AshehougAgency

Egeland, Tom

Author and journalist Tom Egeland was born in 1959 in Oslo, Norway. He grew up in the suburb Kalbakken in Groruddalen, north of Oslo's city center, where his parents ran two shops.

As a young teenager he was active in a local youth club for Christians, but he later left the Christian faith.

Egeland attended Nordtvet primary school, Groruddalen junior high school and Oslo katedralskole high school (1975-1979). During high school, he lived for a year as an exchange student in the USA (attending Northglenn high school in Denver and Granger high school in Salt Lake City) in 1977-78. Egeland's American host family were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (mormons).

Egeland worked as a journalist in the weekly magazine Vi Menn (1979-1983) before he was hired as a news reporter by the daily paper Aftenposten. He worked for Aftenposten from 1983 to 1992, as a reporter, news desk editor and night shift editor from 1983 to 1992. In 1992 he was hired by the newly founded tv channel TV 2, working as an editor at the Bergen based tv station's Oslo office (1992-2006).
From 2006, Egeland has worked as a full time author.

Tom Egeland made his literary debut in 1988 with the horror novel Ragnarok about a modern couple trapped in the Norse viking age. In 1993 he published the horror novel Shadowland. In the media thriller Troll's Mirror (1997) he introduced the characthers Kristin Bye and Gunnar Borg - both journalists - who also appear in later books.

His commercial break-through was the novel Circle's End (2001), about the discovery of a gold shrine - The Shrine of Sacred Secrets - containing a 2000 year old manuscript changing the world's perception of Jesus Christ and Christianity. Several years later, critics and readers noted the striking similarities between Circle's End and the international bestseller The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (published in 2003, two years after Circle's End). Egeland has in numerous interviews in Norwegian and European media categorically dismissed any claims of Brown having plagerized him, stating they obviously had the same idea and did much of the same research (and reading the same books) - all by coincident.

Later Egeland wrote the parapsychological crime novel The Ouija Board (2004). The thriller The Night of the Wolves (2005) - about Checken terrorists taking control over a live television debate show - will also be a feature length movie and a tv mini-series. Egeland wrote the script himself.
In 2007 Tom Egeland published two books: The Girl in the Mirror (for young adults) and Guardians of the Covenant, a thriller with the same main character as Circle's End: The albino archaeologist Bjørn Beltø.

Egeland's books have been translated into 19 languages.

Tom Egeland is married and has three children: Jorunn, Vegard and Astrid. The family lives in Oslo, Norway.

Click here to download a brochure about Tom Egeland's latest title, Guardians of the Covenant, and his backlist.

Watch the video Tom Egeland talks about Guardians of the Covenant.

Praise for Tom Egeland's books:

"A first class thriller. Tom Egeland's Night of the Wolf is extremely sophisticated in its construction. The author constantly has new surprises up his sleeve and spellbinds the reader from the first page to the last. A bull's-eye of a novel!"
(VG, on Night of the Wolf )

"Wow!" (Fyens Stifstidende, on Circle's End)

"... a finely cultivated thriller.." (Dagbladet, on Ragnarok)

"... effective writing style that pulls the reader easily into the story..."
(Dagbladet, on Shadowland)

"A high class thriller..." (VG, on Troll Mirror)

“ Circle’s End belongs to the same family as The Da Vinci Code, but its main character is more interesting … the essential emissions and intriguing false leads can spur anyone’s imagination” (Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen on Circles End)

“Wow! If you’re one of those who’d wish to be able to read The Da Vinci Code again for the first time, this is your chance.”
(Fyens Stiftstidende, Odense, Denmark on Circles End)

“Egeland deserves all the success he has received. This is an exquisite suspense novel, catchy until the last page. And Egeland, too, has done his research, and it is outstanding” (Søndag, Denmark on Circles End)

“One becomes much more involved with its characters; they are, as opposed to the people in The Da Vinci Code, real people, to whom one can relate” (Nordjyske Stiftstidende, Denmark on Circles End)

"A thriller with a high intensity! Interesting and obvious similarities with The Da Vinci C ode. An exciting story with a high tempo. The author effectively builds his fiction on both facts and fantasy. Exciting!"
(Expressen,Stockholm, Sweden (Maria Näslund 4/12-2005) on Circles End)

"Egeland is a better novelist than Brown. He has a vivid language and cares about his main characters."
(Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden (Lars Linder 30/11 - 2005) on Circles End)

"A thriller with a Nerve" (Expressen, Sweden)

"A fantastical historical thriller. A breathtaking adventure" (To Paron, Greece on Circles End)

"A cleverly constructed story with a controversial subject" (Corriera della Séra, Italy on Circles End)

"An adventure story for adults. Egeland's work is much more credible than Brown." (Kristina Carlson, Suomen Kuvalehti, Finland on Circles End)

"A good thriller!" (El Periódico De Aragón, Spain on Circles End)

"... A more literary forerunner than the Da Vinci Code", (Het Parool, The Netherlands on Circles End)

"A much deeper book than The Da Vinci Code". (Frettabladid, Iceland)