The Snowman (2007) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Harry Hole: Special investigator for Crime Squad in Oslo; highly regarded for his past work; recovering alcoholic.
• Mathias Lund-Helesen: doctor; Rakel's boyfriend.
• Katrine Bratt: very attractive young detective on Harry's team; formerly worked at the Sexual Offenses Unit at the Bergen Police HQ.
• Gert Rafto: Bergen police inspector.
• Jonas Becker: observant ten-year old; Birte's son.
• Rakel Fauke: The woman Harry loves.
• Oleg: Rakel's son
• Gunnar Hagen: head of the Crime Squad.
• Sis: Harry's younger sister who has 'a touch of Downs Syndrome'
• Magnus Skarre: police detective assigned to missing persons.
• Sylvia Ottersen: Murder victim
• Rolf Ottersen: Shop owner and husband of murder victim, Sylvia Ottersen
• Erik Lossius: self-made man; energetic, ambitious, and energetic; also a womanizer.
• Filip Becker: Birte's husband; Jonas's father.
• Bjorn Hohn: from the Krimteknisk, the Forensics Unit.
• Kjersti Rodsmoen: psychiatrist.
• Borre Hansen: owns the Leon Hotel.
• Andreas Kvale: Husband of a missing person.
• Beate Lonn: head of Forensics Unit.
• Espen Lepsvik: A Kripos investigating officer who Harry thinks is good at leading big team investigations.
• Camilla Lossius: from bankrupt clothing nobility in the West End; marries Erik Lossius.
• Johan Krohn: Arve Stop's solicitor
• Gerda Nelvik: Works at the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the Rikshospitalet
• Bjarne Moller: Harry's old boss
• Stale Aune: Crime Squad's resident psychologist; Harry's advisor on criminal cases and confidant.
• Arve Stop: owner of the successful magazine Liberal.
• Idar Vetlesen: doctor.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Norway has based its security on others taking the responsibility when things got tough. That's been going on for so long that we've lost our sense of reality and we believe that the earth is basically populated by people who wish us--the world's richest country--well. Norway, a gibbering, pea-brained blonde who gets lost in a back street in the Bronx and is now indignant that her bodyguard is so brutal with muggers.”

  Arve Stop

• “What do you think aspiring generals dream about when I tell them how military strategists have personally changed the course of world history? Do you think they dream about sitting around quietly hoping for peace, about telling their grandchildren that they just lived, that no one would ever know what they might have been capable of? They might say they want peace, but inside they dream, Harry. About having one opportunity.”

  Gunnar Hagen

• “I've thought about how we'll catch this guy, not about how I'm going to justify not catching him.”

  Harry Hole

• “Harry had read that the word deadline originated from the battlefields of the American Civil War, when, for lack of anything material to lock prisoners behind, the captors gathered together the prisoners and a line was drawn around them in the dirt. Which became known as the "dead line," and anyone who strayed beyond it was shot.”

• “The more aged I become, the more I tend to the view that evil is evil, mental illness or no. We're all more or less disposed to evil actions, but our disposition cannot exonerate us. For heaven's sake, we're all sick with personality disorders. And it's our actions that define how sick we are.”

  Stale Aune

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Soon the first snow will come. And then he will appear again. The snowman. And when the snow has gone, he will have taken someone else. What you should ask yourself is this: “Who made the snowman? Who makes snowmen? Who gave birth to the Murri?” For the snowman doesn’t know.

  Highlighted by 78 Kindle customers

• Harry had read that the word deadline originated from the battlefields of the American Civil War, when, for lack of anything material to lock prisoners behind, the captors gathered together the prisoners and a line was drawn around them in the dirt. Which became known as the “dead line,” and anyone who strayed beyond it was shot.

  Highlighted by 73 Kindle customers

• “Do what boxers do, sway with the punches. Don’t resist. If any of what happens at work gets to you, just let it. You won’t be able to shut it out in the long term anyway. Take it bit by bit, release it like a dam, don’t let it collect until the wall develops cracks.”

  Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers

• Evil is not a thing. It cannot take possession of you. It’s the opposite; it’s a void, an absence of goodness. The only thing you can be frightened of here is yourself.

  Highlighted by 65 Kindle customers

• Our bodyguard is a born-again Christian with a father complex, a drinking problem, intellectual limitations and not enough backbone to do his military service with honor. In short, a guy we should be pleased is going to be re-elected president today.”

  Highlighted by 62 Kindle customers

• “The Murri was the nickname of a person who is now dead,” Harry said from out of the darkness. “A Murri is an Aborigine from Queensland in Australia. While this Murri was alive he killed women all over Australia. No one knows for certain how many. His real name was Robin Toowoomba.”

  Highlighted by 62 Kindle customers

• “Our generation has turned itself into servants and secretaries of our children.

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• if every baby was a perfect miracle, life was basically a process of degeneration.

  Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers

• We’re capable of understanding that someone has to drop an atomic bomb on a town of innocent civilians, but not that others have to cut up prostitutes who spread disease and moral depravity in the slums of London. Hence we call the former realism and the latter madness.

  Highlighted by 45 Kindle customers

• “We have a new officer,” Gunnar Hagen announced. “Katrine Bratt.”

  Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Bergen
• Bygdoy Curling Club
• Sollihogda
• Borghild
• Marienlyst Clinic
• Sofies
• Storo Mall
• Hoffsveien
• Kripos

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Family: Family secrets. Family makeup.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Redeemer, and followed by The Leopard.

Preceded by I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, and followed by Doc.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jo Nesbø (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Don Bartlett (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery
• Books › Literature & Fiction