THE AUTHOR

 

 

Christoffer Holmsteen is the author of the thrilling Perception of Truth-trilogy that revisits 9/11, invites the reader into Osama bin Laden's cave, inside the mind of a suicide bomber, and alongside the men and women who are hunting the

al Qaeda terrorists in The War on Terror.

 

 

BIO
Christoffer Holmsteen’s fascination with the work carried out by police and intelligence services dates back to his teenage years, as he was growing up in Denmark. The 1979 BBC television series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on the novel by legendary John le Carré, left eleven year old Christoffer with an appetite for more. Although the book proved too big of a mouthful at that early age, he was later greatly inspired by le Carré. Around the age of twelve he devoured the real life crime dramas authored by retired police officer Torben Nielsen, followed by works of Anders Bodelsen, Poul-Henrik Trampe, and Dan Turéll. He took a special liking to the ten novel social realistic police procedural series by Swedish writers Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. The works, produced between 1965 and 1975, have been credited with having paved the way for what we now know as Nordic Noir. When a good friend introduced him to Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal he knew he had found his favorite author and major inspiration, and soon read all his works. The 1984 book by George Jonas, Vengeance, (on which Spielberg’s 2005 film Munich is based) that tells the story of the ”Operation Wrath of God” carried out by Mossad, and designed to assassinate those responsible for the killing of the eleven Israeli Olympic team members in 1972, both frightened and intrigued the sixteen-year-old. He asked himself why people hated each other with such force, and began to read about the Middle East and follow world affairs.
 

When visiting Copenhagen in July 1985 Christoffer Holmsteen had his first run in with the effects of terrorism, when he witnessed up close the damages left by an Islamic Jihad bombing of the Northwest Airlines office a few hours earlier, which killed one and injured around thirty. The bomb maker was later suspected (but cleared) of involvement in the 1989 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie.
In September 1986 Christoffer Holmsteen was staying close by when a bomb attack by Hezbollah killed 7 and injured 55 in rue de Rennes in Paris. He witnessed the destruction, the despair and confusion first hand. Years later it was discovered, the explosives used in the attack had been stolen in Sweden by a Danish group, Blekingegadebanden, with close ties to the Palestinian terror organization PFLP.                                        

These experiences led to a personal search for what exactly makes someone become a terrorist. 

Following the efforts toward peace in Northern Ireland, rocked by the Omagh bombing in August 1998, Christoffer Holmsteen began work on what was to be his first novel, based on the Real IRA. However, the Africa bombings that same month carried out by al Qaeda caused him to simultaneously study Osama bin Laden. 
 

Having made New York City his home, on 9/11 Christoffer Holmsteen witnessed the explosion caused by the second aircraft, and the collapse of the south tower. Realizing it was no accident, he soon came to the conclusion he was seeing with his own eyes the acts of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, who possessed not only the motivation but also the capability to carry out such an attack. Learning what he had watched disintegrate, United Airlines Flight 175, made him take a serious look at the true values in life; his (now ex) wife is a flight attendant for that airline, and he felt relieved to know she was with her new boyfriend in Argentina.

 

Appreciating family more than ever, moving back to Denmark to be close to his relatives, the author-to-be put aside all other work and began an extensive research into al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Never did he think, the work toward a finished first novel would take him sixteen years. But he has now arrived at the end of that journey.

Talk or Kill is a multi-dimensional portrait of evil people convinced they are committing righteous acts, and of the honorable men and women ready to fight them at the risk of their own lives.

Christoffer Holmsteen is a true people-person, who has worked in the upscale service industry for three decades. He also studied at the Danish Journalism School, and is an avid traveler and true cosmopolitan. His rich life experiences helps him to create realistic fiction.