The Snowman
Jo Nesbø
 The book begins with a scene in 1980 - 24 years before the main plot. A married woman has sex with a lover in the middle of the day, while her adolescent son waits in a car outside; their lovemaking is disturbed when they think somebody is looking at them from outside the window, but it turns out to have been only a snowman built outside. The significance of the scene only becomes clear near the end of the book, where - as with other flashbacks in the Harry Hole books - it provides a clue to the identity of the book's real villain. The main plot is set in 2004, when Norwegian detective, Harry Hole investigates a number of recent murders of women around Oslo. His experiences on a training course with the FBI lead him to search for links between the cases, and finds two – each victim is a married mother and after each murder a snowman is found at the murder scene. On looking back through previous murders going back some years, Hole comes to realise that he is on the case of Norway's first official serial killer, as he discovers more women who have disappeared and are believed to have been abducted or murdered in a similar pattern. Almost all of the victims vanish after the first snowfall of winter and a snowman is found near the scene, although this is usually ignored as not being indicative during the original investigation. Further investigation leads Harry and his team – including newcomer to the Department, Katrine Bratt, recently transferred from the Police Department in Bergen, to suspect that paternity issues with the children of the victims may be a motive for the murders. They discover that all of the victims' children have different fathers to the men they believe to be their father. Following DNA Testing results leads the investigation down a few wrong routes and several murder suspects are eliminated from the enquiry. Within a short time, Harry and Katrine are drawn together - personally as well as professionally. In the past Harry avoided having affairs with female colleagues, but he is now tempted. During a departamental party, Katrine makes bold advances - and though rejecting her, Harry afterwards has vivid sexual fantasies about her. It is, however, far more than a sexual attraction. He recognizes in her a kindred spirit - a brillant detective able to notice the smallest of details and form them into patterns. Moreover, she has the same kind of obsessive dedication to the job which Harry himself has - the obsessive dedication which had earlier caused Harry's girlfriend, Rakel, to break their relationship. To complicate matters further, during the investigation, Harry continues to meet, clandestinely, with Rakel, despite the fact that Rakel has a new boyfriend, the doctor Matthias Lund-Helgesen. Eventually, however, suspicion falls of Katrine Bratt being herself "The Snowman", after she attempts to force a confession out of one of the strongest suspects, who eventually turns out to be innocent. Harry chases her across Norway and finally catches up with her at a previously discovered murder site. She is apprehended and committed to a psychiatric unit. After initially seeming to be unresponsive, she eventually informs the psychiatrist of the reasons for her behaviour. At the same time, Harry's superior officers decide that the scandal of allowing a long-time serial killer to work on the murder case will be damaging and determine that they require a scapegoat to appease the press. Due to his previous issues with alcoholism and consequent reputation within the police department, Harry is put forward in absentia. Harry comes to realise that the murderer is still at large when another victim is discovered. Purely due to a random thought triggered by a comment from Matthias, Harry makes a vital connection that ultimately leads him to the true perpetrator. His success in finally apprehending the killer prevents any need for a scapegoat and Katrine Bratt, following further mental stability checks is sent back to Bergen Police Department. A background theme to the book's plot is the centuries-old rivalry between Oslo and Bergen, repeatedly referred to in (often ironic or facetious) remarks by various characters. In one passage Katrine tells Harry that "Bergensians don't think of Oslo as the capital".