A fantastically disturbing read. I had not read any of the Harry Hole series prior to The Snowman, so there were a few times when I wondered a bit about some backstory. Nothing that interfered with the main serial killer mystery though. And that mystery is the stuff of nightmares. Seriously creepy, chills running across your skin, wondering what that noise just was, kind of creepy.

For many years I had read Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books to satisfy my desire to peek into the world of the macabre. Her books have become so trite, though, that I have officially given up on reading them. I think Harry Hole may be the inspector to replace the forensic medical examiner.

In certain scenes, you are with the victim and the murderer. You don't know who the Snowman is, but you know this person is seriously disturbed. Harry is full of imperfections himself, but he does demonstrate phenomenal detective skills that sometimes reminded me of Holmes.

I would have given this book five stars except for two flaws that truly bothered me. One is a technical thing. The Snowman only kills on a first snow because he uses that snow to mark his crime scene. Really? I'm just thinking that that detail is a bit much, contrived. What if you're all set to kill and then the temperature doesn't drop quite enough? Wouldn't that kind of weather fail frustrate a serial killer enough to kill?

The other detail deals with a style flaw for me. Most of the descriptions of the sex scenes had me rolling my eyes. Some of the comments from women sounded really ridiculous because I was not believing the sex games that these characters were playing. Not that I don't believe those characters could or would play those games, just not as described. The prose is all bungled up and gawky like a teenager, not a mature consenting adult.