"The Snowman" by Jo Nesbø

From Jo Nesbø's official web site:

It is November in Oslo and the first snow of the year has fallen. Birte Becker comes home from work and praises the snowman her husband and son have made in the garden. But they haven’t made a snowman. As the family stand by the sitting room window looking out in amazement at the snowman, the son notices that it is facing the house. The black eyes are staring at the window. At them.

Detective Inspector Harry Hole receives an anonymous letter signed “The Snowman”. Later he finds an alarming common thread in all the old disappearance cases. Married women go missing the day the first snow falls. That same night Sylvia Pedersen is fighting her way through the first snow in a forest outside Oslo. She knows she is running for her life, but she doesn’t know what from. Nor does she know what lies ahead. Fortunately.

The Snowman was awarded The Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize 2007 for Best Novel of the Year and with The Norwegian Book Club Prize (Den norske leserprisen) 2007 for Best Novel of the Year.

“The Snowman is a superb thriller. Jo Nesbø is astonishingly good; he knows how to grab you, by the throat and by the heart.” -- Jeff Abbott