Today I am very pleased to welcome Sebastian Fitzek to the blog answering some questions about his latest novel, The Child.
Tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind “The Child”
The answer may be a bit cranky, but I’m afraid I’m so interested in the abyss of human psyche, because there are a lot of people around me with a “disordered behavior”. Above all, my ex-girlfriend, who inspired me to numerous psycho thrillers! 😉
One day she told me, for example, that she had a strange vision while she was on a vacation in France. She was seven and never has been on the marketplace in the Normandy before. Nevertheless she said to her astonished parents: “Mom, Dad – I’ve been here before!”
Later they realized that this was, of course, the marketplace, where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.
I found it pretty interesting that most people always had a former life so popular and thought – why doesn’t anybody just tells something about his former life what’s not that good to tell. Something like: “ I was a serial killer and I can prove it, because I died fifteen years ago.
And so the idea of Simon Sachs developed, a ten year old boy, who claims to have been a serial killer and can even prove his crazy argument in reality.
In a lot of ways it is a very surreal novel – what kind of reaction are you hoping to provoke in readers?
First: With all my novels I would like to entertain people, and maybe on ore two nightmares. Regarding the “surreal” aspect: I consider myself an crazy realist. You might detect that in my books. They all raise a virtually supernatural matter that can be explained by the current state of science in the end.
When I started researching for “The Child” and talked to people believing in rebirth, I felt about the same way as the main character of the book, attorney Robert Stern. I strictly rejected the idea of metempsychosis and reincarnation. But the more time I spent engaging in he phenomenon, the more I was affected by doubts . Just like Robert Stern. So, hence you will find out what I really think in the end of the thriller, I will not take away here.
Did you have a favourite character within the story?
It’s Simon, the child of course. I would like to have his courage.
When not writing what type of novels do you like to read yourself?
Since the time my parents read Jim Knopf (Michael Ende) to me, an incredible number of authors have impressed me. Blyton during my childhood, King during my youth, Grisham and Crichton during my law studies, as well as Tom Wolfes (Bonfire of the Vanitys). At present Harlan Coben. Michael Robotham and Dennis Lehane. Thomas Harris book “The Silence of the Lambs” formed me as well as the movie. Not to forget: “The Sixth Sense” and the classic “Angel Heart” with Mickey Rourke.
What one book do you recommend to everyone?
Michael Ende, The Neverending Story.
Can you tell us anything about your next project?
It’s called “The Joshua-Profil” and it’s about a Thriller-Author who never did anything wrong in his live. But in a few days he will commit a very cruel and horrible crime. He does not know yet, but other persons claim that they do – and they want to kill him before it’s too late.
Thank you!
Thank you, that was fun!
My Review:
My name is Simon. I’m 10 years old. I’m a serial killer.
Robert Stern, a successful defence lawyer, doesn’t know what lies in store for him when he agrees to meet a new client in a derelict estate on the outskirts of Berlin. To his astonishment, the defendant is a ten-year-old boy – Simon – a fragile child with a chronic illness who insists that he was a murderer in a former life.
Blimey this is a bit of a rollercoaster read, a book that grips you from the first lines and just simply won’t let go. A dastardly, twisty turny tale that will leave your head spinning.
Robert Stern is a defence attorney, highly successful but with a huge loss in his past that drives him to work excessively and not think too much about anything else. When an ex girlriend asks him to help a dying child who believes he was a killer in another life, Robert is sceptical. But when the bodies start piling up and Simon seems to have a strange prediliction for knowing what’s going to happen, he finds himself involved in a race against time and discovers he has more to lose than he thought…
This was a strange, unpredictable and insanely mad reading experience, this author knows how to mess with your head and keep you on your toes whilst playing with your emotions and making you question everything. It flows along with no breathing space, locking you into the characters lives and experiences and sending you off into wild flights of fancy about what might actually be going on.
The “bad guy” is to die for, a James Bond type super villain working behind the scenes to cause maximum mayhem, but who and why is the thing that will keep you up into the early hours. Add to that a really emotive subject matter handled very well and realistically despite all the unrealistic situations Robert finds himself in and you have a heady mix of emotional resonance and pure thrill ride.
Is reincarnation a thing? Or is there a simple explanation for Simon’s knowledge? Well you’ll have to read to find out and while you are you’ll fall in love with him, with Robert and with all the other gorgeously drawn characters that you’ll meet along the way. You will root for a happy resolution, get swept away by the pure imaginative drive of the narrative and ultimately collapse in a heap feeling like you’ve been running a marathon.
Twisty turny eminently readable goodness. That is what this one will give you. Plus a possible toothache from grinding them throughout.
Highly Recommended.
Find out more here: http://www.sebastianfitzek.de/
Follow the author on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SebastianFitzek
Purchase Information: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Child-Sebastian-Fitzek/dp/0751556874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444716035&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Child
Happy Reading Folks!
Belated thanks, Liz, for taking part in the A Death in the Dales blog tour.