Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger chat about their new Blix & Ramm thriller, Stigma … to each other!
- You are on Book Four of the Blix & Ramm series. How does that feel?
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: You’re the one doing the emotional stuff in our books, Thomas. Go for it.
Thomas: I thought you could do it this time. For a change.
Jorn: (long exhale)
(beat)
(sigh)
Thomas: Jorn?
Jorn: We … we feel good.
Thomas: Good answer.
Jorn: Feel free to elaborate, Thomas.
Thomas: No, no, you’ve covered everything. Absolutely everything. We feel good.
(beat)
(sigh)
Thomas: Absolutely no reason to say anything about what a journey it’s been, how much we’ve enjoyed seeing our characters grow through the ordeals we’ve given them, where they are now both in terms of their work and their personal lives. No reason, either, to tell everyone how much you’ve enjoyed working with me.
Jorn: I have enjoyed working with you, Thomas.
Thomas: Thank you, Jorn. That means a lot, coming from the heart like that. Oh. And ditto.
2. We are welcomed back to the series with an incarcerated Alexander Blix. How have the events in Unhinged affected Blix’s morale?
Thomas: This one is definitely for you, Jorn.
Jorn: How come?
Thomas: Because you used to be a policeman. Remember?
Jorn: Yes, but…
Thomas: No buts. Blix. Policeman. Prison. Morale. Go.
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: Well … he certainly has hit another rock bottom, our dear friend Mr Blix. He’s struggling to find meaning in his life. He doesn’t really care what happens to him, but at the same time there is still a certain element of self-preservation in him.. A certain sense or need of justice as well, which never leaves him. Not completely.
Thomas: Wow.
Jorn: What?
Thomas: You should do a programme on TV or something. Do book analysis or have a book club.
(beat)
(beat)
Jorn: You’re pulling my leg again.
Thomas: No, no. I’m being serious.
Jorn: You’re never serious.
Thomas: I’m always serious. Wait. You already have a programme on TV. Man! What a shame.
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: Maybe you should have a programme on TV.
Thomas: Maybe I should.
(beat)
(sigh)
3. It is discovered that a ruthless killer has escaped from a German jail and, once again, Alexander Blix joins forces with Emma Ramm. Why do you feel this duo works so well together?
Thomas: Take it away, Oprah.
Jorn: I could, but then all the light will be shining on me.
Thomas: True. Well …
(beat)
(beat)
(beat)
Jorn: This is going well.
Thomas: I was doing the cliffhanger thing again. Sorry. Well … there is that dynamic between the two of them, Blix being twice Emma’s age, almost, and the fact that they have a traumatic past together, events which in a sad and yet quite a loving way created a bond between them, which, as the series progresses, just keeps on growing stronger and stronger. They’re also quite driven, in their own way. Blix – at least to begin with, being the policeman following the rules and protocols – while Emma doesn’t necessarily have to. This also creates a bit of tension between them. I think they have quite a lot going for them as a duo.
(beat)
(sigh)
Thomas: You’re not saying anything, Oprah.
Jorn: Because … I’m speechless.
Thomas: What a surprise.
4. What would you love readers to take away from Stigma?
Jorn: It’s by and large a story about emotional scars, which we all have one way or the other. And how they affect us later in life, if we don’t find a way to heal those wounds.
Thomas: Wow.
Jorn: Now what.
Thomas: You were so quick out of the gates on this one.
Jorn: I thought I’d show you how it’s done.
Thomas: And yet, you didn’t answer the question.
Jorn: Oh.
(beat)
(beat)
Jorn: You’re right. Well … I hope the readers will enjoy the fact that it’s yet another departure from what we normally write together, the story going back and forth in time while one of the main characters is actually held up in prison. I’d like to believe that we’ve created a credible story with loads of twists and tensions. And – we’ve been careful not to do similar types of stories in each of the books so far, Stigma being no exception. The last thing we want to be is formulaic. Every book is different and brings something more to the series and the characters.
Thomas: Perfect.
(beat)
(beat)
Jorn: Really?
Thomas: I’m going to have a chat with that TV network you work for. Jorn’s Yawns. Everyone will watch that book show. I’m telling you.
Jorn: You are pulling my leg.
Thomas: What makes you say that?
5. This is the fourth book that you have co-written. What have been your favourite things about writing Stigma together?
Thomas: I think this has been the novel in the series which has been the easiest one to write, wouldn’t you agree, Yawn? I mean, Jorn?
Jorn: Yes.
(beat)
(sigh)
Thomas: In what way, a good talk show host would ask.
Jorn: Yes. True. I don’t know. In what way, Thomas?
Thomas: You tell me.
Jorn: I don’t know.
Thomas: I don’t know either. It just happened that way. But favourite things … for me – maybe the part about shaping the character Walter Kroos, the escaped serial killer from Germany, peelig off the layers of the reasons why he fled and why he needed to go back to Norway where he spent a summer holiday with his somewhat dysfunctional family.
Jorn: I agree.
(beat)
Thomas: Really? I thought you were going to say the prison scenes.
Jorn: Well, yes. Those, too.
Thomas: Man, that must mean we wrote a really good book.
Jorn: I think so, yes.
(beat)
(sigh)
Thomas: I enjoyed writing the scenes with the psychologist as well. To see how the relationship between Blix and his prison nemesis Jarl Inge Ree evolves.
Jorn: Yes.
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: I’m going to read this book, I think.
Thomas: You should.
6. You’re quite the duo, Jørn a former investigator in the Norwegian police, and Thomas, a journalist-turned-author. Would you say that you have injected parts of yourselves into your much-loved characters Blix and Ramm?
Jorn: I’m going to say something boring now and…
Thomas: No, no. It’s not boring.
(sigh)
(beat)
Jorn: … (clears throat) I think we put bits and pieces of ourselves into all our characters, not just Blix and Ramm.
Thomas: I agree with you. And I’m exposing all my feminine sides writing Emma, for instance.
Jorn: And while you take care of all the murders in our books, I’m the one solving them.
Thomas: Like the true policeman you are.
Jorn: There you go.
(beat)
(beat)
Thomas: It’s not exactly true, though, is it?
Jorn: What isn’t?
Thomas: That you’re the one solving them.
Jorn: You may have helped on occasion.
Thomas: On plenty of occasions.
Jorn: If you say so.
Thomas: I do, Colombo.
(sigh)
(beat)
(sigh)
7. When writing the Blix and Ramm series, do you plan the next books in the series, or do you prefer to see where the mood takes you?
Jorn: You do this one, Thomas.
Thomas: Okay. No.
(beat)
(beat)
Jorn: What kind of answer is that?
Thomas: No, we don’t plan ahead.
(sigh)
(sigh)
Jorn: I think we can add that we wanted to end the first one with a bang, quite literally, as the scene ended at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Which could have been interpreted as the fireworks going off, but also as an explosion. The readers clearly thought the latter, so then we had to figure out what that explosion was all about. And that’s how book two happened.
Thomas: Yes. Like I said – we don’t plan ahead.
Jorn: We take it step by step.
Thomas: Yes. Like I said – we don’t plan ahead.
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: Eloquent, Thomas. Elaborate.
Thomas: I know.
Jorn: You should think of becoming a writer.
8. Could you describe Stigma in one sentence?
Thomas: No.
(beat)
(beat)
Jorn: No.
9. Maybe the most important question, how do you celebrate a new publication?
Thomas: Jorn takes his dog for a walk.
Jorn: Thomas lights up a cigar.
Thomas: I smoke it, too. And I stare at the wall for three minutes, tapping my other fingers on the table. Then I start working on a new one.
Jorn: That’s quite sad, don’t you think?
Thomas: Maybe I should get myself a dog.
Jorn: I thought you were allergic to dogs.
Thomas: I am.
Jorn: You’re in for a treat, then.
Thomas: So is your dog, I’m sure.
Jorn: It’s really nice to have a dog.
Thomas: So you keep telling me.
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: Should we tell the readers that Blix has–
Thomas: No.
Jorn: I thought we could … you know, book five and everything.
Thomas: It’s too revealing, Jorn. Cliffhangers, remember?
Jorn: Yes, but … okay.
(beat)
(sigh)
(beat)
(sigh)
Jorn: We really should celebrate more.
Thomas: Have two cigars?
Jorn: Funny. To celebrate the fact that our books have done amazingly well in so many countries.
Thomas: You’re right. Take the dog with you, let’s go have a drink. Kill two birds with one stone. Just don’t accidentally kill the dog.
Jorn: Hm? What?
Thomas: Rule number one in crime fiction. Don’t. Kill. The. Dog. Or pets in general. Darlings, on the other hand.
Jorn: (…)
(beat)
(beat)
Thomas: I’m pulling your leg, Yawn.
Jorn: I knew it.
