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'{{Infobox book |name = The Snowman |title_orig = Snømannen |author = [[Jo Nesbø]] |country = [[Norway]] |language = [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] |genre = [[Crime fiction]] |publisher = [[Aschehoug]] |pub_date = 2007 |pages = 438 pp |isbn = 978-82-03-19212-8 |congress= PT8951.24.E83 S56 2007 |oclc= 213225595 |preceded_by = [[The Redeemer (novel)|The Redeemer]] |followed_by = [[The Leopard (Nesbø novel)|The Leopard]] }} [[File:Bookbits - 2010-04-03 Jo Nesbo-The Snowman.vorb.oga|thumb|right|Jo Nesbø talks about The Snowman on Bookbits radio.]] '''''The Snowman''''' ({{lang-no|Snømannen}}, 2007) is a novel by Norwegian crime-writer [[Jo Nesbø]]. It is the seventh entry in his [[Harry Hole]] series. ==Plot== The book begins in 1980 (24 years before the main part of the novel). A married woman has sex with a lover in the middle of the day, while her adolescent son waits in a car outside; their lovemaking is disturbed when they think somebody is looking at them from outside the window, but it turns out to have been only a tall snowman. The significance of the scene only becomes clear near the end of the book, where – as with other flashbacks in the Harry Hole books – it provides a clue to the identity of the book's real villain. The main plot is set in 2004, when [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[detective]], [[Harry Hole]] investigates a number of recent [[murder]]s of women around [[Oslo]]. His experience of an earlier training course with the [[FBI]] leads him to search for links between the cases, and he finds two – each victim is a married mother and after each murder a [[snowman]] appears at the murder scene. On looking back through previous [[cold case]]s, Hole comes to realise that he is on the case of Norway's first official [[serial killer]], as he discovers more women who have disappeared and are believed to have been abducted or murdered in a similar way. Almost all of the victims vanished after the first [[snowfall]] of winter and a snowman is found near the scene, this fact having usually ignored by the original investigators. Further digging leads Harry and his team – including newcomer Katrine Bratt, recently transferred to Oslo from the Police Department in [[Bergen]] – to suspect that [[Parent|paternity]] issues with the children of the victims may be a motive for the murders. They discover that all of the victims' children have different [[father]]s to the men they believe to be their father. Following [[DNA profiling|DNA testing]], results lead the investigation down a few wrong alleys and several [[suspect|murder suspects]] are eliminated from the enquiry. Within a short time, Harry Hole and Katrine are drawn together – personally as well as professionally. In the past he has avoided having affairs with female colleagues, but he is now tempted. During a departmental party, Katrine makes bold advances – and though rejecting her, Harry afterwards has fantasies about her. It is, however, far more than a sexual attraction, as he recognizes in her a kindred spirit – a brilliant detective able to notice the smallest of details and understand the connections between them. Moreover, she has the same kind of obsessive dedication to the job which he himself has – an obsessiveness which had earlier caused his girlfriend, Rakel, to break off their relationship. To complicate matters further, during the investigation, Harry continues to meet with Rakel clandestinely, despite the fact that she is in a new relationship. Eventually, however, suspicion falls on Katrine Bratt as being herself "The Snowman", after she attempts to frame one of the major suspects. Harry chases her across Norway and finally catches up with her at a previously discovered murder site. She is apprehended and committed to a [[psychiatric]] unit. At the same time, Hole's superior officers decide that the [[scandal]] of allowing a serial killer to work on the murder case will be damaging and determine that they require a [[scapegoat]] to appease the press. Due to his previous issues with [[alcoholism]], and consequent poor reputation within the police department, Harry Hole is put forward [[trial in absentia|''in absentia'']]. Meanwhile, when another victim is discovered, Hole realises that the [[murderer]] is still at large. Due to a random thought triggered by a chance comment, he makes a vital connection that ultimately leads him to the identity of the true [[perpetrator]]. His success in finally apprehending the killer obviates any need for a scapegoat and Katrine Bratt, following further mental stability checks, returns to the [[Hordaland Police District|Bergen Police Department]]. ==Reception== Thomas Kaufmann wrote that "''The Snowman'' gives us suspense and a veritable gallery of memorable suspects makes it a great read. Once [[Alfred Hitchcock]] talked about people taking a roller-coaster ride – how they would scream going down the hill, and laugh when they were finished. Some people like to be entertained in this way, Hitch said, and he was just a fellow who built [[roller coasters]]. ''The Snowman'' is a first-class roller-coaster ride."<ref>{{cite web|last=Kaufman|first=Thomas|title=''The Snowman'' review|url=http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/the-snowman/|publisher=''The Washington Independent Review of Books''|accessdate=May 31, 2011}}</ref> A film adaptation from British production company [[Working Title Films]] is currently in development.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://variety.com/2014/film/news/let-the-right-one-in-director-jo-nesbos-the-snowman-1201165885/|title=‘Let the Right One In’ Director Boards Jo Nesbo’s ‘The Snowman’ (EXCLUSIVE)|date=April 28, 2014|accessdate=April 30, 2014|publisher=''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20140502012421/http://variety.com/2014/film/news/let-the-right-one-in-director-jo-nesbos-the-snowman-1201165885/|archivedate=May 2, 2014|deadurl=no}}</ref> Though initial reports said [[Martin Scorsese]] would direct the adaptation, tentatively planned for release in 2013,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jo-nesbo-working-title-greenlight-264392/|title=Martin Scorsese to Direct 'The Snowman' for Working Title|author= Scott Roxborough|publisher=''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]''|date=November 21, 2011|archivedate= January 12, 2013|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20130128110948/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jo-nesbo-working-title-greenlight-264392/|deadurl=no}}</ref> it is now set to be directed by [[Tomas Alfredson]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Beaton|first= Connor|url=http://thetarge.co.uk/article/culture/0255/alfredson-takes-on-nesb8217s-snowman|title= Alfredson takes on Nesbø’s Snowman|publisher=''[[The Targe]]''|accessdate=April 30, 2014|archivedate=May 2, 2014|deadurl=no|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20140502032614/http://thetarge.co.uk/article/culture/0255/alfredson-takes-on-nesb8217s-snowman}}</ref> ==References== *{{cite news|last=Larsen|first=Turid|title=Harry Hole holder koken|date=2 June 2007|publisher=Dagsavisen|url=http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/boker/article294117.ece|accessdate=May 26, 2009|language=no|archivedate=July 30, 2014|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20121014143452/http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/boker/article294117.ece|deadurl=no}} *{{cite web|title=Online Catalog: Snømannen / Jo Nesbø|publisher=The Library of Congress|url= http://lccn.loc.gov/2008373133|accessdate=May 26, 2009}} *{{cite news|last=Oksnes|first=Bernt Jakob|title=Harrytur|date=June 6, 2011|publisher=Dagbladet |url=http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/06/06/magasinet/litteratur/jo_nesbo/16815496/|accessdate=June 6, 2011|language=no|archivedate=October 14, 2012|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20121014143452/http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/06/06/magasinet/litteratur/jo_nesbo/16815496/|deadurl=no}} {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Snowman, The}} [[Category:2007 novels]] [[Category:Novels set in Oslo]] [[Category:Harry Hole (novel series)]] [[Category:2004 in fiction]]'