Jo Nesbø

Background

Jo Nesbo was born on March 29, 1960, in Oslo, Norway and grew up in Molde, western Norway, the child of a librarian mother and executive father.

Education

Jo Nesbo graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics (Norges Handelshøyskole) in Bergen with a degree in economics.

Career

After the graduation from the Norwegian School of Economics, Nesbo took a job as a stockbroker while maintaining a vision of himself as a singer-songwriter. In 1992 he helped start a band named Di Derre, which recorded several albums. Working at a stressful day job and performing with his increasingly popular band at night eventually took its toll on Nesbo. When someone made a casual suggestion that he write a book about traveling with the band, he took it as a challenge, asked for six months off, went to Australia, and returned with what would become his first Harry Hole novel.

That book, titled Flaggermusmannen (1997; “Bat Man”; Eng. trans. The Bat), follows Hole, a recovering alcoholic, to Australia for a murder investigation. Nesbo’s second Hole novel, Kakerlakkene (1998; “Cockroaches”; The Cockroaches), takes the detective through the seamy underworld of Bangkok. Rodstrupe (2000; “Robin”; The Redbreast) details the role of fascism in Norway. In Sorgenfri (2002; “Sorrow-Free”; Nemesis) Hole investigates a bank robbery and is implicated in the death of a former girlfriend. A serial killer is at work in Marekors (2003; “Pentagram”; The Devil’s Star), this time in Oslo. Hole tracks a contract killer in Frelseren (2005; “Saviour”; The Redeemer) and another serial killer in Snømannen (2007; The Snowman). Panserhjerte (2009; “Armoured Heart”; The Leopard) has Hole tracked down in Hong Kong and persuaded to reengage in police work. Gjenferd (2011; “Ghost”; Phantom) treats the drug scene in Oslo and examines Hole’s experience of fatherhood, and Politi (2013; Police) continues the story begun in Phantom. In Torst (2017; The Thirst) Hole hunts for a killer who finds his victims on Tinder, a dating app.

Nesbo’s Hole series proved to be extremely popular and was translated into many languages. Its popularity was in part because of tight plotting and in part because of Nesbo’s method of presenting his main character. Throughout the series, Hole battles his demons, sometimes successfully but more often not. Each successive volume deepens the reader’s experience with Hole and his life on the edge. Furthermore, the later books refer to incidents in the earlier books, another effect that adds dimension to Hole’s deeply flawed but essentially sympathetic personality.

Nesbo’s long essay “Stemmer fra Balkan” (“Figures in the Balkans”) was published in 1999 with another long essay by Espen Søbye, about the authors’ trip to Serbia and Norway’s role in the NATO intervention in Kosovo in 1999. Nesbø also produced several stand-alone books, including the novella Det hvite hotellet (2007; “The White Hotel”) and the novels Hodejegerne (2009; Headhunters; film 2011) and Sønnen (2014; The Son). Blod pa sno (2015; Blood on Snow) and Mere blod (2015; Midnight Sun) were linked crime thrillers set in 1970s Norway. Macbeth (2018), a retelling of Shakespeare’s classic play, was written for the Hogarth Shakespeare series. In addition, Nesbo published a book of short stories, Karusellmusikk (2001; “Carousel Music”), and a number of children’s books, including a series of books featuring Doktor Proktor and his Fart Powder.

Nesbø currently lives in Oslo, Norway where he pursues his passion for writing and music.

Achievements

• 

  Nesbo sold over 40 million books translated in 50 languages, achieved tremendous success, and have garnered countless international awards. Two of his books have been adapted for the big screen: The Snowman, starring Michael Fassbender last year and Headhunters in 2011. There are also his children’s books, a series focused on crazy professor Doktor Proktor that he started writing for his now 18-year-old daughter, and more crime in the Olav Johansen series, also due to hit the big screen shortly with a Tobey Maguire version of Blood on Snow.
  
  Nesbo's children's fiction has been a runaway success in Norway and throughout Europe although the books started simply as a way to amuse his daughter, Selma, who was seven years old when the series began in 2007.
  
  Nesbo's early success, however, came when he started playing in a band and found he had a talent of songwriting. He co-founded the group Di Derre, which quickly became one of the greatest Norwegian bands.
  
  Among other numerous awards, Nesbø received the Glass Key Award and the Booksellers’ Prize, Norway’s most prestigious literary awards. He was shortlisted for Duncan Lawrie International Dagger 2007 for his novel The Redbreast and for Ark's Children's Book Award for Best Children's Book 2007 (Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder). He was also nominated for the Norwegian Bookseller's Prize 2008 for his novel Headhunters and Doctor Proctor's Time Bathtub and for the Edgar Award 2010 for his novel Nemesis.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Leopard

    (Inspector Harry Hole has retreated to Hong Kong, escaping...)

    2011
  • The Devil's Star

    (In the heat of a sweltering Oslo summer, a young woman is...)

    2005
  • Macbeth

    (Set in the 1970s in a run-down, rainy industrial town, Jo...)

    2018
  • Cockroaches

    (When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is found dead i...)

    2013
  • The Redbreast

    (The Redbreast is a chilling tale of murder and betrayal t...)

    2000
  • Phantom

    (When Harry Hole moved to Hong Kong, he thought he was esc...)

    2012
  • The Snowman

    (Inspector Harry Hole tracks a Norwegian serial killer in ...)

    2007
  • The Redeemer

    (Shots ring out at a Salvation Army Christmas concert in O...)

    2009
  • Blood on Snow

    (This is the story of Olav: an extremely talented “fixer” ...)

    2015
  • Police

    (For years, detective Harry Hole has been at the center of...)

    2013
  • The Son

    (Sonny Lofthus has been in prison for almost half his life...)

    2014
  • Midnight Sun

    (Ulf has one small problem - his former boss, Oslo's most ...)

    2015
  • The Bat

    (Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is dispatche...)

    1997
  • Noble Beginnings

    (A Marine in name only, Jack is on-loan to the CIA. Normal...)

    2013
  • The Thirst

    (The murder victim, a self-declared Tinder addict. The one...)

    2017
  • Knife

    (Harry Hole is not in a good place. Rakel the only woman h...)

    2019
  • Nemesis 2002
  • Headhunters 2008

Views

Quotations: "If you'd asked me after three novels if I'd write up to 11 or 12, I'd have been in doubt, but when you have a character like this and go deeper into the character, he's like a human being. You get more interested the more you know. He's the sort of friend that when you spend the weekend with him, you hope he's not going to call on Monday."

“Nobody needs a book where the writer is trying his best to be William Shakespeare, so I decided this would be my take on the story,” he says. “I had to start stripping off all the beautiful prose and poetry of Shakespeare and get at the construction and the characters’ motivation. You can play around with certain things, but there are things that are needed because that’s why the story works. There’s a reason why this is a classic, why we have always been fascinated with Macbeth.”

“There is an element of things not adding up and people rewriting Shakespeare’s work anyway, but to me, the beauty of the play is that it is not perfect, like any beauty. There are things you think "is this really necessary for the story?" and as soon as you try to change it, you realize yes, it is necessary for the story. Even the supernatural element of the three witches, which has always puzzled me – I was thinking of leaving them out – but they are the core of the story, they are the inner voice and totally needed. I made them real people and a piece of the puzzle and intrigues of the power play in the city.”

“I grew up in a family where we told stories and there was absolutely no respect for the original version. You can come up with a version that may be better, or if not better, then different, and that was OK too. So when you’re telling a story you don’t respect the story, because it’s from the world of the writer that’s written it – I never gave that a thought – I was only looking at the story and my own relationship with it. It’s the personal take on a story that I’ve always been fascinated by.”

"I think the best crime novels are great literature because they are, of course, not about crimes as such."

"Freedom is important to me. And freedom is a good thing that also has a price. For some, the price is too high, but for me, freedom is more important than the other I miss."

Personality

Jo Nesbø says that he is such a natural pessimist that whenever he is asked how long a journey will take to complete, he always replies "two hours more", no matter how near the final destination. He spends a lot of time traveling but makes use of the time, writing on planes and trains. And never feels rushed to deliver. "A book is always two years away, is what I tell publishers," he says.

Nesbø played top-flight football for Molde FK until he tore the cruciate ligaments in his knee, and had to concentrate on other aspects of his life. Nesbø is a dedicated rock climber and has climbed sport routes up to French grade 7c. In addition to his career as author, Nesbø is also the main vocalist and songwriter for the Norwegian rock band Di Derre.

Interests

• music, travelling

• Sport & Clubs

  footbal, rock climbing

Connections

Nesbo lives close to his former wife and their daughter in Oslo.

Father:

Per Nesbo

1922-1994

Mother:

Kirsten Hammervoll Nesbø

1927-2007

Brother:

Knut Nesbo

Knut Nesbø (born 26 April 1961 - 8 February 2013) was a Norwegian sports reporter with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. He was also a former semi-professional footballer who played for Molde and Lyn in the 1980s. In 1990 he played nineteen league matches for low-level Stabæk IF. He was the guitarist of the Norwegian pop/rock band Di Derre, which also featured his brother Jo Nesbø as the lead singer.

References

• Author Jo Nesbo's Official Website