Javier Castillo's books, the suspense thriller at its finest

Books by Javier Castillo.

In the last four years, Javier Castillo's books have caused a stir, both in the virtual and physical literary world. Achieving sales in excess of 400 copies, this new author has achieved what any writer would like at the beginning of his career.

And yes, this man from Malaga, barely 27 years old at the time, managed to position itself in 2014 - and for more than five hundred days - on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform with his first novel in digital format, The day that sanity was lost (2014). Since then, neither the people nor the media have stopped talking about him.

A bit of the life of Javier Castillo

A young man from Malaga with the habit of reading

As its name indicates, Javier Castillo saw the light of this world for the first time in Malaga, Spain, in 1987. He is currently 33 years old. A hobby that he enjoyed very much as a child was reading, an entertainment that, without knowing, would mark his near future.

The inclination towards the crime novel from the hand of a great teacher

He enjoyed reading the classics, although he also leaned towards the crime novel, having a particular fondness for the author Agatha Christie. From this inclination for writing, part of the inspiration for what his work would be arises.

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It is indeed, Ten Negritos, by A. Christie, the book that inspired Castillo to write his first story at age 14. It was already known, then, where the theme of the career of this young author pointed.

The love for the Spanish historical novel

However, the author has also declared himself an admirer of Ildelfonso Falcones, whom he considers a god. And his appreciation is not in vain, since the author of The cathedral of the sea y The hand of Fatima It is considered today one of the greatest exponents of Spanish historical literature, and a reference worldwide.

The business advisor with the soul of a writer

As it has touched many, while their dreams were brewing, Javier Castillo was trained in business studies, and then he did a master's degree in management at ESCP Europe. He is currently a corporate consultant.

However, as he studied and forged a future in the business world, his passion for letters did not cease. He made sketches of what his story would be like and imagined the multiple twists that he would place in the plot of what would be his first publication.

The quarter century, the age of beginning the story that would open the door

At the age of 25, Javier Castillo decides to spin all the ideas that had been brewing in his mind, in the many sketches and drafts. The total process lasted a year and a half. After seeing it finished, he did not hesitate to print four samples and send them to different publishers.

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Xavier Castillo.

However, such was his need to be read, to share this first son in letters, that he did not hesitate to upload the digital book in 2014 to the Kindle Direct Publishing platform. After weeks, the magic passed. Why do you talk about magic? Well, the public's connection with Castillo's work was immediate, to the point that the book - and it is necessary to emphasize that it was the author's first and that he had never formally published before - remained 540 days on Amazon as the best-seller . Yes, that happened with The day that sanity was lost.

Constancy and its fruits

Not much of that happened when several publishers contacted the young man from Malaga so that his book could go to the physical plane. However, Javier remained calm, and in 2016 he chose to contract with the Suma de Letras publishing house. This seal made the formal publication of The day that sanity was lost in 2017, and, as it happened in the digital format, the sales by the heaps did not wait.

An interesting narrative format

"Mini chapters"

Perhaps part of Javier Castillo's hitch in his narrative —As well as the presence of a powerful imaginative force to recreate the many twists in the plot— is the use of short chapters.

We are talking about that The day that sanity was lost It has more than 80 chapters, and each one with its own particular entanglement which, when finished, leaves the reader wanting to know what comes next. The result: thousands of readers commented in their reviews that they read the book in one sitting, because they could not be left with doubts.

Close language

Another interesting detail is thatAlthough Javier Castillo, for his age, has a very broad reading collection and handles a very rich lexicon, his narrative is not far-fetched, Not at all. Its language is very close, it reaches the reader directly. Of course, without neglecting the good speech and the detailed description. In Javier Castillo's books, every detail counts, and he makes the readers understand it very well.

Of course, as a good student of Agatha Christie —And look that there are teachers who dead teach more than many living—, nothing that is told is really what it seems. Everything, in Javier Castillo's narrative, has a background. The game with the reader becomes so interesting that when things happen, because they are just like that, then you get to doubt. There is the hook, in the surprise, and achieving that, as a writer who begins, has a lot of merit.

Shocking plot very well carried

This is another ingredient that Javier Castillo has been able to carry very well in his work. Drawing in the mind the image of the head of a young woman carried in the hands by a naked man, amazes and disturbs.

“It is twelve o'clock in the morning on December 24, one day before Christmas. I walk down the quiet street, staring blankly and everything seems to be going in slow motion. I look up and see four white globes rising toward the sun. As I walk, I hear the screams of women and I notice how people in the distance do not stop watching me. To tell the truth, it seems normal to me that they look at me and shout, after all, I am naked, covered in blood and I have a head in my hands ”.

This is how he begins his first work. The rest is an explosive cocktail in which he mixes dark emotions with moral questions, the power of beliefs and how much he is really sane or really crazy.

The best thing is that it closes the story, as in each mini chapter, leaving the reader wanting more, and then brings in the missing morsel in his new installment.

Work is not done

While the success of his first post paid him good dividends, Javier decided to continue his career as a business consultant, only now he complemented it with his already recognized trade. The first story gave way to others that screamed inside the writer's mind for being put on paper. It was like this that in the comings and goings to work, while he was on the train, his second publication was born.

It was in January 2018 —One year after the physical publication of his first novel— that came to light The day love was lost, also from the hand of the Suma de Letras publishing house. Success was not long in coming, because with this work the author closes the cycle of the thriller raised in the previous novel, so longed for by his followers. This work was among the 10 best of 2018.

The narrative, like that of his first, kept the formula for success. The unusual scenes, the incomprehensible mysteries, the beheadings and the psychological game did not wait. And of course, nothing is as you expect.

Phrase by Javier Castillo.

Something interesting is that with this book the author decides to close the story, even though there have been many requests for me to follow it. In this regard, Javier Castillo indicates that it would not be fair, because, just as the facts were given, they were thought, everything fits, everything is ready.

The thrillers don't stop

Everything that happened with Miranda Huff (2019)

One year after The day love was lost Javier Castillo published Everything that happened with Miranda Huff. The Sum of Letters stamp persists. This is another thriller, only its story is totally new and fresh and it chronicles the events surrounding the disappearance of Miranda Huff.

The scenes within the work, the paintings that Castillo recounts, are still shocking and enigmatic. However, without leaving aside the plane of psychological play, the author explores the most sensitive of relationships in couples, what is almost never exposed, yes, how difficult it is to keep afloat a love passion and how raw and rough it can be coexistence.

As it happened with his past works, the thousands of sales were not long in coming, and the growth of the followers of Castillo as a result of this delivery continued to boom.

The snow girl (2020)

As if it were a creative plan, very well achieved and carried out, into 2020, Javier Castillo received us with The snow girl (Sum of Letters). In this recent installment, he talks about another sensitive issue, that of child kidnapping. Unexpected twists are not long in coming, as are questions about how safe we are. Perhaps the strongest thing is the truth that looms so close: evil is always present in every corner where the word humanity is heard.