Of the versatile Jo nesbo You can always expect that change of register between his sagas and his independent novels, a kind of alternation with which the Norwegian writer manages to change focus and disconcert with his variety of plots and characters.
This time we left Harry Hole and went to live with Olav, a character much more uncomfortable in his job as hit man to the highest bidder. The worst and the best of all is the construction of this character, sinisterly captivating, it is that aroma of a wise man, hardened, back from everything, who can allow himself the luxury of intervening on life and death as a divine envoy or diabolical.
With the cold blood and conviction of someone who stands on that strange pedestal of psychopathy, Olav is the best at his thing and puts an end to whatever his boss instructs him, without clues, without possible threads to pull to get to Daniel Hoffmann, that malevolent boss who runs the black market for all of Oslo.
How could it be otherwise, to be as he is, to handle the stoicism of the coldest criminal, Olav puts all his emotions aside, until he meets the woman of his dreams. But there are two problems. The first is that it is Corina Hoffmann, the wife of his boss. The second is that Olav's new mission is to kill her.
Blood in the snow it is a very different novel from what we have read by Jo Nesbø to date. All in all, this exploration of the desire for redemption is probably one of his most mature and personal books, masterfully applying the lessons learned with Jim Thompson y knut hamsun.
You can now buy the novel «Blood in the Snow», the book by Jo Nesbo, here: