Joël Dicker, thriller star, announces the release of his first children’s novel

With The very disastrous visit to the zooexpected on March 4, the writer breaks with the genre that made him successful and wants to offer “a multi-generational book”.

The Swiss novelist Joël Dicker, author of highly successful thrillers, announced this Wednesday, January 8 that he was abandoning this genre to publish a novel intended primarily for young people. Titled The very disastrous visit to the zooit is expected on March 4 and will be published by the house he founded in Geneva, Rosie & Wolfe.

“I am leaving the thriller trail to explore a new facet of my writing, and offer a multi-generational book that is aimed at both young and old readers,” he wrote in a press release.

However, the plot must revolve around a mystery, once again: the flooding of a school caused by a criminal act, then “an investigation carried out by a class of special children”.

Information which complements the announcement, a few days ago, of the release of this new novel. The 39-year-old author published a video on Instagram in which he revealed the title of this forthcoming work, without revealing anything about its content.

Star author

“My goal is to create a moment of sharing between parents, children and grandparents, a bit like those Sunday evening films that brought us all together in front of the television. Those who liked my previous novels will find my touch again, even if this time It’s not a murder,” he explained.

Joël Dicker experienced phenomenal success at the age of 27 with The Truth about the Harry Quebert affairthen a series of detective novels often set in the United States: The Book of Baltimore, The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer, The Riddle of Room 622…

And his readers always respond: his latest book, A wild animalsold 87,000 copies upon its release in the space of a week last March, propelling it to the top of the sales charts.

Joël Dicker started his career as an author at de Fallois, a publishing house that he left in 2021 to start his own. With Rosie & Wolfe, he publishes his work, that of Nicolas Feuz – another Swiss author of detective novels -, and various translations.