CRIME FICTION FROM CROATIA

 Nov 2020, I am watching "The newspaper" (Novine) a Croatian crime series on Netflix. I am hooked to it and cannot understand why! Below is a bit of self-analysis for me to figure out myself.

1)It has no humor and I love humor

2)I am going by subtitles as I don't know the language

3) There is no fantastic natural scenery, etc.

4)I want to reach the end ASAP but am managing to get over my ADHD and am forcing myself see every episode..it's a bit of a torture for me!

5)The names are difficult for me to remember and so 90% of the time, I don't know whom they are talking about! However, I know all the faces. I can rightly link about 4 names to 4 characters (that is I recognize whom they are talking about even when they absent from the scene and only  their name is mentioned). For the remaining, that is the majority of the characters, I recognize who they are, if present mentioned.                                                                                                                                                      I am simply going with the flow.  

I know the story only broadly and not in minute details...but am sticking to it till the end!

I think the reasons I am hooked to this show are: a)It's realistic 2)Though several characters have ugly character traits...greed, corruption, hedonism, no conscience, opportunistic, etc...it's not grating on my nerves as much as it would, if I were seeing all this in an Indian serial. 

Yes, these are the 2 core reasons I am hooked to "The newspaper". It's like seeing the ugly side of Indian politics and bureaucracy....which I want to see in a TV show but cannot as I suffer too much while watching because it's too close to home for comfort.

As I watched this show I Googled for crime fiction from Croatia. I am an avid crime fiction fan, yet have not read one book from or set in Croatia. (I have read Alistair Maclean's Force ten from Navarone, set in the Balkans but before Croatia became an independent country and so...I am not sure if that counts! Also the focus of that novel  was more on three characters from Greece, New Zealand and UK than on the locals)

I found these four books which are Croatian crime fiction in  the Toronto public library and will be reading them shortly.

Alen Mattich's 

Zagreb Cowboy (book 1) I read this...it was nice and I recommend it..it's got humor, history, likeable characters. Though life must have been terrible for ordinary people at the time of the novel, this author has thankfully, kept the tone light and not depressing.

Killing pilgrim (book 2) Booked this and waiting to read it.

The heart of hell (3rd and last book)

and 

Ivan Srsen's  (editor)

Zagreb Noir

I will let you know  whether I enjoyed them or not once I have finished.