Red Water

A woman disappears after a beach party, and the search for her reveals Croatia's complex history well beyond the fall of Communism.

Called The Mediterranean Flower for its beauty, Split has a complex history that is perhaps best explored within a mystery. In 1989, beautiful Silva doesn't come home. Young cop Gorki Sain discovers that she isn't what she seemed; she dabbled in drugs and dealt in heroin. But Gorki soon finds himself out of a job as Yugoslavia plunges into a fratricidal war. Silva's brother stubbornly continues the search amid the upheavals of Croatian society, from the fall of communism through the 1991-1995 war. The former cop returns to solve the 30-year-old mystery in a different role, one less than ethically tied to toxic land speculation and corruption that comes with the tourist boom on the Dalmatian Coast.

'A masterpiece.' Liberation

'As inspiring as the Swedes Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Pavičic 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 Pavičic.' Télérama