I hope he washed his hands before cooking

Her sex had already opened for the fingers which would soon be there.

That's from page 3 of 'The Snowman'...

So, I was kicking around in the local library this afternoon, as one does, and decided to see what the fuss was about over this book, before Jay and my aunt have to come to blows.

I read the first four pages, where the female protagonist leaves her son in the car to have an adulterous "shag" with her lover before he goes off somewhere for good. For forty minutes. Stretching my incredulity already, no way would my kids sit around for that long. They'd have been on the doorbell and banging on the windows by the time I'd reached the bedroom...

It's straight in with the sex, that's for sure. It's not particularly good sex, she doesn't have the decency to enjoy it that much, and he gets distracted by a spooky snowman at the window. Aha! I smell the onset of a plot...

So whilst I'm all for adulterous sex in principle (though my wife has not yet given permission), I would rather hope that it would be more fun than this. The sex really came across as sordid and seedy, and whilst that was probably the author's intention, it didn't pull me in. I didn't feel inclined to bring the book home.

Sorry, Mr Nesbø.