BLOOD ON SNOW Paperback – January 14, 2016

Winner of countless prizes, Norwegian author Jo Nesbo has written ten novels in the Harry Hole series, and three stand-alone novels, Headhunters, The Son, and now Blood on Snow, a novel quite different in length, focus, and tone from all that have gone before. Readers of the Harry Hole novels have come to expect complex, multi-layered plots punctuated by action scenes of almost unimaginable violence. This short novel about a hired killer introduces a newer style, however – leaner, cleaner, and more introspective, with wonderful ironic humor.Though the novel certainly has its excitements, much of the novel capitalizes on the ironies which exist between the thinking of Olav Johansen, the young, dyslexic main character, and his actions as a “fixer.” It is through Olav’s running commentary that the reader understands the narrative, and one cannot miss the tongue-in-cheek attitude of the author who is controlling this character. The opening sentences are classic: With a lyricism uncommon to Nesbo, we learn that “the snow was dancing like cotton wool in the light of the street lamps. Aimlessly, unable to decide whether it wanted to fall up or down, just letting itself be driven…” As the romantic language continues, the speaker suddenly shifts gears to a hard realism - revealing a body on the scene - and creating an irony so unexpected that it left me awestruck - and smiling.Nesbo takes full advantage of the smaller scope of this novel, and while he does not develop complete characters in the two hundred, wide-margined pages of this book, his focus on the characters’ inner worlds is far greater than one finds in his longer, action-based, multi-layered thrillers. Olav’s role working for Daniel Hoffman is limited by all the things that Olav cannot do, but he is a good “fixer,” and despite the murders Olav commits, they are almost always of people who do evil things. Olav believes he has a good heart, and the reader does, too. When Olav receives his biggest assignment from Hoffmann – to murder Hoffmann’s wife Corina, he takes the job seriously, then finds himself falling in love with her and committing a murder he does on his own initiative, leaving him fearful for his life.As the complexities increase, Olav also becomes more complex, and he soon tells about his family background and his childhood reading experiences, however difficult reading has been for him. The twists and reversals which occur at the conclusion, while a “convenient” way to end the novel, bring to mind some of the great, ironic stories of H.H. Monroe, writing as Saki. I have always enjoyed Jo Nesbo's novels, and have also admired his ability to go in his own direction, wherever his stories take him. Here the prolific Nesbo explores new directions, suggesting the possibility of a more ironically humorous and more literary approach for some future novels.

One of the most interesting books I’ve read! The perspective, the plot laden with odd twists…it kept turning pages until the last word.At one point a laughed until tears were rolling!

Blood on Snow was somewhat of a disappointment for me as I love Jo Nesbo and his Harry Hole detective. Sadly, Harry was missing in action in Nesbo's latest novel. The spy character in question was two dimensional and not very exciting.This is a very short novel barely hitting 200 pages and was not worth the hard cover price. I would wait until it is marked down by Amazon or B&N a few months from now if you still want to read it. Better yet, get it at your local library at no cost.I was disappointed in this novel because I was expecting a typical Harry Hole mystery and, for me, it was more a long, laborious lost-love story between two former CIA agents. The best part of the book was the fact it mostly takes place in lovely Carmel, CA.Quite honestly, I almost gave up on the story about 50 pages into the story but stuck with it since it was so short. Am I glad I did? Sort of. As I say, I love Nesbo's prior efforts and, while this missed the mark for me, it was still worth three stars, but not worth the cover price.

“Blood on Snow: a Novel” by Jo Nesbo is a first-person tale told by Olav Johansen, a young hit-man (he kills people for a living) who is employed by one of the two big-time competing heroin mafia type king-pins in Oslo, Norway. For his employer, he “fixes” those who don’t pay their debts. It all happens as Christmas nears with temperatures and snow falling and takes place in about a week’s time.Once again, Jo Nesbo (who in my estimation is the best European writer of the early 2000’s era) has penned a winning novella. There is plenty of death and murder, as Olav tries to figure out a way to escape his seriously unpleasant life dilemma as a killer-for-hire. There’s a love story (no, 2 love stories), and lots of mental gyrations, a few ugly scenes, to say nothing of a healthy helping of life philosophy. One thing you can count on with Nesbo: he does death and murder very well, indeed. And you can, if you wish, find something pithy to quote and mull over on nearly every other page. That’s a main reason to read any Jo Nesbo work.The only problem I had with this book, and its fine translation by Englishman Neil Smith who can be forgiven for his “Britishness”, is that Olav, who is dyslexic and has had trouble succeeding at school and doesn’t think of himself as very intellectual, at times sounds a bit more like Jo Nesbo (I’ve seen him many times being interviewed on TV in the U. S.) than the troubled self-educated character Olav. While this doesn’t really matter in terms of enjoying the book, Olav’s first person brainy musings many times just don’t sound like Olav. Most of the time his character is perfectly internally consistent, but I must confess that at times, I wondered really who was talking out loud – troubled-boy-from-Oslo-streets Olav or the impressively intellectual Jo Nesbo. A small matter.The structure of this little book is tight, with a minimum of main characters, each of whom is well separated from the other and a plot line that progresses from A to Z systematically. Nesbo is good at story structure and an economy of words.Of his recent novels, I liked “Midnight Sun” better, but this one is really good also. A 4.45, rounded down to a 4.