The Snowman

From Goodreads:

Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity.
Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf.
Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he’s received and the disappearance of Jonas’s mother—and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised—and constantly revised—by the killer.
Fiercely suspenseful, its characters brilliantly realized, its atmosphere permeated with evil, The Snowman is the electrifying work of one of the best crime writers of our time

My Review: This book blew me away. I first read it on recommendation from Unfinished Person. I have to admit that I hate reading a series out of order but I did not know that it was a seris until I looked it up online. Plus it is what my library had as an ebook. I looked it up and my library has the physical books of the whole series so you know what I am going to read when I get back to Ohio.

Anyways There is this serial killer loose and Harry Hole is trying to catch him. The killer leaves a snowman in front of the house that he plans to abduct and to kill the woman. (I will never look at a snowman the same again). The snowman is symbolic as you will find out when you read the story.Harry Hole and his team go to great lengths to catch the killer which is Norway's first serial killer.  The twist and turns are such that you will never guess who the killer is before Harry does.  There are some books that proclaim themselves thriller and mystery but this one blows all other books out of the water. Nesbo even makes the Milimum Trilogy look tame.

The reader will find themselves connecting with Harry as he hunts down the killer. You will feel his frustrations and triumphs. There will be times when you think you figured out the killer only to find that it was not the killer at all.

I hesitate to say this is a stand a lone novel because there is some back story that if you haven't read all the books in order you will be left out. You can read it alone but u will miss some of the nuance of the story. I recommend reading the series in order.

This is a book (series) that I recommend everyone to read. You will not be disappointed.

The Right Guard

This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

From Goodreads:

Over one million military weapons and equipment are missing from the U.S. military inventories across the country. Who is stealing the weapons and why? CIA operative Eric Brent, and his revolutionary light weapon invention, is used by CIA to flush out a secretive, "phantom" group hostile to a wildly spending, intrusive U.S. Administration that threatens to destroy the American economy and shrink individual freedoms.
Hamlet takes you through the twists and turns of the secretive world of intelligence as the undercover assignment goes astray. Eric exposes a far-reaching and well-planned movement and an event that could alter the United States forever. Strained loyalties arise as the "phantom" group appeals to Eric and his superiors. At the height of his infiltration, a former lover, Jill, reenters his life and places them both in danger. Loyal forces within the intelligence community struggle to learn who is involved and organize counter-moves yet stay undetected. Each question ends in surprise as personal and professional conflicts for Eric arise. He is forced to reach back into his high-ranking father’s Nazi Germany past... to solicit help.
The year is 1978, yet The Right Guard resembles the present state of the political and economic climate of the U.S. and a possible, eerie scenario and outcome.
The Right Guard is an exercise in gripping, fast-paced realism that keeps the reader mesmerized through the eyes of those who live in the intelligence world.

My Review: I have to admit it took me longer to get into this book than usual. The laying out of the story felt tedious and the newspaper clippings that head each chapter drew me out of the story. I know it was to add realism to the story but it did the opposite to me.

What gained my interest is when the story started moving along and when the love interest between Eric and Jill started heating up. Most love interests to me feel forced but this one felt authentic given the circumstances.  There is one thing about danger and love that really gets me. I don’t want to give any plot points away but I kind of wish that it was more fleshed out.

The second half of the book when things start really moving along is a fascinating look into the intelligence life. It was interesting to see how Eric penetrated the Right Guard and how he lived undercover. I kept expecting him to get his cover blown but it does not happen. Witch in this case is a good thing.

Even though the book is set in the 70’s it does not feel dated at all. It feels like something that can happen today.  Actually while reading the book the scenes were so real that I felt that with todays political climate maybe it could happen soon. Or maybe something like this did happen but we the public is unaware of it. That’s how well the author wrote this story.

I fell in love with Jill when she first appeared in the story. I felt like whatever she did is something that I would have done were I in her shoes. I also loved Eric. As I have stated before it was fascinating reading how he worked and I was so happy when he and Jill got together.

If you like reading about political stuff and suspense and thrillers then you will enjoy this book.