This is the only Jo Nesbo book I have read, but it's good enough to make me want to read more. It has some of the creepiest scenes I have come across in a mystery.

"Snowman" opens with a flashback to November 5, 1980. Sara Kvinesland is meeting with her lover. She has taken her son, who is about 13 years old with her, and makes him wait in the car. While Sara and her lover are making love, he sees a face at the window. Sara goes to the window and sees - a snowman peering at her. Nothing. Nothing at all. Or so she thinks.

When Sara returns to her son, who's still in the car, he is terrified and says, "I saw him...The snowman." Scared, but not sure why, Sara speeds away. And then:

"And gave a start when she realized he had leaned forward between the two front seats. His voice sounded like a dry whisper in her ear. As if it were important no one else heard them.

'We're going to die.'"

Great start to a great book.

Almost 25 years later, a boy named Jonas awakens during the night to find his mother is missing. Out in the yard is the snowman who mysteriously appeared earlier in the day - wearing a pink scarf that belongs to the boy's mother.

Inspector Harry Hole finds that the woman's disappearance is linked to the deaths of about a dozen other women, all of whom died on the day of the first snowfall. Of course, it can't be that simple, can it? And it's not. This is a devious, heartless, brilliant serial killer who changes the rules as he goes along and torments an increasingly frustrated Hole. For both of them, this is very personal.

I read this during the course of two days, which was pretty good considering my schedule. I usually read two or more books at one time because I am easily distracted. However, that was not the case with "The Snowman." The writing is excellent, the plotting tight, and the characters well done and believable. It's always nice to discover a new favorite author.

Highly recommended.