Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole has been in Netflix's top 10 most-watched TV show charts since its release on March 26, and it's not difficult to see why.
I'm someone who watches a great deal of grisly telly as part of the day job, and I can honestly say that I've never seen a crime drama as brutal, explicit, and vomit-worthy as this.
In fact, I'm surprised that Netflix decided to run with the shock-factor gauntlet as much as it did with Detective Hole. But considering it's hosted the first Harry Hole adaptation — 2017 movie The Snowman — for what feels like eons, perhaps I shouldn't be.
Here comes the sad news: as of April 16, The Snowman will no longer be on the streamer. As far as I'm concerned, it's a rite of passage binge for crime drama fans... and might even be more disturbing than Detective Hole could ever be.
Why you need to stream The Snowman before it leaves Netflix this week
Based on the seventh Harry Hole novel of the same name, the movie follows Hole (Michael Fassbender) tracking down the so-called "Snowman Killer," an elusive sociopath who continuously taunts Hole with cat-and-mouse games.
As the vicious murders continue, Harry teams up with a brilliant recruit to try and lure the madman out of the shadows before he can strike again.
This all sounds rather straightforward, but even a quick Google will prove that the experience of watching it is anything but. The bombastic plot sends the eye and mind in all different directions, leaving you with the overwhelming feeling of "wait... what just happened?"
Add in the callously cold backdrop of Norway, and the Nordic Noir vibes are in full force. The appearance of our snowman killer is genuinely chilling, and the creepy yet childlike handwritten letters are the icing on a bone-shattering cake.
It's rare that we get a crime drama that we can't second-guess, and The Snowman is worth binging for this alone. Jo Nesbo is a man at the top of his game for a reason, and I'll be streaming anything that even vaguely resembles his work.
