Blood on Snow

A novel

By: Jo Nesbo, Neil Smith - translator

Narrated by: Patti Smith

From the internationally acclaimed author of the Harry Hole novels—a fast, tight, darkly lyrical stand-alone novel that has at its center the perfectly sympathetic antihero: an Oslo contract killer who draws us into an unexpected meditation on death and love.

This is the story of Olav: an extremely talented “fixer” for one of Oslo’s most powerful crime bosses. But Olav is also an unusually complicated fixer. He has a capacity for love that is as far-reaching as is his gift for murder. He is our straightforward, calm-in-the-face-of-crisis narrator with a storyteller’s hypnotic knack for fantasy. He has an “innate talent for subordination” but running through his veins is a “virus” born of the power over life and death. And while his latest job puts him at the pinnacle of his trade, it may be mutating into his greatest mistake. . . .

Critic reviews

“[A] tangled tale with a fateful twist.” —The Boston Globe

“Nesbø’s much-heralded gifts are on display—using his talent for conjuring the chilly Munch-like atmospherics of Oslo in the winter and his eye for grisly, alarming details that slam home the horror of the evil that men do.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[An] incendiary cocktail of murder, revenge and a hitman with ... problems.” —The Independent (London)

“Dark, intense, and bone chilling.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Quick, entertaining.... [An] excursion to a slightly different corner of the criminal underworld, where death and love become tangled together in the cold, dark streets.” —Paste Magazine

“In the crowded field of Scandinavian crime fiction, Nesbø’s books stand out.... [He] likes to rip plots up ... to play with the conventions of his genre.” —The New Yorker

“Noiry and pulpy: Nesbø’s gorgeously rendered images of snow, and of the titular blood on snow ... are crying out to be filmed.” —The Guardian (London)

“[Blood on Snow] moves along swiftly in the carefully controlled voice of the killer. And before you know it, you’re in the middle of one of the wildest scenes in recent crime fiction ... where there’s hardly any place to duck, just as in this entertaining novel, when the bullets fly.” —All Things Considered/NPR

“Nesbø is a master storyteller, gripping the reader from the first page.” —Daily Express (London)

“I am the world’s greatest living crime writer. [Jo Nesbø] is a man who is snapping at my heels like a rabid pit bull poised to take over my mantle when I dramatically pre-decease him.” —James Ellroy

“Nesbø explores the darkest criminal minds with grim delight and puts his killers where you least expect to find them.... His novels are maddeningly addictive.” —Vanity Fair

Wanted to love Patti Smith

Unfortunately I found the narration disappointing. In particular, the pronunciation and monotone delivery bothered me. Great story though - seems Nesbo's characters have more depth lately without losing their sharp edges.

Patti Smith transforms a good novella into a great listening experience

A slight but good Nesbo book is transformed by the brilliant narration of poet and musician Patti Smith. It's a perfect marriage of narration and narrative. Cannot recommend it highly enough. Cherish it. I only wish Smith would narrate all of Nesbo's work.

I love everything Nesbø

I didn't think the narration was as bad as other reviewers felt
This story is both brutal and gentle in its own well thought way. Nesbø is a wonderful writer in my opinion and the only thing disappointing about this book is its shortness.
Although the books artwork makes you think Harry Høle, don't get your hopes up.

Smith's understatement brings out the macabre

This is a gruesome story. Playing it up would not have worked. Best hold back and let the words speak for themselves. Let the images stand on their own. Patti Smith was a very good choice IMHO.

Great short story...narrator fits the character

I enjoyed the story and thought the narrator fit the character perfectly. In reading the comments, I think people are being a little too harsh about the narrator and I think they are missing the genius of the performance.

The character is a working class philosopher, a detached observer, seeing the life around him, but not really part of it. He is always watching, always thinking, always categorizing and planning. The narrator fills this role perfectly by reading in a tone and pace that one might hear at a poetry reading, but with just enough of the words pronounced with a working class diction to convey that the character is self-taught (e.g. - "windah" in lieu of "window"). I thought the story itself was good and the reader's voice made it come alive.

Also...the story is less than four hours long, for crying out loud...how annoyed could someone be that they couldn't get through 3 plus hours?! I think the person chosen was perfect for this story and I hope the nasty reviews don't discourage her from recording more books!