The escape from reality

by Jorn Lier Horst

I am a new member of this blog and write from Norway, one of the remotest corners of the globe. Or, let me correct that, I am not completely new here. I have previously been a guest blogger when I revealed The Secret of Nordic Noir.

So, let me use this first blog post to introduce myself and my writing. I am 44 years old and am married to Beate. Together, we have a son of 18 and a daughter of 13, as well as the dog Teodor. We live in the small coastal town of Larvik, which is located 105 km (65 miles) south west of Oslo.

Faithful companion, Teodor

Until the autumn of 2013 I worked as chief investigator of police in Vestfold, a police district with 450 employees serving a population of approximately 250 000 inhabitants. Experiences from this real police work has, in many ways, shaped me as a human being, and traces of that are visible in my books. My work as a chief investigator allowed me to go behind the barrier tapes and to walk among the remains and traces of severe crimes. See the aftermath of a relentless struggle. Stepping into rooms that have been closed yet contain unexplored secrets. That’s where I like to bring readers. 

I've written nine novels about police inspector William Wisting. Four of them are translated into English. The last of them, The Caveman, is out February 19. And please bear with me on this blog. English is not my first language. I write my books in Norwegian, but I blog with the English I learned at school.

My work as an investigator of murders and other serious crimes has taught me a lot about death, but even more about life. I have met crime victims and their families, and for many years it was also my job to talk with those who had carried out those crimes, to interrogate the perpetrators. Standing face to face with other peoples' anger, grief, despair and remorse has been invaluable to me. It helps me to create an authentic nerve running through my current books and in my books to come.

Crime is about the world we see around us. The stories of murder and crimes arising out of social injustice and social misery that we can all recognize ourselves in. I think that crime literature has its own ability to function as a mirror of society. The genre tends to confront society with itself. It provides these books with an intrinsic value and quality far beyond just making a flight a little shorter. To open a book, is to open a world of possibilities: Opportunities for new experiences, new discoveries and new insights. Reading and literature can give us knowledge and overview. The more we read, the more we know. And the more we know, the more questions we can ask. In addition to enable us to understand reality better, literature might also give us the opportunity to escape from reality.

Jorn Lier Horst