Blood On Snow by Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbø is the award-winning Norwegian author of the Harry Hole detective series and one of the masters of Scandinavian fiction. Blood on Snow is a terrific noir crime story with the writing of a great novel. I read it twice.

Olav is introspective and nonjudgmental about his life; he does the best he can. Not a great driver, dyslexic, too soft to work with drugs or prostitutes, and too sensitive about causing victim trauma that he can't rob, he has found his place as a 'fixer' for the last four years. He needs the structure of a boss to submit to.

He is something; he's someone's destiny.

His boss, Daniel Hoffman, is a heroin kingpin. His competition is a man they call the Fisherman, who smuggles Russian drugs into Norway in crates of fish. Olav is skilled at doing what he has to, but not at getting too close. When he kills an addict owing thousands, and they force his girlfriend to work off the debt in prostitution, Olav paid Hoffman his own money, saying the boy paid his bill. He still follows Maria, a deaf and mute grocery store clerk, to ensure she remains safe.

His new commission from Hoffman: kill his unfaithful wife. Olav begins surveillance on her apartment. He has a good heart and falls in love a little too easily. He begins to feel for Corina, especially when her young lover arrives to perform the same act each day of beating her and forcing himself on her. To keep Corina safe, he kills her abusive lover - that's mistake number one. He tells Corina that she is targeted, taking her to hide out in safety - that's mistake number two. The only choice now is to kill Daniel before he has them killed, and Olav makes a deal with the Fisherman - that would be mistake number three.

Aside from being a crime story, there is a true romance as well, with plans of escaping with Corina to Paris when this is done. I found Olav such a rich character, as he tenderly cares for the deaf and mute Maria from afar, and yearns to protect what little he has. The plans to kill Daniel are genius, with suspense building to an explosive finale, and we also find closure for Olav on many levels—in dreams and in reality. A sequel of sorts, Midnight Sun, was published in 2016.

The film rights moved from Leonardo DiCaprio to Tobey Maguire, then Tom Hardy and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. In February 2025, it was filmed with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Highly recommended.

2015 / Tradeback / 192 pages

Another terrific hitman novel:

You Were Never Really Here by Jonathan Ames