Óttar M. Norðfjörð

“I think that my ingenuousness keeps me from understanding evil. And precisely because I don't understand it, evil keeps turning up in my work,” says novelist Óttar M. Norðfjörð. He has a new thriller out this Christmas.

In 2007, Óttar M. Norðfjörð made a decisive entrance into the Icelandic thriller scene with The Knife of Abraham, an international thriller dealing with the clash of religions. The book was a bestseller, and added Óttar's name to the ranks of Icelandic thriller royalty.

The book was also a career shift for Óttar, who had until then made his name with markedly less mainstream works. He paid his dues with the independent poetry outfit Nýhil, a group of young poets bent on shaking up the literature scene with irreverent, experimental and sharply critical writing. Óttar's contributions to Nýhil's roster included both poetry and novels that showed modern society in a distinctly unforgiving light.

In 2010, Óttar published two novels that could be said to represent both sides of his career. One of them came out last spring and is titled Örvitinn; eða hugsjónamaðurinn (The Idiot; or the Idealist) – a meditation on the first decade of the 21^st century in novella form, a bildungsroman with close ties to Voltaire's Candide. The other is his third thriller, Áttablaðarósin (The Eight-Point Rose), a political thriller set in post-collapse Iceland. The film rights to the book have been sold.

Óttar's thrillers have attracted attention outside of Iceland. Sólkross (Sun Cross) will be published in German in 2011, in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair. It is also slated to appear in Spanish, as is The Knife of Abraham.

“It's because I don't understand evil”

“There is simply no way to fully fathom Óttar Martin Norðfjörð,” said a critic about The Eight-Point Rose, and many were surprised to see a young experimental poet publish a thriller. Did your decision to venture into the realm of genre fiction provoke prejudice?

“Prejudice” may be too strong a word, but many of my author friends did find it strange that I was planning to write a crime novel – some of them even thought I was kidding! Until then I had mostly published poetry, and many people expected me to go on like that forever. However, I like to try my hand at new forms and genres. I feel it enriches me as an author.

Abraham's Knife was a fast-paced international thriller in the Dan Brown mold. Your new novel, however, takes place in Iceland, is sharply critical of modern society and focuses on character development. Are you moving away from the American thriller tradition and towards the Scandinavian one?

I think that The Eight-Point Rose is most accurately placed midway between the American and Scandinavian tradition. Although it indulges in American-style car chases and gunfights, the heart of the book lies in its social criticism. This sort of cocktail shouldn't be surprising: Iceland sits on the junction of the American and European tectonic plates.

The film rights of two of your books have been sold: Abraham's Knife in 2007, and now your new book. Will you be involved with the production of the films?

I'll be involved with writing the script for The Eight-Point Rose, either by myself or as part of a team. I've worked on various film scripts for the past few years, so I have some experience with that world, which is very different from the world of novels. In films, it's all about being to the point and succinct, fitting complex thoughts into one sentence if possible. When we have a good script, my job will be done.

You have claimed to be ingenuous and optimistic by nature. However, your work often paints a dark picture of Western society, overrun by corruption, hypocrisy, violence and evil. Does your optimism retreat when you start writing?

This may seem contradictory, but I don't think it is. I think that my ingenuousness keeps me from understanding evil. And precisely because I don't understand it, evil keeps turning up in my work. But even though I sometimes write about the shadier aspects of the world, I'm an optimist at heart. I tend to believe everything will come out all right in the end, just like in a good story.