Mostly, it seems clumsy and overstuffed ... The structure is clever-ish. The The Snowman author wants to make a bigger point about writers and writing, but it is muddled by a first section that goes on too long, undercutting a third section that's supposed to tie it all together. (To reveal more would be a huge spoiler.) Bottom line, what promised to be scary isn't. Stephen King doesn't have a thing to worry about.
...really isn’t a classic who-done-it horror novel, but a story of one traumatized young man’s search for meaning in the wake of a personal tragedy ... After readers turn the final page of the book, it’s fun going back and picking up all the foreshadowing, some of which seems heavy-handed in hindsight, but goes barely noticed on first read
a fast-paced escape of a book that unfortunately relies on a magical stereotype in the middle of the story to move the plot forward. Nonetheless, Nesbø skillfully keeps the reader wondering where the story is going to go next and when, if ever, the main character will reach his happy ending—or if, in fact, he deserves to reach one at all.
Nesbø shows a sure hand at crafting moments of terror, but only his most devoted readers won’t cock an eyebrow at the bait-and-switch plotting. Despite some memorable individual scares, horror aficionados are likely to grow frustrated with this.
