Jo Nesbo, right, and a scene from Netflix Harry Hole series, starring Tobias Santelmann (Image: Netflix / Jo Nesbo)
Crime writer Jo Nesbo has revealed both his daughter and his mother have not read any of his bestselling Harry Hole novels. The 13 books featuring the brilliant but troubled detective have sold more than 50 million copies across the globe and have been adapted into a Netflix drama streaming from Thursday.
Detective Hole, starring Tobias Santelmann, 45, as Harry, has attracted rave early reviews and been tipped as the next binge-worthy series on the streaming giant. The nine-part drama was adapted by Nesbo, 65, also its showrunner, from the fifth book in the Harry Hole series, The Devil’s Star, with elements of the two books before it, Redbreast and Nemesis.
Despite his daughter Selma, 27, working as a production assistant on Detective Hole when it was shot in Oslo from May to December 2024, the writer revealed she had not read any of the Harry Hole books, and neither did his mother, Kirsten.
Jo Nesbo took to the stage as the Author of the Day at London Book Fair earlier this month (Image: Courtesy London Book Fair)
When asked if Selma had read the books since working on the TV drama, Jo said: “She still hasn’t read any of my (adult) books. She has read my children’s books but I am kind of happy that she hasn’t read any of them (Harry Hole books).
“My mother was the same, she was a librarian and she would collect all my books and have them on the shelves, and she a keen book reader but she didn’t read any of my novels. Her reason for doing that was that her sister had read my first novel before she did and she warned her that there is sex in the book, so my mother decided, ok, I don’t want to read about my son writing about sex, and I think maybe my daughter is the same.”
Detective Hole sees Harry investigating a serial killer while paired with a corrupt cop, Tom Waaler, portrayed by actor Joel Kinnaman, 46, best known for The Suicide Squad films, who he suspects of killing his only friend in the Homicide Division, Ellen, when she got too close to taking him down.
Her death causes Harry to break his promise to his new girlfriend Rakel Faulke, played by actress Pia Tjelta, 48, to stop drinking.
Tobias Santelmann as Hole in new Netflix drama, Detective Hole (Image: Netflix)
When asked to describe Harry to anyone that has not read his books Norway’s greatest writer said: “Harry is a man of contradictions. He is a loner, a closed person, but for some reason, maybe due to his sense of humour and his observation skills, he has this charm.
“He is both a cynic and a romantic. He is a lone wolf because he actually really cares about the people he loves and in his experience of life when he ties bonds with people, whether a girlfriend or other people, they will get hurt. Not by him necessarily but by his job or circumstance and that has formed him as a human being.
“He inherited his drinking from his grandfather and that made him hard to be around.”
He adds: “There are two Harrys, the sober Harry who is so organised and good at his job, and the drunk Harry who is of no use to anybody.”
Despite the dark nature of the books Netflix did not ask for this to be toned down in the TV version and Jo adds: “If you asked me what it is about, although it is a whodunnit and a grim murder story, I would say at its heart it is a love story.”