Swiss writer Joël Dicker concludes Harry Quebert’s trilogy with ‘The Alaska Sanders Affair’, which has made him a worldwide phenomenon
A decade ago, he was a complete stranger. Nowadays people stop him on the street to thank him for how much he enjoys his books. In ten years, the Swiss writer Joël Dicker (Geneva, age 37) has become a worldwide phenomenon. His more than 15 million readers in 42 languages have made him the brilliant billionaire spoiled child of the major publishing groups.
An author of elegant black novels that are actually very white, without bloodthirsty scenes or offal, he publishes ‘The Alaska Sanders Case’ (Alfaguara) in Spanish. Another novel that closes the open trilogy “for now” with “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair,” the title that catapulted him to fame, followed by “The Book of Baltimore.”
Dicker rediscovers the investigative writer Marcus Goldman, an observant and shrewd character, indebted to Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Conan Doyle’s Holmes. The creator believes that by not being a police officer, he is “conducting an investigation that is very close to the reader and which could be carried out by anyone”. The lack of police resources and techniques and the use of his intelligence and deductive ability “make him in a way a super police officer”.
“Success hasn’t changed me,” says the handsome and lanky Dicker, who promotes his latest album as a rock star. “Success changes the perception others have of you, but not the reality. One stays the same, even if you have to get used to the fact that people you don’t know greet you on the street as if they’ve known you all your life,” he explains resignedly.
His legendary first novel in 2018 gave rise to a series of relative successes that Movistar offered in Spain. But the author assures that the series has not dethroned the novels. “Netflix didn’t invent anything,” he says. “All their series does is code the literary genre of the novel they are inspired by,” he adds. He also assures that he feels “pretty fed up” with social networks and their tireless “trolls.” “Offending is unbearable,” says the writer, appealing to everyone’s responsibility for the proper use “of some great tools.”
In his novels he does not splash blood. There is no offal or gore. “I am not attracted to bloody crimes as a reader or as a writer or as a spectator,” he warns. “The ‘gore’ contributes nothing. The dead man is dead, and we don’t have to put his guts in his mouth,” he says. Nor does he write about psychopaths. He articulates his fictions around crimes committed ‘when emotions run wild’. “I try not to judge, but rather to understand the killer’s reasons and enormous guilt,” he emphasizes.
He believes that police intrigue is “an infinite genre”. “There is always a crime, a victim, and an investigation, but it can be told in many ways because it allows for total freedom of creation,” he says. He says he “don’t know” whether he shares any traits with Marcus Goldman, the investigative writer of his novel, but admits that “it would at least be like the negative of a photograph.”
He laments that the literary world ‘is still busy with discussions about what is a good or a bad book’. “Who cares if you read a book to amuse yourself on the beach or if you read a Nobel laureate! The important thing is if the book is fun and people are talking about it. If the literature world realizes it, the book will improve the performance of television and series,” he says.
‘The Alaska Sanders Affair’ is a multi-timeline intrigue dating back to the months following the end of ‘The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair’. The key to reopening a forgotten investigation is the puzzling message found in the pocket of young Sanders – “I know what you did” – whose body appeared on the edge of Mount Pleasant Lake on April 3, 1999. , a charming town in New Hampshire.
Eleven years after imprisoning the girl’s alleged killers, Goldman begins the investigation that will reunite him with Sergeant Perry Gahalowood. As they discover details about the murdered girl, ghosts from the past will resurface, including Harry Quebert’s.
Dicker assures that he projected the three titles before the success of the first and does not consider the saga “finally” closed. “I don’t promise anything. I have no idea, because promises don’t stop you from creating,” he laughs.
With another painting by Hopper on the cover, it again offers nearly 600 pages, written by someone who is oblivious to the fear of the blank page, though admitting “a different kind of fear”. “Drought is not a problem. If I don’t have anything to write, I don’t sit in front of the computer,” he says. Yes, he worries about ‘the choice of themes or the structure of the novel’. “The older I am, the more pages I cut”, he admits, while admitting Mies Van der Rohe’s maxim “less is more”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
