Jo Nesbo in Harrogate – Theakstons Peculiar Crime Event

The tension and the excitement in the audience was palpable……

For the stage in front of us was set and the arrival of the special guest star was imminent.

The thumping baseline of ‘Flash’s Theme’ by Queen – the Flash Gordon theme song pumped in time with our heartbeats and the sound was deafening. A true literary rockstar in all senses of the word was about to enter the room.

To add to the atmosphere, a mist was starting to descend and fill the room threatening to swallow us all up in a snowstorm of sorts. Snow…..the fear crept inside me and I turned to the guy next to me whose beard had taken on a blood red tinge thanks to the rotating spotlight above. The musical thunder swallowed my screams…

Would there be Blood on Snow? Should I not have reread The Snowman the night before? Now, if I saw a scarf lying on the floor, abandoned from its snowman body, that was it, I’d be out of there!

Then a man fighting his way through the mist, dressed in black, waving his arms to find his way – a bit like a Phantom…..I was half out of my chair but phew it was luckily Mark Lawson, presenter and broadcaster extraordinaire.

And then…

Jo Nesbo entered the building….

…..the man himself…..

…the Redeemer…… came into view

Shocks and gasps from the audience showed greatness had arrived….

Jo Nesbo was in the house……….

Disclaimer – some or all of this experience may or may not have been true since the writer has a overly vivid imagination..

But this evening – the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival was very real and very exciting indeed….

There was a lot to discover about Jo Nesbo that night – first of all the ‘Bono’ glasses he was wearing was not a reference to that fine rock star or Jo’s own rock star past, but an eye infection.

The Bono glasses

He laughed at the irony of the glasses and at his own rock star credentials. His band were called  – Di Derre  – he said, and they would  have to change their name regularly as they were so bad but – Di Derre, ‘those guys’ in Norwegian stuck. And the rest they say is history.

What about the trappings of a rock star life? Did he have private jets and fast cars?

You can tell how well your books are selling by the size of the car they pick you up in at the airport’, he said. No smart cars for this man, then. No  – one time was actually a private jet was sent. Very cool he laughed.

He still looked the rock star as he chatted to Mark Lawson – his designer stubble, Bono shades, and black clothes, not to mention the bottles of beer on the table beside him. No normal water for Jo Nesbo!

So Harry Hole? This new book is not about him so will Harry be back?

Yes, he said. Harry is just taking a much needed holiday (after his latest adventures the poor guy must really need some TLC) He will be back and n the meantime, the film of The Snowman is being discussed with Martin Scorsese…..

How did the name Harry Hole come about?

It came from two people – Harry a famous Norwegian footballer and a man in his village where he lived as a child with the surname Hole. The name took on a scary image as the neighbour was a tall old man with a beard and Jo was told that if he was naughty ‘Hole’ would get you…

Blood on Snow

Jo’s original plan in writing this was to write about a fictional writer Tom Johansen from the 70s who is snatched from the airport in what he calls an express kidnapping (where the person is released practically overnight if the ransom is paid)

He wanted to create a Wikipedia entry for this man, pretend he existed in real life and even write the books that this fictional writer would have written. Sadly the lawyers stepped in so he instead turned to writing Johansen’s novels. The first – Blood on Snow….

There were many amusing questions of the night, least of all one guy who asked ‘ Do your friends now avoid you or think you’re a bit weird when they see what you write?

He laughed and nodded his head. Yeah, no I don’t think so” , he said. He still has his old friends, his old hangouts and prefers the quiet life that way.

Jo Nesbo – a rockstar of his own making and Tom Johansen – the start of a new and exciting Nesbo chapter…

We are honoured to have FOUR copies of BLOOD ON SNOW  to giveaway!! One has been signed by the man himself! Look!

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