When Jo Came To Town

Jo Nesbø © Håkon Eikesdal

I was very fortunate to attend an exclusive Q&A with popular Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo. He has currently six books in the Irish Top 100. I had travelled down on the bus from Belfast to Dublin, giving me the perfect opportunity to finally finish his latest bestseller “The Leopard.”

I took my seat in the packed Easons store surrounded by fellow Harry Hole fans, all clutching new and old copies of his books waiting to be signed. When he came out to a rapturous applause, he was wearing an Irish rugby top much to the delight of the crowd. Initially he seemed quite shy as he told us that he spent the day wall climbing. He explained that he enjoyed physical activity like that, but also the thrill of confronting a fear, he said he used to be afraid of heights but when you are hanging 25 metres above the ground attached to a rope, then you realise that you can’t fall.

From the start he was very entertaining as he explained to fellow crime writer and Irishman John Connelly how he progressed from writing songs to books. He was in the second most popular Norwegian band called Da One (Norwegian for That One) after AHA and even to this day, the band continue to meet up and perform for their fans.

It has been a long journey for Jo, as he told us that as a 17 year old, himself and his friends gathered in the local cafe in their small town all dressed in long coats purchased at the Salvation Army with sucked in cheeks so that they looked cultured as they all attempted to write the great European novel whilst battling writers block

Jo Nesbo wrote his first book “The Bat Man” before he travelled to Australia and it took him just five weeks. He was initially asked to write a book about the band, but started a crime novel instead. He sent his manuscript off to a publisher convinced that they he would be told that they liked it but it needed some work but he was shocked to see they liked it and so the writer in Jo Nesbo emerged. “The Bat Man” went on to win The Riverton Prize for Best Norwegian Crime Novel of the Year (1997) and The Glass Key award for Best Nordic Crime Novel of the Year (1998).

His first two books were only in Norwegian and then the Harry Hole series began. Although the books were not intentionally written in any order, the latest additions to the series The Snowman and The Leopard follow on with the life of Harry Hole, where the previous book had left off. Jo explained that it isn’t necessary to read the books in any sequence, as he gives some background into the regular characters, but he does it in such a way, that only the minimal amount of information is given without giving away anything critical. A skill that I would imagine would be quite hard to maintain and remain consistent.

When he was asked about his style of writing, he said that his writing has remained the same throughout the books but his method with approaching the new stories had developed entirely. When he first comes up with an idea for a story, he would write a ten page synopsis, this would then be expanded into twenty pages before finally developed into hundred pages. In the final synopsis he would include some dialogue and character development. He likened this method as similar to that of British film director Stanley Kubrick, who in the early stages of his films, he would come up with six scenes that he wanted in the film and he would then work his plot around these scenes and how it would all connect.

John then moved onto a subject that seemed a bit more sensitive for the Norwegian author, he introduced the question to Nesbo, by asking about the “dead Scandinavian elephant in the room”.  For those who are not familiar with the dead elephant, he was referring to Swedish crime writer Stieg Larson who died suddenly in 2004 from a heart attack at the age of 50. Currently Jo Nesbo’s books all carry stickers claiming that “Jo Nesbo is the next Stieg Larson”. John asked Jo how he felt about this statement and Jo admitted that, “He wasn’t all that happy about it but it was down to marketing.”

He agreed that their writing is not the same, the only thing they had in common was that they both write crime novels. Jo felt that his own writing is more similar to that of American crime authors and not Scandinavian.

John also pointed that Jo has been hailed as an Scandinavian writer even though he is Norwegian. Jo maintained that if you are Swedish, Danish or Norwegian than you all seemed to fall underneath the umbrella that is Scandinavia.

After talking about the correct pronunciation of Harry Hole (Harry Ho-le) and telling us that he is also an accomplished children’s author as he did not like the books his young daughter read, he wrote, “Fart” much to the amusement of the crowd. He explained as to why The Leopard was set internationally. It seemed that Harry had finally left his native Norway and had travelled to Bangok, Rwanda and The Congo. He had originally thought about setting the story in Zimbabwe, but after visiting Rwanda and the Congo, helping refugees, he changed the location. The scenes set in Rwanda were just as when, he had been there many years ago, with teenage boys playing tennis and the aeroplanes flying overhead carrying weapons. John questioned if it was intentional for Jo to create Oslo as such a dark, dismal city and he told us how he thought of Oslo, like the city in the film Sin City, when you drove out from the city limits there was nothing to be seen.

John then asked Jo, how he felt about introduction of Ebooks and did he feel threatened that the literature industry had now taken a digital turn. Jo said he didn’t really mind about what way people read his books just as long as they did!

After the Q&A, I then had a similar conversation with John Connelly regarding digital publishing and we were both of the same opinion maintaining that we were true book lovers and enjoyed turning the crisp pages. In my own opinion, I don’t think I will ever read a book on a digital device, as I enjoy books too much, that may seem old-fashioned for the technical era that we are in, but having all my books on a single device would not be the same as walking around my library.

“How do people deal with planes?” John asked me. “When coming in to land, you would have to turn it off”

I joked with him saying that I would be sitting beside them reading the book asking them did they get to the ending as I closed it with triumph.

Soon questions were directed to the author and he did confirm, after being asked about script to screen adaption’s that he had been approached with the possibly of Harry Hole being brought to life. Working Titles films, creators of Fargo and worked alongside the Coen Brothers had contacted him and asked if he would be interested. Beforehand he been contacted a number of times, but always rejected them as he hadn’t liked how other crime dramas had been portrayed, so he always passed up on the offers. But Working Title contacted him again and he told them he would agree to it, as long as he was happy with the chosen director and scriptwriters. Again they parted ways but six months later, Working Title returned and agreed to Jo’s condition, so he signed the contract and they have a year to find suitable creative’s and then The Snowman will come to the silver screen. When he was asked, whom did he imagine playing the role of ugly detective Harry Hole, he had thought of Nick Nolte, but decided that maybe he was too old, I suggested Sean Bean but he thought he was too attractive.

Jo said that he enjoyed the research aspect of writing, but tried not to get too bogged down with it, he has friends who are policemen so they are able to advise him with that side of his stories. He made us laugh when he explained in The Leopard there is a scene where he is describing a diving exercise. So he wrote down in his head what he thought was possible and contacted a local diving school and described the scenario to them and asked them if this could be done. In the beginning they hmmmed and agggh’ed but eventually agreed that it was possible. Delighted with their reply, he promptly hung up!

He did say that there certain characteristics of himself in Harry, he liked to think that if Harry is liked, then he is liked also, but thought he had overstepped the mark when he written that Harry had said, “Braveheart should not have won the Best Movie Oscar”, which had the audience laughing. But on further investigation about the person that is Harry Hole, when he was pressed about the detective’s battle with alcoholism and had something in his past triggered this illness, Nesbo replied with, “Harry’s father was an alcoholic and Harry became an alcoholic from the tender age of 18.” In the books when Harry is asked why he drinks, Harry simply replies with “I drink because I am thirsty.”

With all the questions answered, I queued with other Harry Hole fans, clutching my worn copy of The Leopard. Once I got to the end of the queue, and told him my name, I then told him I had just finished the book today. He paused from writing his signature and what asked me what I thought.

Dare I be honest, I thought.

“I thought it was sad,” I admitted.

“Sad, how?” he asked leaning forward.

“It just sounds like the end of Harry Hole,” I replied.

“It’s not the end,” he confided returning my book with a smile. I left with my signed book, preparing for my journey home, relieved to hear that Harry was going to be around for a while longer.