right away.  However, it may be that my tastes have changed, and I certainly think it’s a fine example of its genre.

More than anything else, I would describe this book as “cinematic.” I couldn't help but keep envisioning the scenes in a movie seat in a dark theater.  Peppered throughout the novel are quick scene flips where an action or conversation is continued right through the two scenes, albeit with different characters or situations.  My favorite example is when Harry, the cop, cannot sleep, and gets up to listen to the radio and hear that George W. has been reelected.  He climbs back into bed and flips his covers over his head in lighthearted despair.  The scene flips and Jonas, a boy whose mother has gone missing and is suspected to be murdered, flips his own covers off his head when he hears a noise and is terrified.  Was she murdered?   Is the murderer back?  The novel moves from lighthearted to tense with the flip of a duvet.

Cinematic? Or have I been watching too many movies, and rather than this novel being “like a movie” are movies produced to be “like a well-written thriller?”