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A Wicked Snow

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“Olsen will scare you—and you’ll love it.” —Lee Child  Hannah Griffin was a girl when tragedy struck. She still remembers the flames reflected against the newly fallen snow and the bodies the police dug up—one of them her mother’s. The killer was never found….   Twenty years later Hannah is a talented CSI investigating a case of child abuse when the past comes hurtling back. A killer with unfinished business is on the hunt. And an anonymous message turns Hannah’s blood  Your Mom called . . .  “A TAUT THRILLER.”Seattle Post-Intelligencer  “AN IRRESISTIBLE PAGE-TURNER.”Kevin O’Brien “WILL KEEP FANS OF CRIME FICTION HOOKED.”—Publishers Weekly  

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

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3901 people want to read

About the author

Gregg Olsen

116 books7,087 followers
Throughout his career, Gregg Olsen has demonstrated an ability to create a detailed narrative that offers readers fascinating insights into the lives of people caught in extraordinary circumstances.

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Olsen has written ten nonfiction books, ten novels, and contributed a short story to a collection edited by Lee Child.

The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.

In addition to television and radio appearances, the award-winning author has been featured in Redbook, USA Today, People, Salon magazine, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post.

The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington’s Secretary of State for the book’s contribution to Washington state history and culture.

Olsen, a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).

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5 stars
2,760 (28%)
4 stars
3,637 (37%)
3 stars
2,591 (26%)
2 stars
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1 star
169 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 654 reviews
Profile Image for CarolG.
917 reviews542 followers
June 7, 2022
Hannah Logan was a young girl when the police dug up a number of bodies at the Christmas Tree farm in Oregon where she lived with her mother and two younger brothers. Twenty years later Hannah Griffin, now a CSI agent, gets a message that makes her blood run cold: 'Your Mom called'.

I picked this book up at the library's used book store many years ago and grabbed it off my bookshelf recently when I knew I'd have to wait while my daughter's snow tires were replaced with her summer tires. What are retired moms for anyway?! It was an entertaining read so I continued reading it off and on until I finished. The story flowed well, the characters were believable and I enjoyed the book except for maybe the last 25-30 pages. It just felt like that dragged the story on a bit too long. Although parts of it were slow I never lost interest. Gregg Olsen's books are hit or miss with me but this was one of his better ones. Such a feeling of accomplishment to finish one of the many owned books I need to read!
Profile Image for Sharon Orlopp.
Author 1 book1,137 followers
August 18, 2022
Fast paced thriller regarding an evil mother who killed over 20 people and mysteriously disappeared. A true page turner!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for  Li'l Owl.
398 reviews275 followers
August 6, 2019
This book was pretty good but not outstanding for me. It was a good mystery as to 'what really happened that night' but a little slower paced then I prefer, which is why I only gave it 3.5 stars. I'm wanting to say parts of the plot were a little bit predictable but I wasn't certain, so it kept me interested enough to want to find out how it ends. There were a few nice twists towards the end that I did not see coming. Overall it was a good mystery, suspense novel and it definitely was worth reading.
Profile Image for Jean.
886 reviews19 followers
May 6, 2016
If ever a person needed therapy, it is Hannah Griffin. The summary of Gregg Olsen’s A Wicked Snow barely brushes the surface of the terrible tragedy Hannah endured when she was twelve. Her aunt and uncle did their best to shelter her and nurture her in the years that followed, but it is obvious that Hannah has never put the past behind her. Married with a young daughter of her own, Hannah Logan Griffin is a woman haunted by an unspeakable event that stole her family, her privacy, and her peace of mind.

The author doesn’t try to make Hannah into something she’s not. Now in her thirties, she is trying to live a “normal” life. She works as a CSI investigator. She hopes she is a good mother to her eight-year-old daughter and a good wife to her cop husband. Is she neurotic? Sure. She can’t stand snow. She has some strange phobias, and as the book goes on, we learn why. When a strange package arrives at her office, Hannah becomes obsessed with the unfinished business of that Christmas Eve so many years ago. She is hopelessly caught between wanting to forget and needing to know the truth. Memories have churned with nightmares until she no longer really knows what she really recalls of her childhood and of what happened that night. It has turned her into a sleep-deprived, ill-tempered, frenzied woman who simply cannot rest until she knows.

Some of the characters are stereotyped, but Hannah’s mother Claire was someone who was truly psychopathically evil. A masterful manipulator, she made my blood run cold. My favorite character was probably the FBI agent Jeff Bauer, who had the case of a lifetime when he was only 25. Years later, he is still troubled by LOMUR, as the case was dubbed, and he is ready to jump back into the fray when Hannah needs him.

The book read like a true crime story. It got off to a slow start, but patience has it rewards. Despite a few confusing parts, I soaked it up. The plot has something for everyone, it seems. There was police procedural, including a major gaffe by the locals. There was a slice of the courtroom scene, portraits of the crime scene spectacle, and plenty of looks inside Hannah’s head. Oh, and there’s a twist at about 85% that had me gasping, “WHOA!” out loud!

Two things that bothered me more than anything were the role of one of the female characters . In the end, I suppose I understood her motives, but I didn’t quite see the need for her part in the plot, other than to add more stress. The second thing bothered me more: the final trip in search of answers ends in a whirlwind of activity – and then it’s over. . While I’m not convinced that Hannah’s PTSD is suddenly “cured”, it seems that perhaps she can now begin building a more fulfilling life with her family. Who knows? Maybe she will even put her personal experiences to good use in her professional career for the benefit of other unfortunate victims.

A Wicked Snow has received mixed reviews, but I give it 4 stars.
Profile Image for BAM doesn’t answer to her real name.
2,040 reviews457 followers
November 19, 2018
Audiobook #198

Well I don't have much of an opinion on this book. My biggest issue is with the pacing. Large portions are spent on areas of the timeline instead of a little here a little there so you get comfortable thinking oh so we are going back in time ugh no oh yes oh nope wth are we doing here?!?!? So I just stopped listening at points.
Profile Image for Diana.
508 reviews57 followers
August 6, 2022
I chose A Wicked Snow because it looked scary and the cold snow sounded refreshing during the hot, muggy, summer days! :)

My first Gregg Olsen book proved to be a great choice for me. Shocking, suspenseful, and very well written. I am pleased to see he has many more books for me to enjoy!

Profile Image for Robert Reiner.
392 reviews10 followers
May 30, 2015
There were a couple of moments where I thought...ooh this book is good. Then I got bored again. None of the characters interested me and I still can't get past the fact that the author decided to name one of the main characters...an FBI agent..Jeff Bauer. (Maybe Jack has a brother?) For those few moments where I got excited I gave it two stars but there are so many authors that write in this genre that do a better job. Go find out who they are and pass on Gregg Olsen's A Wicked Snow.
Profile Image for Kath Middleton.
Author 23 books158 followers
May 6, 2015
Hannah Griffin lost her family in a tragedy on the family’s farm when she was young. She receives a box at work which contains items of evidence stolen from the court’s archives and her past begins to chase her. The man convicted of helping to set fire to her old home is about to be released from prison and he believes the real killer is still out there. As her sleep and health begin to crumble, Hannah tries to find the truth.

I found this book totally gripping. The characters were convincing and the plot enthralling. I warmed to the main protagonists and was horrified and chilled at what the children had gone through. There’s a wonderful evocation of a classic cold-hearted woman here. The whole thing is excellently done.
Profile Image for Scott A. Miller.
631 reviews26 followers
June 20, 2020
This is my first Olsen book and it was quite good. It felt a little like a really long newspaper article and it worked.

Hannah had such a horrible ordeal that I was rooting for her to understand all that she had been through and Olsen wrapped it up in a compelling way. Bauer, who was with her from the beginning got his closure in a way h seemed satisfied with. I’m looking forward to more of Olsen’s work.
Profile Image for Anne  (Booklady) Molinarolo.
620 reviews189 followers
July 27, 2014
I was so looking forward to reading this; the book blurb sucked me into wanting to know what happened on Christmas Eve on a "wicked snow." A female mass murderer, 20 bodies including the killer's two young boys, the sole survivor of Claire Logan terrified looking at the fire engulfed house. But Hannah isn't a character I got to know very well. She's icky. She can't stand the smell of gasoline, she is too nervous, and the author wants us readers to believe she is a loving wife and mother as well as a highly competent CSI investigator. I found the character one dimensional and suffering from PTSD that she has never dealt with. Her mothering skills I questioned. But after Claire Logan, she looks like Donna Reed.

Another minor thing, I didn't care for the ending much. But I can understand why Gregg Olsen might have ended the novel in which he did. At least Hannah got most of her questions answered. The final twist was truly a surprise. The writing was good in places, lagging in others. I didn't feel the suspense factor in some parts - it started and plateaued just like my reading of A Wicked Snow.
Profile Image for Courtney.
97 reviews
April 5, 2016
This book was another disappointment for me. Instead of giving up on it, I pushed through the story. The story seemed to go interesting, boring, interesting, boring, interesting, boring, and so on and so on. Then finally it picked up about page 150 (it's a 369 page book) then it got a little boring, but not like before. By the time I got to the end, I had guessed the ending about 20 or so pages before and it wasn't that great of an ending in my opinion. It had a great plot but a poor execution of the plot. Gregg Olsen had a way of conteantly telling me who characters were throughout the story almost like I would never remember and it drove me kind of nuts. I probably won't read the book again but it was at least decent.
Profile Image for Julie.
937 reviews8 followers
March 7, 2018
Gregg Olsen writes another great page turner in this book 'A Wicked Snow'. With flashbacks of a deadly serial killer scene in the snow twenty years ago, Investigator Hannah Griffin suspects that her mother - the serial killer of that scene twenty years ago, and presumably burned to death in the fire - is still alive. Hannah has to fight her own demons, the memories of that long ago Christmas Eve night of rescue personnel unearthing body after body while the house had burned to the ground - and finally gets a lead on where her mother has been hiding all these twenty years.

Excellent book that i recommend!
Profile Image for Jenny.
814 reviews40 followers
May 25, 2015
A couple months ago I read the latest Harlan Coben standalone and though I enjoyed it, I felt like Coben was phoning it in and that his suspense novels had started to blur in my head. Then, I read this novel, plucked off the e-shelf at my local library, and I want to issue an apology. I’m not sure I fully appreciated the skill with which Coben constructs his narratives until I read this schlocky mess. I almost stopped halfway through this book, because it was making me crazy and annoyed, but I wanted to see how everything turned out. Then, when I got to the end, I was like, “Really. This is how you end it.” If the book hadn’t been on my beloved I pad, I would have thrown it against the wall.

So, I’ve never read anything by Gregg Olsen before but I gather he writes both true crime stories as well as suspense novels. I also noticed that this book was originally written in 2007 but republished in 2014 so perhaps this is an early work re-released after later works proved popular. The basic set up seems promising. Hannah Griffin is a CSI, specializing in child abuse cases, living in California with her police detective husband and young daughter. However, she has a secret. She is actually Hannah Logan, the lone survivor of a notorious tragedy on a tree farm in the Oregon woods. One night over two decades before, Hannah was rescued by the farm’s handyman, Marcus Wheaton, from a deadly fire that killed her two brothers and her mother. However, not only is Marcus linked to the fire but soon bodies are turning up buried on the farm and the police/FBI begin to doubt that the headless body found in the fire is her mother, Claire Logan. Instead, Claire seems to have vanished leaving a lot of death and one traumatized daughter behind. This trauma is reawakened when Hannah receives a package in the mail with two sets of tennis shoes in it that appear to have belonged to her brothers, along with a note signed “Mom.” As is often the case in novels like this, this event brings Hannah back in touch with the judge and FBI agent who initially dealt with the case and also brings to the surface a lot of demons that Hannah has been trying to suppress.

So, yes, the plot is classic thriller but the execution is so annoyingly clunky that I found myself getting distracted. The omniscient narrator flips back and forth between different characters, which shouldn’t be a problem, but you never really feel like you are truly seeing through anyone’s eyes. The dialogue is clunky. The pacing feels weird. Many of the characters feel like clichés. It made me realize that the power of a good novel of any genre is that you’re not distracted by the mechanics of the story telling. You may not like where the story goes or choices a character makes but you don’t notice the seams. Here, I was so distracted by the whirring and clunking that I had trouble keeping track of the story. .

I have a soft spot in my heart for thrillers with fast-moving plots where the past and present intertwine (the kind you pick up at the supermarket or the airport). I didn’t go into this book expecting greatness but I was surprised by how annoyed I was by the absence of craft.
Profile Image for Victoria.
2,512 reviews67 followers
September 6, 2012
I had some rather mixed feelings about this thriller. Though it was certainly pretty exciting, it just wasn't executed very well. The main character, Hannah, felt completely unsympathetic - she had a lot of issues, but not enough of them to be “quirky” or even likable... She just came off as odd and unbelievable. A friend of mine borrowed my copy and alerted me to the cartoon-like handling of the physical descriptions of the other characters: "good" people were pretty and the bad were very ugly. He claimed that this endlessly distracted him - and as soon as he said something about it, I completely understood what he meant. It didn’t particularly bother me, because it felt rather unbelievable to begin with, but I do agree that it was a rather over-the-top way to handle appearances. What bothered me the most, though was how the book functioned as a giant crack against motherhood. There wasn't a good mother to be found in the whole book. The slightly unexpected ending (considering the age and the resolution) was probably the most interesting feature of the entire book, but unfortunately, the killings were rather unmotivated. On top of that, the whole thing was a rather a let down from its very exciting premise. And though it is always interesting to see some villainous females, the consistency of poor mothering made any of that “charm” quickly fade away.
Profile Image for Maggie61.
784 reviews3 followers
June 12, 2012
This is the first adult book I have read of this author's. Hannah lived though a horror in her childhood, daughter of a serial killer whose victims Included her brothers. Many years have passed and she is still looking for the mother she believes is alive although others tell her she is not. No one knows that she is the daughter of Claire Logan other than her husband. The conclusion isn't as happily ever after we would probably have preferred. Kind of like the story ended before the ending. There were more than a few unanswered questions. Although I did like the story line, it was slow in places, I actually stopped midway and read something else as I wasnt all that into it at times. Will still try another of his.
Profile Image for Freda Mans-Labianca.
1,294 reviews124 followers
February 21, 2022
I am really starting to enjoy this author! His stories are right up my alley. I love a murder mystery, real or fictional. It's my ideal book!
This story did not disappoint!!!!
There was a huge mystery surrounding this investigator and her mother. Her mother disappeared and the circumstances shrouding it were unlike anything I have heard of. It was a wild read! It was twisted, dark, slightly graphic and horrifying at times, but a great story!
I could even see a next book for this one. One that might give us more insight in to Hannah. Especially given the information she knows now.
I definitely look forward to reading more from this author and highly recommend his stories to anyone looking for a thrill!

4.5/5
Profile Image for Betsy.
528 reviews89 followers
February 21, 2018
I usually love Gregg Olsen. I found this to be slow at times. I thought the ending was rushed. Not my favorite of his books. 3 stars
Profile Image for Koren .
1,171 reviews40 followers
February 8, 2019
I'm not a big fan of fictional mysteries but I'm a huge fan of this author's True Crime so this was just so-so for me.
Profile Image for Patricia.
443 reviews11 followers
December 9, 2017
********** What a page turner, absolutely incredible, a must read!!!
Profile Image for Jenness.
133 reviews3 followers
March 5, 2009
Hannah Griffin, wife, mother and CSI investigator, is suddenly thrust into her past which she has worked so hard to forgot. Hannah was the only survivor of a horrible fire which also turned out to be the scene of the worst murder scene in years. Her stroll down memory lane leads her to believe her mother, believed to be the cause of the fire and the deaths of 17 men, may actually have survived the fire and is living a new life. The book seems to rush to a conclusion after such a lenghty buildup. there a many unanswered questions and I felt like I was just hanging there after I read the last page. It was one of those books that you ask yourself "Is that it?" when you read the last page. I did enjoy this book and will probably read more by this author.
Profile Image for April.
8 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2008
Pro's {This book caught my attention because I do like murder mysteries, and much of the story takes place in Oregon. I like the fact that the author requires the reader to really pay attention to the story line because he mentions certain details that can help the reader sort of figure out clues. The ending is not really "the end" which leaves room for a sequal.}

Con's {I feel that the author did not develope his characters as well as he should have. I got a vague feeling for each character. The main female character in this book seemed so cold. Her character is angry, sad and unimaginative.} I probably won't read anymore of Gregg Olsens books.
Profile Image for Margie.
56 reviews
Read
May 31, 2015
I enjoyed the book and didn't count on the ending being what it was. It kept me going right to the end. A good suspense story!
172 reviews
January 24, 2020
A lot of words for a mediocre story with an anticlimactic ending.
Profile Image for Lindsay Nixon.
Author 22 books799 followers
September 7, 2022
3.8 stars. Such good writing. The way books “used to be” before the last few years of slop.

Thanks goodreads—I found this book because of a comment someone left on a friends review in my feed 🙏

The title doesn’t work here imho; but that’s the only complaint I can make.

I was very impressed with how the author managed to weave “now” and “then” as book parts.

SUMMARY: Hannah is the (now adult) daughter of a criminal mother. It’s a case that everyone knows and it’s “bad” but you don’t learn what exactly her mother did until much later. All the reader knows is that Hannah “now” is trying to live a normal life and keep anyone from finding out who she really is. (Hannah is married with a daughter and has a happy career as a CSI).

Her bubble bursts when she (Hannah) gets a strange package forcing her to relive her past, wonder if her mother is still alive, and question whether she should or should not go see the man behind bars that wants to tell her about old ghosts and what happened “that night”

At some point the book switches back to “then” and the reader learns what happened (it’s told linearly in the present tense)

The book then reverts to the “now” with Hannah and a police officer looking for Hannah’s mother—and the reader (and Hannah) gets clarity on what really happened.
Profile Image for Madeline Smith.
21 reviews
March 1, 2024
3.5/5 This book had a few moments that completely caught me off guard- it also had good pacing with only a few parts that felt a little long-winded. This made 'A Wicked Snow' an easy page-turner and a quick read overall with a fascinating premise.

T/W: Murder (ofc), child abuse/murder, drug abuse, suicide, graphic descriptions of the deceased.


[Spoilers Start Here]
Profile Image for Angi.
304 reviews
December 24, 2021
This was an ok mystery/suspense novel. It was really slow paced compared to what I like. Some of the plot was easy to figure out— not to 100% know for sure, but enough to guess what would happen and be correct. The writing was excellent. Just very slow.
Profile Image for Stacey Groome.
15 reviews
April 26, 2023
Good. Was well written, but didn’t leave me in the edge of my seat, not a page turner. I finished only to say I finished, not because I HAD to know what happened. I prefer to finish a book in a week and this one was lackluster.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 654 reviews

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