I found this fair-condition softcover at a local Salvation Army thrift shop. It's from a Norwegian noir series, and features literal snowmen with VERY sinister meanings, plus some grisly - and increasingly improbable - killings. Oh, I enjoyed the details, mind, and the masterful misleading plot twists and turns, but there were several places where I had to stop and think "Just *how* did the killer manage to do all this within the given time and without leaving more traces?" Here and there, the story explains these things, yet it was often unconvincing - indeed, at times I'd almost have preferred an outright supernatural explanation!

That said, the characters - victims, suspects, police, and those who love/hate/fear them - were interesting, with several tantalizing plotlines that all wove into the main story.

And what's with the mold-inspector guy? Protagonist Harry, an on-the-wagon (mostly) alcoholic who's a very good cop when he's in his right mind but has problems juggling his work and personal life, seems awfully laid-back about the appearance of this person in his apartment, and while it may be just another red herring in *this* story, the final paragraph suggests something more in the next one. Or maybe I'm reading too much into that!

This does seem to be the kind of series where anyone who forms an attachment to the protagonist is in for some serious suffering...

[There's a TV Tropes page on the series. And there's a film adaptation in production, slated for release late in 2017.]

I plan to leave this book on the book-swap shelf in the Tyngsboro post office lobby; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in Massachusetts here.]

*** Released as part of the 2016 Christmas/Holiday release challenge. ***