Nordic Noir. Jo Nesbo -- The Snowman

Jo Nesbo

The Snowman

Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Praise for books by Jo Nesbo

“Jo Nesbo is my new favourite thriller writer and Harry Hole my new hero.”-- Michael Connelly

 “The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is relentless. His terrifying transformation of a childhood icon permeated my sleep.”-- Patti Smith

 “Many authors know how to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Jo Nesbo’s one of the few who keeps them there.”-- Linwood Barclay

The Snowman

Jo Nesbo’s detective Harry Hole is the most amazing, gifted super hero in crime fiction. The ten detective novels that feature Harry Hole have now sold more than 28 million copies and have been translated into over 50 languages.

The Snowman begins with a young boy who wakes to find his mother missing and a large snowman in their yard—wearing the missing mother’s scarf. It ends with Harry Hole’s soulmate Rakel, hands bound and standing on an enormous snowman in her bedroom. The snowman’s slow disintegration places her in danger of being decapitated by a red hot bovine cutting loop which has been placed around her neck. Harry Hole must act quickly to defuse the situation and find the insane serial killer who engineered the macabre scene. This brilliant crime thriller confirms Jo Nesbo’s position as an international star.

Photo from Penguin Random House website

Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo is a true renaissance person—in addition to being a talented novelist, he is a financial analyst and a member of the band Di derre (Them There), whose album topped the charts in Norway. When a book publisher proposed that he pen a memoir about his band and their exploits on the road, Nesbo created the character of Harry Hole and his debut crime novel, The Bat, was published to great acclaim. The Bat went on to win the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel. In 2008, Jo Nesbo established the Harry Hole Foundation. This charity aims "to reduce illiteracy among children in the developing world."

Jo Nesbo has designed an intriguing website; you can visit the site here and watch a number of videos of interviews with Jo Nesbo about his work:

Jo Nesbo.com/jo-nesbo
http://jonesbo.com/jo-nesbo/

Read an excerpt

You can read an excerpt from The Snowman here:

Jo Nesbo.com/book/the-snowman
http://jonesbo.com/book/the-snowman/

View the Book Trailer

And view a trailer for The Snowman here:

Jo Nesbo.com/harry-hole
http://jonesbo.com/harry-hole/

GoodReads – Meet Your Next Favorite Book

GoodReads lists 44,208 ratings for The Snowman and 4,136 reviews.

Cinema

In the near future, you will be able to enjoy the film based on The Snowman. Variety reports that Michael Fassbender is in talks to star as detective Harry Hole. Check out the article in The Guardian about this good news here:

The Guardian.com/film/2015/sep/09/michael-fassbender-jo-nesbo-the-snowman
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/09/michael-fassbender-jo-nesbo-the-snowman

Explore Oslo Through the Eyes of Jo Nesbo

And to close this blog page, I would like to suggest that you view the tour that Book Editor Mark Medley of The Globe and Mail made of Oslo through the eyes of Jo Nesbo here:

The Globe and Mail.com/life/travel/destinations/exploring-oslo-through-the-eyes-of-homegrown-crime-writer-jo-nesbo/article25794825
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/exploring-oslo-through-the-eyes-of-homegrown-crime-writer-jo-nesbo/article25794825/

Introduction to Nordic Noir: A Celebration from a Canadian Fan

Nordic Noir: A Celebration from a Canadian Fan

I am fortunate to be studying the Digital Marketing course at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies, under Michelle Corsano. (You can connect with Michelle Corsano at +Michelle Corsano  )

My public relations company, DHPR Communications Inc., specializes in dynamic promotion campaigns for Canadian book publishers, arts organizations and not-for-profit organizations. For 25 years, I was honoured to provide publicity consultation to the Canada Council for the Arts on the Governor General's Literary Awards.

I am fascinated with how social media has created a global community with immediate updates from anywhere in the world. My Twitter handle is @dhargravepr.  I thought the best method to understand the potential of social media would be to participate in a course that caters to professionals. The most fascinating guest lecturer was Rob Pellettier whose presentation covered Online Advertising and introduced us to the Canadian Programmatic Landscape.

For the second major project for this course, I am publishing a blog.

Many friends and associates often ask me what is Nordic Noir.  I am a major fan of the mysteries, thrillers and detective novels published in Iceland, Sweden and Norway and available in English translation. I thought a blog would be the best way to introduce book lovers looking for a new genre to Nordic Noir. 

http://www.cardigansandcravats.com/blog/2015/1/14/book-awards-2014

Photo via www.cardigansandcravats

In this blog, I have chosen to focus on the following authors:

• Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
• Camilla Läckberg
• Karin Fossum
• Jo Nesbo
• Åke Edwardson
• Arnaldur Indridason
• Henning Mankell

I have chosen one title by each of these authors to promote. Where possible, I have included a link to either the author's website or the publisher's website that allows the visitor to check out an excerpt from the book. 

I will start with Maj Sjöwall  and Per Wahlöö,  as they are the crime fiction writers who launched Nordic Noir.