Book Review: 'Snowman' by Norman Bogner
I remember reading ‘Snowman’ (Dell, February 1978, 221 pp.) when it was first published, and thinking that it was one of the better horror / adventure novels of the mid- to late- 70s. On a par with, if indeed not superior to, more widely promoted books such as ‘The Shining’, ‘The Stand’, ‘The Fury’, and ‘Jaws’.
On a 1966 expedition to Mount Everest, world-renowned climber Dan Bradford, and his Sherpa friend and guide, Pemba, narrowly survived an encounter with the lethal creature known as the Abominable Snowman. But no one believed his tale of a monster that roamed the slopes at the top of the world.
Now it's the late seventies, and in northern California's Sierra Ski Resort, a gruesome murder has taken place. Cathy Parker, the Resort's publicist, must move quickly to stifle news of the killing and avert a public relations disaster that could imperil the financial well-being of the Resort. Parker realizes that the entity behind the murder is not your ordinary serial killer....... and enlists the one man who really knows what kind of creature lurks in the snows of the high range.
Bradford, physically and emotionally scarred by the carnage he had witnessed in the Himalayas, is given the chance he has waited for: to mount an expedition into the Snowman’s lair and destroy the monster. But the hunt won’t be all one-sided: with the risk of avalanche ever-present, Bradford and his team will have to forego firearms and use unconventional weapons. And the Snowman is as smart as he is ferocious…..
‘Snowman’ isn’t a perfect novel; Bogner’s prose gets a bit too adventurous with the thesaurus (using the noun ‘cwm’ or the verb ‘bedizened’ !?). But more than 30 years after its publication ‘Snowman’ holds up as an entertaining read, and fully merits promotion as one of the better horror novels of the late 70s. The Snowman deals death in memorably grisly fashion, and the narrative moves along at requisite speed. The ultimate winner of the Man Vs Snowman contest is never a sure thing, and the novel’s final 30 pages are genuinely suspenseful.
‘Snowman’ is long out of print, and those copies that are offered for sale have very steep asking prices. But if you come across a copy with a reasonable price tag, it's well worth picking up.
Wow, I've never heard of this one! Sounds kinda cool.
ReplyDeleteI've just finished it and am not as enthusiastic about the novel as you wer; it was your review that led me to hunt it down (I'm not disappointed, of course, since I like being exposed to more obscure work). I was enjoying it until Bradford appeared (I don't mean the Prologue but Chapter Seven). I'll need to mull it over before posting my own review.
ReplyDeleteStupid Amazon! The link it has to the Kindle edition actually makes you purchase a collection of kid's poems also called "Snowman". Look before you leap!
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