Author Interview

The Killing creator, Soren Sveistrup, tells Hannah Stephenson how recovering from burnout gave him space to finish his debut novel.

As the creator of Scandi-noir thriller The Killing, Soren Sveistrup has enjoyed the sort of success most screenwriters can only dream of.

First shown on BBC4 in 2011, The Killing quickly became a cult success, despite being foreign and subtitled.

It won a Bafta, ran for three seasons, and was the forerunner to other hit Scandi dramas, such as The Bridge.

Yet the accolades, attention and offers of work heaped upon Sveistrup, who was billed as the biggest Danish export since Carlsberg, have at times proved hard to handle, he admits.

Screenwriting by day, working on his debut novel at night, and with a young family too, something had to give.

The episode forced Sveistrup to rethink his life, and gave him time to complete his debut novel, The Chestnut Man – a nail-biting, atmospheric thriller in which a killer’s calling card is a chestnut man doll left at the scenes of his crimes.

The book introduces us to two new characters, Naia Thulin, an ambitious young detective, and her partner Mark Ness, a burned-out investigator who has just been kicked out of Europol. Their unlikely chemistry is as much a draw of the novel as the gritty plot itself.

“Thulin and Hess are two sides of me – Hess is the guy being burned out. I felt burned out at the time and I gave something of that to Hess.

“Thulin is another side of me – the one who was fed up with feeling burned out and just thinks he’s lazy and egotistic. I just had conversations with myself.”

The book has been sold in 25 territories, is already a bestseller in Denmark, Holland and Norway, and is attracting interest in screen adaptation.

“It seems like it’s going to be adapted – but I’m not allowed to reveal details. My company is negotiating those things,” Sveistrup explains.

“When I did The Killing, I had a free hand, and I think it’s important that the creative team who do The Chestnut Man also have free hands to try to develop something they think would be interesting.”

The 51-year-old – who lives in Copenhagen with his journalist wife Kristina and two sons, Silas, 12, and nineyear-old Sylvester – doesn’t want to write the screenplay, preferring to focus on the second novel in the series.

His own early life has influenced his work, too.

The adopted son of two teachers, Sveistrup was brought up on Funen, an island off Copenhagen, and he recalls being a sensitive child.

The creative process was – and still is – a great release for him, he reflects. But he realises how important it is to take time out.

“Instead of being absorbed in work, it’s important to take time to be grateful for being here and enjoying the good moments. You have to be able to enjoy the good moments to cope with the bad ones.”

The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup is published by Michael Joseph, priced £12.99.