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A woman disappears after a beach party, and the search for her reveals Croatia's complex history well beyond the fall of Communism.
Silva is beautiful and cheeky, she has many admirers, but the police investigation reveals a more complex young woman than her family knew—a high school student who dabbles in drugs and deals in heroin. But Silva’s brother loves her and stubbornly continues the search for her amid the upheavals of Croatian society. The following years will see the fall of communism and five long years of war. It will be almost 30 years till Silva’s fate is revealed.
“The crime novel of the year: In this outstanding novel, Jurica Pavicic uses the unsolved disappearance of a teenage girl, Silva, to document the impact of the Yugoslav civil war." --Times/Sunday Times
"This finely engineered, haunting novel has been deservedly garlanded with awards.” ---Financial Times
“A brilliant cocktail of mystery and recent history, compellingly told."--Kirkus
“The best crime fiction of 2025 — our critics’ top new books for the year. In 1989, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, but the villages of the Dalmatian coast, with their spectacular beaches, were about to be drawn into civil war. In this outstanding novel, Jurica Pavicic uses the unsolved disappearance of a teenage girl, Silva, to document the impact of the conflict.--Times/ Sunday Times
“A brilliant cocktail of mystery and recent history, compellingly told." Kirkus
"This finely engineered, haunting novel has been deservedly garlanded with awards.” ---Financial Times
"Memorable for its psychological insights, moral weight, and Tolstoyian quality (without the length). This is the only one of his nine novels I have read. His work deserves translation.” The Critic
“A masterpiece!” Libération
“As inspiring as the Swedes Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Pavičić brilliantly resorts to the noir novel to accompany ordinary lives caught in the collapse of communism, the rise of nationalism and the shock of wars.” Le Monde
“The city of Split is more than a setting, almost a character. A tourist mirage in the summer, the Croatian port is confronted, out of season, with the aftermath of war, deindustrialization, and all kinds of depravity. Beyond the family drama and the police investigation, the metamorphosis of Croatia interests Pavičić.” Telerama
“Pavičić superimpose a family drama and an outstanding, skilful historical fresco, while never, not even for a second, sacrificing the suspense of a good crime novel... Remarkable book.” Le Figaro
"Existentialist crime novel? It's an Adriatic blues."—Le Nouvel Observateur
Author Jurica Pavičić is a Croatian writer, scriptwriter, and journalist. Born in 1965 and living in Split, Croatia, he has written seven novels, two collections of short stories, and essays on film, Dalmatia, and the Mediterranean world. His work has been translated into five languages, but Red Water is his first novel to be translated into English.
Translator Matt Robinson, born in the UK in 1978, moved to Belgrade in 2000 and worked as a foreign correspondent for Reuters. He now lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia, working as a freelance editor and literary translator. Red Water is the second novel he has translated.