May 24, 7:30pm:FREE SPECIAL EVENT: James Ellroy and Scandinavian Crime Writer Jo Nesbo. If you love Stieg Larsson, pay attention. SOLD OUT

This event is now full. At the Goethe Institute Auditorium, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Every so often an author comes around who rattles our imagination.  Stieg Larsson, author of the “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” trilogy, was one such novelist.  Writers Bloc invites you to come to a special event, an opportunity to meet and listen to Jo Nesbo, a Scandinavian crime novelist from Oslo who draws comparisons to Stieg Larsson everywhere he goes.  His books have sold millions in Europe, and in the UK they fly off the shelves.  Now is our chance.  And who better to speak with him than our own bestselling author James Ellroy?

 

If you like the pace of Stieg Larsson novels, if you love the complex characters of Henning Mankell, if the plots of Michael Connelly novels keep you up at night, then Jo Nesbo’s new American release, The Snowman, is for you.  Nesbo’s literary cocktail of flawed and tortured cop, brilliant and terrible bad guy, fascinating political and social commentary, historical perspective, and complex male/female relationships, make The Snowman obsessively great reading. Nesbo is also a noted rock musician in Oslo, when he’s not turning out bestsellers that keep his readers up until dawn.

 

Booklist suggests that Nesbø is “poised to lead Scandinavian crime fiction into a new, post-Stieg Larsson era.” Booklist is alluding to recent trends with Nesbø: cult status in Scandinavia; stardom in Europe (he currently has four different books on UK bestseller lists); his work translated into over 40 languages; 9 million copies of his books sold worldwide.  Wendy Lesser in Slate writes, “Nesbø’s talent for complex, propulsive plotting reaches its pinnacle in this volume: I actually had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to finish reading it, because thinking about its plot strands made me hopelessly insomniac.” The Independent (UK) adds, “That he is able to combine the urgency of the best storytellers with a keen and intelligent engagement with social issues may well be the reason why Nesbø is shaping up to be the next big name in Scandinavian crime fiction, now that Mankell is on the point of retiring Kurt Wallander and Stieg Larsson is hors de combat.

 

James Ellroy, LA’s own “demon dog” of fiction, keeps us up all night with his books as well.  His novels are utterly legendary and several have become classics: LA Confidential. The Black Dahlia. White Jazz. American Tabloid. Blood’s A Rover.  They are dark, violent, thrilling and audacious. Ellroy takes Los Angeles, rips it open and reveals the corruption and decadence that polluted Los Angeles politics and police work. Ellroy’s good guys are often as bad as his bad guys. His memoirs, My Dark Places and his recent The Hilliker Curse, are as dark and addictive  as his fiction.

 

THIS EVENT IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC.  Jo Nesbo’s and James Ellroy’s books will be available for sale, and the authors will sign at the program. At the Goethe Institute  Auditorium, 5750 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles 90036, just east of LACMA.  Ample free parking.