Yo Nesbø: "Walking through the streets of Minneapolis is like walking through the halls of a mental institution."

BarcelonaThe writer I Nesbø (Oslo, 1960) would never write true crime because it wouldn't allow him to do one of the things he loves most: reflect on moral dilemmas and dissect society. In his latest novel, Minnesota (Proa / Reservoir Books), translated into Catalan by Laura Segarra Vidal, moves to Minneapolis in 2016, the year Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Four years later, in the Midwestern city, A white police officer killed African American George Floyd.

"My grandparents grew up in New York, and I spent a lot of time in the United States. Minnesota is the state with the most Scandinavian immigration, and as a young man, I was fascinated by the Norwegian community there because they maintain traditions that were long forgotten in Norway," explains Nesbø. The Norwegian writer has many childhood memories of the United States: "It was the American dream, a vast place that meant freedom and the chance of a better life. However, little by little, I also became acquainted with the violence that exists in American culture, and dark spots appeared on the horizon."

Nesbø spent time in Minneapolis preparing the book and immersed himself in a city where there was a lot of social unrest due to the Floyd case. "Violence has always been part of American culture. There's a lot of it elsewhere, but unlike in Europe or Asia, in the United States, violence is seen as part of the solution to the problem, and this is one of the themes I explore in the book," he says. In this sense, the Norwegian writer doesn't want to try to convince anyone of anything. "I've tried to balance opinions. There's a female character who sleeps with a gun under her pillow to feel protected and to keep her father far away, but then there are all the death tolls due to guns." In fact, the novel begins when an arms dealer is assassinated by a lone sniper who vanishes and, shortly after, kills again.

Bob Oz, a new police officer

The devastating consequences of anyone having a gun in their home are latent throughout the novel and mark both the killer and the new police officer created by Nesbø: Bob Oz, who has some points in common with his best-known character, Harry Hole. "Bob is very successful with women, despite not being handsome, and he drinks a lot, but he's not an alcoholic like Hole. Oz is just as brilliant as a police officer, but he's much funnier and has a better sense of humor. On the other hand, Bob has lived through a terrible tragedy, but emotionally he's not as devastated as Hole." Nesbø will publish a novel featuring the Norwegian investigator who has given him so many achievements. "I prioritize my ideas. Sometimes Hole fits and sometimes it doesn't. However, I love Hole very much," says Nesbø, who also doesn't rule out repeating with Oz, although, for now, it's not in his plans.

The writer intentionally chooses to set the novel in 2016, because Trump's arrival at the presidency of the United States is a turning point: "It was a model country because, in many ways, modern democracy was born there, but it has been drifting towards something else that has been drifting towards something else. Trump who will end up becoming a semi-dictatorship?" asks Nesbø. "It seems like a joke that Trump, who became famous for the money he inherited and for appearing on a television show, is president," he says, admitting that among Trump's voters there are many Scandinavians.

It's not difficult to imagine Nesbø strolling through a not very welcoming Minneapolis, where practically no one opens up on the streets, leisure activities are concentrated in shopping malls, and gangs dominate some of the city's neighborhoods. In the novel, one of the characters is a Norwegian writer who lands trying to find out what happened to Oz. "It was a way of making it clear that the person writing this is not part of that culture. No matter how long you spend in a place, you are not part of it. When I was in Minneapolis, it was as if I were walking through the halls of a mental institution, seeing the sad state of mental health in the United States," he reflects.

In the North American city, Nesbø was also fascinated by the culture surrounding taxidermy. "I visited galleries of artists who use taxidermy to make works of art with animals that they place in very human situations. It's a narrative form, and I decided to incorporate it into the novel, also because when I entered a taxidermy shop, I had the feeling of entering a church: everything was very solemn and there was a lot of respect," says the writer, who will release a Netflix series about Harry Hole next year, as well as the films The House of Night and Blood in the snow"I've been deeply involved in all these projects. If they don't turn out well, I'm responsible," he says.