This is the first book in the Harry Hole series (I know it is the 7 th book, but got it for 5 NOK at the second hand shop, so…) and I really liked it.

I kind of suspected who the snowman was early on (

even though I still think there is something odd with the mushroom man

).

I was also so scared for Rakel. Since there are three more books in the series, I knew all along that Harry would survive, but not Rakel, so was scared for her last night

This was simply not a book for me. The amount of times I started and stopped reading was absurd. It was really giving me reading slump vibes. However, if I’m going to say something positive about it (and I will since I know some people would and have eaten this book up) it would be that the author is very creative. I haven’t read murders like this before. Nor have I read a plot or reasoning for killing like this before! I don’t think that makes up for how convoluted and confusing the whole plot and story structure was, but it’s something.

My favourite thing about this was descriptions of Norway, specifically Bergen - the rainiest city in Europe - and Oslo - even the Kon Tiki museum gets a mention! - and Flåm too. Although, these are the scene for some grizzly unusual murders in the book.

Harry is an anti-hero, living with addiction and a dual reputation as a great detective and a terrible detective. He is fixated on sex and this seems to impact on all his relationships with women, and this feels like a book written from a male perspective.

There are lots of sub-plots which are parallels, eg the difference between Mathias and Rakels reactions to infedelity, the relationship to Norway's African communities through the shop and the unofficial medical clinic and the relationship with racism and popularity.
But mostly there are so many clunky absurd happenings, from the symbolic snowmen, the surreal action-movie montents from Harry, the mould man, the super clever detective moments juxtaposed with the super stupid detective moments... Argh.

Anyway, I thought it was good but not amazing. The murders were creative and horrible. I felt it would make a good movie, so I will probably watch the film interpretation.