Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Who is Torsten Krol?

So I just finished reading a fabulous book. I do not say this lightly. Very few books leave feeling fully satisfied. Either I like the story but not the writing style. Or I like the writing style and the story goes no where. Never fear, I am equally harsh on my own writing.

When I picked up the book The Dolphin People, I had zero expectations. For some reason, I thought it was a young adult novel which is why I chose it. Mostly because I find adult novels lately to be so angst-ridden, they can be a bit soul-crushing.

This was not a young adult novel. Nor was it depressing. I don't want to give too much away. But it follows the tale of a German family post-WWII after their plane crashes in the jungle. An Amazonian Indian tribe finds them and believes they are dolphin people who came out of the river. The German family must do all they can to keep this illusion going in order to survive. But this blog post isn't about the book. It's about the author.

On the book cover, it says..this book was written by Torsten Krol. Nothing further is known about him.

Pulease. What a drama queen.

I can appreciate if you want your anonymity but seriously, why all the dramatics?

Unless. You aren't who you say you are.

Of course, I had to google the guy and read everything I could find out about him. It appears that he might live in Australia. Or he might in reality not be Torsten Krol...but Stephen King.

This is not a horror novel. But the tone of voice in it is pretty confident. It seems to me that the person who wrote this has written lots of other things. Not just one other novel (something called Callisto and the only reason I didn't run out and buy is because it's about the war in Iraq and that topic makes me sick to my stomach.)

I'm convinced Torsten Krol is the pen name of someone more famous. And I'm so pissed that I can't find out who. Someone out there has to know. By the way, I am guessing Stephen King because the name doesn't sound unlike Torsten Krol. And because Stephen King has written lots of things beyond the horror genre that are fabulous, like "The Green Mile" and "Stand By Me."

Just for the record, if I ever get a novel published, I promise to be the biggest media whore ever. My public deserves it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I found your blog while searching net for more information about Torsten Krol. I read Callisto firstly and I really liked it ;) than I bought The Dolphin People and it was also great. My English is not good enough to read original books so I read translated versions in Polish. In my opinion the style in both books is totally different and I would even say that each of them was written by another author. But... I think it may be a wrong impression because of the translation hehe ;D. I can't wait to read his the next novel. I hope that we won't have to wait very long. I think you should read the Callisto, it is not all about the war in Iraq, but mostly about how people in the States are involved in this irrational political game. Greetings from Poland ;)

hanna said...

You should seriously read Callisto, it's fuckin hilarious and not at all what you'd expect.
Btw came across you're blog while I was tryna find out more about him...and I had the same reaction to the 'nothing else is known about him' thing, although I have to admit it is a bit cool and it ties in well with the story of Callisto. Dunno about the dolphin book though...haven't read it.

Unknown said...

I read Callisto in 12 hours. I have never read 436 pages in one afternoon. I could not put it down. It is addictive reading. I don't think Krol seems to be such a pro writer with heaps of books under his belt. I had rather the opposite opinion. When I started reading the book I knew it was based in America however it had an "Aussie" like fee to it at the start of the book. I don't believe it to be Stephen King. But the whole "Don't want that hype", is just to keep people guessing and therefore interested in his work. All in all, it is one of the best reads ever !! Bravo mate bravo :-)

Scott Callison said...

Drama queen -that’s good. But I’ve got to say that the Nothing Known factor is kind of refreshing in a way. At least it keeps the focus on the writing instead of the writer. I’ve only read Dolphin People and Callisto so far but I am definitely on board for more. This Krol human is just a total natural. With a particular flair for dialogue that rings true. His characters always sound quite separate and distinct from one another. –in other words: like real people. All I know is that Both of his books have proven to be unconventional, engaging and unpredictable. My favorite so far: Dolphin People. Hands down.