The specter in Norwegian crime fiction: Jo Nesbø Reflects on writing, characters, and the shadow of Harry Hole

"Actually, it was a girl who worked here at the publishing house who asked me if I could write a book," says Jo Nesbø, the towering figure of Norwegian crime fiction for over two decades. Since the late 1990s, Nesbø has illuminated – or perhaps darkened – the literary world with his brutal and brilliant portrayals of Oslo as a city stalked by serial killers and haunted by addicts and lost souls. His novels have been translated into more than fifty languages and have reached millions of readers, cementing his place as a global crime fiction icon.

At the recent Krimfestivalen in Oslo, notably lacking Icelandic author participation this year, Nesbø sat down for a rare interview with Morgunblaðið. Held in the storied offices of the 150-year-old Aschehoug publishing house, the conversation offered insight into a man as elusive as many of the criminals in his books. Nesbø, also a musician, former footballer, economist, and frontman of the band Di Derre, arrived in the quiet room dressed in a derby hat, smiling boyishly.

The birth of a career

Nesbø’s career as a novelist began with The Bat in 1997. It introduced the world to Harry Hole, a hard-drinking, tormented detective investigating the murder of a Norwegian woman in Australia. “The book was a kind of experiment,” Nesbø recalls. “I didn’t know what would come of it. I had some confidence, sure, but no idea yet what kind of writer I would be.”

When asked about his vivid character development – a hallmark of his storytelling – Nesbø explains, “I give my characters two basic traits to start with. It’s like sitting in a café watching people talk and trying to guess what they’re discussing. We all have prejudices – they’re just shortcuts based on limited information. I use my own to shape characters. They’re my own, unique set of biases.”

He then turns the analysis on the interviewer: “You come in wearing a T-shirt, tattoos, lift weights… You walked in with an energy. At first, I thought you might be with the Hell’s Angels. But then, of course, you’re something entirely different. That’s the duality I’m interested in – two sides of one person.”

A private specter

Nesbø is famously private. He doesn’t attend author readings or pen emotional dedications to readers. “My writing world is a private world,” he says. “When readers comment on it, it stops being mine.”

This interview, he notes, is the only press sit-down he agreed to during Krimfestivalen. “TV2 got five minutes,” he smiles. “I’m not a public person. I write to communicate – not to promote myself.”

He admits to finding it easier to exist just outside the fabric of society. “Writers can stay anonymous. I once sat next to a man on a plane reading one of my books – he had no idea who I was.”

Recognition and rewards

What about awards? “They’re recognition,” Nesbø acknowledges. “They don’t define me, but they validate that I’ve reached someone. That’s the goal – to communicate, to captivate.”

He recalls a moment with his daughter: “She came to me and said, ‘Dad, they’re writing about Jo Nesbø again,’ as if it wasn’t me. And that’s exactly it. Jo Nesbø is also a character.”

On villains and insanity

Asked about his finely tuned villains – from cold-hearted killers to delusional obsessives – Nesbø references Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie: “Criminals don’t exist, only criminal acts.”

He elaborates: “Some people are rule-breakers by nature. But our actions also depend on time and place. A killer can be a hero in war. We need a certain kind of insanity in society. A surgeon or a fighter pilot without it might not be any good.”

A knock on the door reminds them that time is up. Agent Vegard Bye enters, camera in hand. While Bye fumbles with photography, Nesbø is asked the inevitable: Will Harry Hole return?

Nesbø leans back, pauses, and smiles. “I’m not promising anything in the immediate future… but yes, there will be another Harry Hole book.”

And with that, the ghost of Norwegian crime fiction slips back into the shadows, leaving readers everywhere waiting for the next brutal, brilliant chapter.

Translated (from a longer article) by Dóra Ósk Halldórsdóttir doraosk@mbl.is