Joël Dicker, the author of thriller books that you will love

Within a few years, the Swiss writer Joel Dicker He has become one of the most respected authors in the world. Since 2012, when he published The last days of our fathers, his first novel, has accumulated more than twenty million readers to date.

"Planetary phenomenon", "the writer who resurrects bookstores" or "the irritating literary child prodigy" are just some of the adjectives that critics have given him. In any case, he has already published seven novels and has earned the admiration of readers around the world. For all these reasons, below, we are going to get to know Joël Dicker a little better.

Who is Joel Dicker?

Dicker was born in Geneva on June 16, 1985. Since this is the French-speaking part of Switzerland, his mother tongue is French. Furthermore, his father was a teacher of this language. At the age of 19 she settled in Paris in order to study Dramaturgy, but only a year later he would return to his hometown, famous for its watches, to attend the Law School of his university.

Around that time, he also saw his first story published. It was titled Tiger and, in addition, he won an international award for young French-speaking authors. This motivated him to continue writing and, already in 2010, he sent the manuscript of The last days of our fathers al Geneva Writers Award. He won the award and two years later the novel was published in France by Editions de Fallois.

The work was a great success with critics and the public. But recognition would come with his next work, published that same year. Was The truth about the Harry Quebert case and gave him numerous awards, some of them as prestigious as the Goncourt des Lycéens, of the French Academy and Read for the best novel in the French language.

It has been translated into forty-two languages ​​and has been read by millions of people. All this has made Dicker a new global literary phenomenon. Then came five other novels that have confirmed him as one of the great authors of current narrative and which we are going to present to you below.

The works of Joël Dicker

Joël Dicker's novels are part of the most genuine thriller. However, we must clarify this statement for you. We often understand police works as such and, in fact, they are. But there are other genres that are also included in this type of stories.

The main characteristic of thriller is that arouses tension in the reader, who is looking forward to reaching the end to know the outcome. This happens with the detective novel, but it can also happen with other novelistic modalities such as, for example, the adventure novel or even the historical one.

Precisely, apart from their historical or police character (which many of them also have), Joël Dicker's works are characterized by combine mystery and suspense with unexpected twists. Regarding the topics they address, the most common are love, friendship, secrets and in general, human life itself. But, once we have explained who the Swiss writer is and what his novels are like, the time has come for us to focus on the latter.

The last days of our fathers

Precisely, Dicker's first work was a war and espionage story set in the Second World War. In 1940, the British government created the SOE (Special Operations Executive). As its name indicates, it was a section of the secret service that was responsible for carrying out acts of sabotage in German-occupied Europe.

In this context, we know Paul Emile, a young Frenchman who travels to England to join the resistance. He will soon be recruited by the SOE and, along with his new companions, subjected to brutal training. Then they will be sent to France for their first mission. But the Germans have already been alerted to their arrival. In their adventure, these young people will experience love, friendship and fear in terrible circumstances in history.

The truth about the Harry Quebert case

As we told you, Joe Dicker's second novel was the one that elevated him to the literary Olympus and gave him millions of readers. In this case, it is a detective story. But, in addition, it supposes the appearance of Marcus goldman, the character who will also star The Baltimore Book y The Alaskan Sanders case.

Without a doubt it is, so far, his most accomplished creature. In The truth about the Harry Quebert case, Goldman visits his teacher (Quebec) to discover that he had a secret relationship with a teenager named Nora Kellergan. But, shortly after, her body is found buried in her garden and the veteran writer is arrested as main suspect.

Goldman sets out to prove his teacher's innocence while writing a book about the case. This will cause a large number of secrets to come to light. But the truth will only break out at the end. On the other hand, you should know that you have a television series based on the book and performed by Patrick Dempsey, Ben schnetzer y Kristine Froseth.

The Baltimore Book

In fact, this novel is the third published by Joël Dicker, but it can be read before the second. Because, in it, Marcus Goldman himself tells us the story of his family. This had two branches, that of Sinclair, more humble, which was that of the protagonist, and that of Baltimore, which was rich. However, everything changes forever as a result of what the narrator calls "the drama".

Set in two eras, Dicker makes in this novel a portrait of the upper classes of American society, while offering us a deeply human story in which we accompany the protagonist through his life.

The disappearance of Stephanie Mailer

Joël Dicker's third novel is also set in two stages. But, above all, it is un thriller police in the purest style of the genre. In 1994, while the people of Orphea attend the opening of their theater festival, a man walks the streets looking for his wife.

Finally, he finds his body in front of the mayor's house, who, by the way, has not attended the opening of the aforementioned event. New York police derek scott y Jesse Rosenberg They solve the case. But, twenty years later, a journalist named Stephanie mailer He tells them that they were mistaken for the murderer, although they had him before their eyes. Shortly after, she disappears without a trace.

On this occasion, Dicker gave us a magnificent thriller full of suspense that you won't be able to put it down until the last page.

The riddle of room 622

Joël Dicker's next novel is also a detective story that won him a prize in Spain: the International Alicante Noir. But, above all, it has the peculiarity that the writer himself becomes a character. Likewise, he returns to the resource that he likes so much of constructing the story in two eras.

A corpse appears in room 622 of a luxurious hotel in the Swiss Alps. The police take charge of the case, but fail to clarify it. Years later, the writer Joel Dicker He arrives at the establishment looking to recover from a romantic breakup. He soon becomes intrigued by that ancient crime and decides to investigate it. But he won't do it alone. He will have the help of Scarlett, an aspiring novelist staying in the next room.

The Alaskan Sanders case

Once again Dicker offers us a thriller excellent set in two periods. And, furthermore, it gives us the reappearance of Marcus goldman, who will investigate a crime at the hands of Sergeant Perry Gahalwood and the agent Lauren Donovan.

On this occasion, it is the murder of Alaska Sanders, whose body appears in 1999 next to a lake and with a note in his pants pocket that says "I know what you've done". Eleven years after the case was solved and the culprits were locked up, the novelist Goldman and the two police officers will return to the matter. But, in addition, this will bring the writer memories of Harry Quebert that he investigated in the past.

A wild animal, the new from Joël Dicker

We finish our tour of Joël Dicker's work with this novel that has not yet reached Spanish bookstores. It will do it next April 4th, but you can now reserve it on the website of the Penguin Random House publisher.

On July 2022, XNUMX, a couple of criminals are preparing to enter a jewelry store in Geneva to commit more than a vulgar robbery. Twenty days later we are in an exclusive development on the shores of Lake Leman where Sophie Braun He is going to celebrate his fortieth birthday. Everything in her life smiles at her, but she will soon begin to falter. We will have to travel to the past to discover the origin of this intrigue.

In conclusion, Joel Dicker es a teacher of thriller which has millions of readers and the most important awards in its language. His stories are addictive, with a management of suspense and plot that seems to us exceptional. And, to all this, are added well-developed characters who, in many cases, arouse our sympathy. Dare to read the novels of someone who was a literary prodigy and it's already one of the masters of the noir genre.