Jo's back with a Hole lotta grief

NESBO ON HIS ‘MAIN MAN’ HARRY

- Jon Coates

BEST-SELLING author Jo Nesbo has a specially imported desk with a stunning view across Oslo, the city which has been the backdrop for his Harry Hole thrillers for nearly two decades.

But this is the one place at which the footballer-turned-author cannot write.

Almost a decade ago, Jo revealed sitting at his imported desk made writing feel like work and he preferred to pen his stories in hotel lobbies or airport lounges.

The crime writer had switched to using a cafe near his home in the Norwegian capital before the pandemic, even buying it when it was faced with closure so he had somewhere to go to write.

Covid forced Jo to sell his cafe and learn to write at home – but he has yet to overcome the final hurdle of actually using the desk in his office.

The 63-year-old says: “The cafe is gone. “What happened during the pandemic

was that I learnt to write at home. Up until then it was the only place I couldn’t write.

“Now I am writing more at home, which is kind of sad, actually. I kind of liked the fact I had to go out among people to write.”

Asked if that means he now uses the desk in his home office, he says: “That is the only place I can’t write. I have this beautiful desk that I imported, that I bought for a ridiculous amount of money.

“It is sitting there in the middle of the room. What I do is sit on a small table close to the wall, where I look directly into the wall and write there instead.