Eystein Hanssen debuted as an author in 2010 with the crime novel De ingen savner, to good reviews and a nomination for the Booksellers Prize. VG proclaimed him one of the three upcoming crime stars in Norway. "Good and grotesque," wrote Dagbladet.
The second novel in the series about the Norwegian police heroine Elli, Giftstrøm, came in August 2011, then Triangel (2012), Åtseldyr (2013), Brennemerket (2015), Jaget (2017), En kort evighet (2019) and Bikkjer (2023). 2018 also saw Black Landscape, which introduced two new characters: the journalist Nora Wold and the former Mercenary Roger Eik. Book two in this series, Kokong, was published in 2021. The critics have designated Eystein Hanssen as a crime writer to be reckoned with in the Norwegian book landscape. Several of the books have been published in Germany and Sweden.
Eystein Hanssen has a varied education and professional background. After high school and military service, he stepped into his professional shoes as a freelance journalist and photographer in the local newspaper Oppland Arbeiderblad in Gjøvik. The news bulletin brought him to NTB's photography department in Oslo, where he was alternately a freelance press photographer, head of duty at the photo desk and later photojournalist.
In 1989, he moved to New York, where he stayed for a year and a half and took various film courses. He then moved to Copenhagen as a freelance cinematographer but returned to NTB in 1991. As a journalist/photographer, he participated on behalf of NTB in an expedition to Antarctica in the 1991-92 season. In the spring of 1992, Eystein Hanssen started in TV 2 as a photographer and news editor, and later in the reportage magazine Dokument 2. In 1994, he took part in an expedition to Mount Everest. After TV 2, ten years followed with his own production company and documentary film productions, where he mainly produced, but in several cases, also directed and wrote scripts. Several of the productions are award-winning.
In 2017, Eystein Hanssen was one of the initiators of the Authors' Association. He is currently elected leader.
Eystein Hanssen is educated in film, information technology, media knowledge, and marketing and has a master's in administration and management. He lives in Oslo with his wife, two boys and a dog.
