SOURCE: "Irritable, Depressed, Spoiled, and Terrific," in The New York Times Book Review], September 26, 1993, p. 12.

In the following review of Smilla's Sense of Snow, Nathan praises the book, especially for its elements of suspense.

Try this for an offer you could easily refuse. How would you like to be locked in a room for a couple of days with an irritable, depressed malcontent who also happens to be imperiously smart, bored and more than a little spoiled? Say no, and you will miss not only a splendid entertainment but also an odd and seductive meditation on the human condition.

With Smilla's Sense of Snow, his American debut following two previous books, the Danish novelist Peter Hoeg finds his own uncommon vein in narrative territory worked by writers as varied as Martin Cruz Smith and Graham Greene—the suspense novel as exploration of the heart. Mr. Hoeg's heroine, Smilla...