Thriller king

Vienna is a great place to live and murder

(Bild: Jens Kalaene / dpa / picturedesk.com)

A reading like a rock concert: Sebastian Fitzek, Germany's most successful thriller export, invites you to a first-class book festival in Vienna's Stadthalle. In this interview, the bestselling author reveals more about his work and the tour. 

He is a master of evil. Sebastian Fitzek has risen to become Germany's most successful author with his nerve-wracking thrillers. Evil also brought him to Vienna this week. On Wednesday, he pondered the question "What makes the brain evil?" at the Gamechanger Festival. "Of course, I can't answer that, I can only approach the question and provide food for thought."

National Socialism exploded every dimension of evil
His books, some of which are extremely bloodthirsty, are also truly evil. "Something probably went wrong in my childhood," he laughs in the Krone interview. "My father told me horror stories very early on. But then I encountered the real evil in the form of National Socialism in history lessons - that went beyond any imaginable dimension," says Fitzek.

The lawyer only started writing when he became a father. "It was then that I realized how important it is for me to protect my family. My work helps me to get my own fears off my chest," admits the likeable author.

Sebastian Fitzek's books regularly become bestsellers.

(Bild: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa / picturedesk.com)

Since the success of his debut "Therapy" in 2006, he has regularly conquered the bestseller lists. For him, one of the reasons why thrillers in particular are so successful is our complicated world. "We want to know why bad things happen, but abbreviated headlines often only provide small insights. In a book, you can devote yourself to these answers," he explains. Whereby the victims' perspective is always most important to him. "And the thought: how would I behave in such an exceptional situation?"

Nothing is left to chance in good thrillers
And he reveals another of his recipes for success: "Good thrillers always eliminate chance. They don't deal with plane crashes or terror, but introduce us to the world and motivation of the perpetrator. There is a plan - and it usually doesn't affect the reader. Surprisingly, we find this reassuring. Coincidence is frowned upon in fiction because reality is coincidental enough."

The biggest thriller tour in the world
For his next book "Kalendermädchen", he is going on "the biggest thriller tour in the world". Instead of reading in small bookshops, he is rocking the biggest stages in German-speaking countries. "It's supposed to be a big celebration of the book itself, a mixture of concert and reading," he reveals. Presented on an opulent 360-degree stage, which will include an unusual "Advent calendar" - filled with "true stories that I have researched over the past few years - and which are so unbelievable, so much stranger than Fitzek, that I could never write them." On November 24, he will be making a stop at the Stadthalle in Vienna. A city he loves for its morbidly beautiful charm. "Many thriller authors set their stories in Vienna. And I have a hunch that Berlin and Vienna will play a leading role in the novel for my 20th anniversary in 2026. Vienna is a wonderful place to murder - but even more wonderful to live," he laughs.