Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway’s premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen. After three years military service he attended business school and formed the band Di Derre (‘Them There’). They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night. When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat.

Monica Hesse (3 May 2011). "Jo Nesbo, the next Stieg Larsson?". The Washington Post . Retrieved 5 September 2012. It was announced in October 2013 that, writing under the pen-name of Tom Johansen, Nesbø had written at least two novels provisionally entitled Blood on Snow and More Blood on the Water, scheduled to be published in autumn 2014 and spring 2015. [17] [18] The books Blood on Snow and its sequel Midnight Sun: Blood on Snow 2 were published in 2015, but under Jo Nesbø's name. [19] [20]Nesbø’s much-heralded gifts are on display—using his talent for conjuring the chilly Munch-like atmospherics of Oslo in the winter and his eye for grisly, alarming details that slam home the horror of the evil that men do.”— The New York Times Book Review Child, Ben (9 September 2015). "Michael Fassbender set to star in Jo Nesbø's The Snowman". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 July 2016.

a b c d e f g h i j k "Jo Nesbo." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2018. Retrieved via Gale In Context: Biography database, 30 November 2019. Shortlisted for Ark's Children's Book Award for Best Children's Book 2007 ( Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder) [36] Fröhlich, Arild (14 March 2014), Doktor Proktors prompepulver (Adventure, Comedy, Family), Proton Cinema, Tradewind Pictures, Senator Film Produktion , retrieved 2 December 2021Doktor Proktors Tidsbadekaret (2008) (English: Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder: Bubble in the Bathtub) (2011) A fine novel ...suspenseful. Blood on Snow has a lot of that romanticised masculinity one finds in for example mafia movies... it’s one of the contributing factors in making the best passages in this novel truly wonderful literature. If I were to highlight one particular quality, it would have to be how beautifully Nesbø has drawn up his main character and how effective Olav’s narrative voice is. Dagbladet (Norway) a b "Jo Nesbo's books on their way to the big screen". Malay Mail online. 7 April 2017 . Retrieved 3 August 2017. Kuiper, Kathleen (25 March 2019). " Jo Nesbø". Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com. Retrieved 1 December 2019.