Jo Nesbø

Jo Nesbø is a Norwegian author who worked as a stockbroker and fronted the popular rock band Di Derre before turning to crime writing with The Bat in 1997, the first of what became the Harry Hole series. Across fourteen novels, Nesbø has followed Hole, a brilliant, self-destructive Oslo homicide detective whose investigations repeatedly cross into international territory and whose own addictions and losses shadow the plots as much as the killers he pursues. The series found its breakout international audience with The Snowman (2007), later adapted into a 2017 film starring Michael Fassbender, and has made Nesbø the best-selling Norwegian author in history, with more than 60 million books sold in 51 languages. Alongside Harry Hole, Nesbø writes acclaimed standalone thrillers, including Headhunters, a lean corporate-heist thriller that became a hit Norwegian film in 2011, and Macbeth, a noir reimagining of Shakespeare's tragedy written for the Hogarth Shakespeare series. New readers usually start with either The Bat, for Hole's origin story, or The Snowman, the entry point most English-language readers actually discovered him through — both work, since Nesbø writes each book to stand reasonably well on its own despite the ongoing arc. He continues to publish new Harry Hole novels regularly, with Kill Shot due in late 2026.