Blood on Snow

Jo Nesbo

first published: 2014 {Norway}

Synopsis

Olav lives the lonely life of a fixer.
When you ‘fix’ people for a living – terminally – it’s hard to get close to anyone.
Now he’s finally met the woman of his dreams.
But there are two problems.
She’s his boss’s wife.
And Olav’s just been hired to kill her.

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We need to agree that the book is simple and not original. What makes it so worth reading is the genius work Nesbo presents us, as well as the plot twists I love and the Nordic noir atmosphere – I need to say this book definitely adds new ideas to the genre though.

Olav, a hired killer, tells us the story of his life, and the fast-paced narrative of the present mixed with remembrances from his past offers a very enjoyable reading. A first-person narrator is the most unreliable teller of a story, and to make things worse, Olav has some learning disabilities that causes him to mix up the facts. I can’t say how much of his story is true, but I couldn’t help feeling sympathetic towards this gentle anti-hero. I truly believe it’s impossible to read this book and not like Olav, even if just a little bit.

I don’t want to discuss much of the story here as I’m afraid I could spoil some parts to those who haven’t read it and there is not much to tell plotwise given how short the book is. However, I cannot write this review and not mention the incredible ‘human character study’ it presents. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rousseau and his idea of social contract, where society corrupts, where people are born good but society/government fails them. Would it be Olav’s case? Or is every person born with their good or bad personality traits?

I know this is an endless discussion – the Joker movie from 2019 was a success exactly by bringing it to the cinema (brilliantly, by the way), so I don’t expect to reach any conclusion with this post. Curiously, right after finishing this book, I started Grande Sertão: Veredas by the Brazilian author João Guimarães Rosa and I engaged in the same argument with some friends. It’s a pity that none of my friends have read Blood on Snow as I would love to discuss it too!

The last point I would like to mention here is the ending of the book. Brilliant! Ingenious, clever, surprising! If you are reading this post deciding weather to read Blood on Snow or not, I say without a shadow of a doubt – read it!