Javier Castillo, the bestselling author who still can't believe it

BarcelonaIf Javier Castillo (Mijas, 1987) regrets anything, it's not having believed in himself sooner enough to dedicate himself to literature. The author of best-selling titles such as The day sanity was lost (Sum of Letters, 2017) and The Snow Girl (Suma de Letras, 2020) vividly recalls the open house at the University of Málaga, when he decided to study business administration. "The guy from the university was friendly. He told me the degree had many career paths and that I would finish it in three years. I remember saying, 'Okay, that's exactly it.' Now I regret it, because I was a kid who loved to read and write, but at that time life caught up with me and I had to earn a living." Castillo, the son of a bricklayer and a cleaning woman, pursued a career as a financial advisor until he could no longer resist the urge to publish a novel.

On his own, he had written The day sanity was lost He had knocked on the doors of several publishers, without success. To give it a chance, in 2014 he self-published it on Amazon, and within weeks it became the platform's best-selling book in Spain. In 2017, he signed with Suma de Letras, and with 100,000 copies sold, he decided to quit his job. "The novel was already a hit, and my childhood dream was to dedicate myself to writing, so I started on the second one. If it didn't work out, I had enough resources to survive for two years. I also wanted to be at home with my family, and writing allows for that. However, my mother told me I was crazy," the writer recalls.

Time has confirmed that Castillo's intuition wasn't just good, it was excellent. Since his first novel, the author has sold more than 2.5 million copies, been published in more than 90 countries, and translated into 24 languages, including Catalan. His popularity multiplied with the leap to The Snow Girl on Netflix, which was the platform's most-watched miniseries upon its release. "I still can't believe it, honestly. I've written eight novels and I still have the feeling that it's not happening to me, that I'm taking a risk with each new book. I go to the bookstore and see my book next to Dan Brown and Ken Follett and it all seems to defy any logic I can explain to myself."

From the United States to the Canary Islands

In his latest novel, The murmur of the fire (Rosa dels Vents, with a Catalan translation by Mireia Alegre, Imma Estany and Núria Parés), the challenge was to build a new thriller Set in the Canary Islands. Until now, Castillo's previous stories took place in the United States, but this time the writer wanted to return to his homeland. "For some time, I've wanted to talk about the inner flame we all have, but which slowly fades, until life gives you an unexpected blow and you realize you must seize it," the author emphasizes. During a family trip to Tenerife, Castillo attended to a German tourist, who was with his sister and had experienced a drop in blood sugar. "From that episode, I started thinking: who are these two siblings? What if they're from Madrid, instead of Germany? What are they doing in the Canary Islands?" he explains.

The author transformed the strangers into Mario and Laura, 25-year-old twins who meet in Tenerife after Mario recovers from chemotherapy. Laura's sudden disappearance leads Mario to rethink his existence and his way of seeing the world. "Life is so unexpected that even when you think you're the victim, you're actually the one who survives. The underlying theme of the novel is precisely this: we have to plan and live life as if we were going to die tomorrow, looking at our phones less and being more present with our family and friends," Castillo asserts. Throughout the novel, Mario follows Laura's journey and discovers a life he was unaware of at the Astronomical Observatory, where she worked, and also in the most spectacular landscapes of the island.

To become a best-seller of the thrillersThe writer has drawn inspiration from the main figures of the genre. From a young age, he has been a great reader of Agatha Christie—in fact, the first story he wrote was "a terrible version of Ten Little Indians"—and during adolescence he delved, above all, into the books of Stephen King. Among his literary guiding lights is also Stieg Larsson: "I don't know how many times I've read The men who did not love women (Column, 2008). It is a master class in thriller“The characters are incredibly complex, and all the dialogue is excellent,” Castillo emphasizes. With each novel, he tries to get closer to his own style and celebrates having taken the path he truly desired. “The best thing about this job is that I have absolute creative freedom. My life is essentially the same as before, but now I don’t have to spend eight hours a day in the office with Excel and write at night; instead, I can dedicate myself directly to what I’m passionate about. I’m incredibly lucky,” the writer says.