La muerte de Erika Knapp

The author of The Substance of Evil, with more than 300,000 readers in 42 countries, returns with a new thriller that confirms him as a star of European crime fiction, alongside Dazieri, Lemaitre, and Dicker.

"You should read Luca D'Andrea's The Death of Erika Knapp before they make a series about it. [...] There's a hunger for Italian horror, in short. And no one like D'Andrea to satisfy it."
Noel Ceballos, GQ

Tony Carcano leads an isolated and monotonous life, where the only emotions he experiences are those he describes in his own books, romance novels that have long provided him with success and well-being. However, Sibylle, a reckless and charming twenty-something, bursts into his life with an old photograph that shows him young and smiling next to the corpse of a woman: Erika Knapp.

Tony is forced to pick up the threads of a story he had long wanted to leave behind. Together with Sibylle, he will have to delve back into the shadows of the small Tyrolean village of Kreuzwirt, where a mystery made of lies, violence, madness, and greed lies hidden. This thriller, with overwhelming power and a diabolical rhythm, will resurface a secret hidden for more than twenty years, opening the floodgates of hell.

Critics have said...
"Surprising. [...] The author has achieved a subtle but intense narrative rhythm that keeps the reader in suspense almost from the first moment. [...] Well-written, delicate, rich in descriptions, and accurate in portraying the protagonists. It will be liked."
Crónica Económica

"Thrilling and unputdownable."
E. García, El Diario

"Breaks everyday placidity with a thrilling plot on par with the best in contemporary crime fiction."
Ana Abelenda, La Voz de Galicia

"A thriller of overwhelming force and a nearly diabolical rhythm."
Antonio Gregori Fernández, Furor TV ("Books to stay at home")

"A spellbinding read. [...] An unsolved case and an investigation reminiscent of The Shadow of the Wind."
John Dugdale, The Sunday Times

"A formidable witch's brew that includes myths, memory, and chaos."
Sunday Times Crime Club

"D'Andrea mixes action and a suffocating atmosphere with the style of an experienced writer."
Marcel Berlins, The Times

"Comparable (without fear of exaggeration) to Stephen King or Jo Nesbø."
Massimo Vicenz, La Repubblica

"The surname D'Andrea is already part of the list of the best European thriller writers."
David Hewson

"A wild noir focused on speed: the frenetic rhythm of his writing envelops us in its spirals and turns it into a race that leaves us breathless."
Daniele Sabbatini, Libristesi

"This book confirms D'Andrea's impeccable qualities as a storyteller, as a literary craftsman, and as a master of the thriller."
Fabrizio Franchi, L'Adige

"A complex game that winks at admirers of Lovecraft's pulp fiction and his disturbing Cthulhu mythology [...]. The Death of Erika Knapp is a consummate narrative experiment."
Il Corriere della Sera

"Exciting and captivating. A must-read. Read it with your seatbelt fastened."
Lorenzo Cresci, La Stampa

"With his first novel, critics already compared him to Stephen King and David Lynch of Twin Peaks. [...] Luca D'Andrea demonstrates that he has absorbed King's lessons on how to expand, page by page, the feeling of emptiness that precedes the unknown. After each step, a disturbing detail, a blurred image, a stain of reality that captures the reader in a whirlwind of anxiety."
Stefania Parmeggiani, La Repubblica