THE SNOWMAN: JOE NESBO

This is the second mystery I have read by Nesbo, about the dark, moody, misanthropic detective, Harry Hole.  This time he's dealing with a decades old serial killer, the snowman, who leaves his signature snow statuary outside the victims homes.  He is still on/off with Rakel, his lover from the first novel, and her son Olaf.  This time he's teamed with Katherine Bratt, a sex crime specialist, who seems to have brought in for this specific case.  I often got lost, mostly because of the names and places are so unfamiliar to me, even the victims kind of ran together, as did the suspects in all of them.  As usual, he ends up in many parts of Norway, feuds with his bosses, is almost fired because of a mistaken identity  but in the end, you can be sure that Harry gets his man.  I assume this is not a spoiler for anyone who has read a mystery.  I found it readable, Harry by far the most interesting character in the book, as he often depends on his intuition, on what he feels, always sensing he's missing something as he struggles to put together the disparate murders.  His battle with alcoholism, his relationship with Rakel and his colleagues, as well as the hunt, form the center of this book.  I would give it three stars.