Autumn 2022. After the tourist season, Split is slowly moving toward post-season hibernation. Ines is young woman working in a hotel reception. Her mother Katja is a houswife, taking care about household, Ines and her younger brother. Zvone is a promising policeman who gets a call from the job. In an abandoned factory nearby the city the body was found. It's a body of the 17-years old girl Viktorija, daughter of the prominent medicine doctors. Murder of the girl would change the destinies of three main characters.
Pavičić draws the reader into the novel "falsely presenting himself" as a classic noir storyteller, but then drags him into all the branches of broken destinies...Definitely one of the best social novels written in Croatia.
Goran Gavranović (Express)
Mater Dolorosa is a novel which would tear you apart. A novel includes everything that Split and Dalmatia - after all- are.
Dragan Markovina (Telegram)
In his third novel Mater Dolorosa, Jurica Pavičić gives an exceptional moral and philosophical dimension to something that looks like a banal detective story.
Pierre Glachant (Le Courrier des Balkans)
A fiery and terrifying novel by Jurica Pavičić, which with Mater Dolorosa manages to interweave an intimate, family tragedy and a social fresco... This is how we recognize Jurica Pavičić: that strong emotion that emerges from his books, that painful melancholy... It is impossible to get out of this novel unfurred.
Natacha Levet (Tasha's Books)
"Mater dolorosa", Jurica Pavičić's new dark novel, is not a book to be swallowed. It is a book that washes over you, word by word, sentence by sentence – often magnificent sentences – a book that leaves you bewildered, a little stunned, as if drenched in a sad inevitability.
Mireille Descombes (Polars, Polis et Cie-blog)
A powerful noir novel, hypnotic by the banality of its characters. Magnified by the grace of the Croatian writer.
Karen Lajon (La vie et noir)
Pavicic masterfully stage the fundamental oppositions that work in Croatian society...great writer of the Mediterranean.
Louis Sellier (Liberation)
The novel is tinged with social criticism, because characters, ordinary people, are confronted with a feeling of helplessness that echoes that, more general, of the people, eternal second role of the story that the author depicts with a beautiful subtlety.. That gives tho book its beauty, its strength.
Michel Abescat (Radio France)
Sober master style... full of references to the masters of the genre. As he himself is.
Eric Libiot (Lire Magazine)
Mater Dolorosa is a real success that confirms that its author is one of the finest voices in contemporary crime fiction. Not to be missed under any circumstances.
Gregory Seyer (Benzine)
Descriptions of space and human frailty are mixed with surgical precision. But the strength of this extraordinary thriller lies in the touching humanity of the three main characters, men and women...
Sylvia Zappi (Le Monde, 25. 10. 2024.)
Crime novel is sometimes a gift that confronts us with painful remorse. Such is the case with Croatian writer Juric Pavičić's heartbreaking novel, a gruesome family tragedy that is impossible to forget after turning the last page.
Phillippe Blanchet (Le Figaro magazine, 18.10. 2024.)
The reader is invited to ask himself the question of the weight of blood ties.
Clementine Goldszal (Elle Magazine, 10. 10. 2024.)
This new novel serves as a reminder of how the Croatian writer has no equal in combining the social and political power of the crime novel with the most advanced character study.
Yoann Labroux Satabin (Télérama)
Clever and cunning!
Phillipe Manche (Focus Levif)
Great novel.. Masterfully, passionate, with a superior intelligence...
Bernard Poirette (C'est a lire)
The key points in the book are the internal conflicts of the three protagonists between family, loyalty, justice and betrayal. In addition, the conflicts in Croatian society, social differences, the role of women, tensions between the old and the young, the generation of defenders, the still existing power of the church – all of this is woven into the novel.... “Mater Dolorosa” is a melancholic novel that shows how versatile the crime genre can be.
Gunnar Wolters (Kaliber 17, Germany)
The investigation into the murderer... is exciting to read even for crime fiction lovers, but it serves only as a means to an end. The author is more concerned with the consequences of the crime... An exciting mix of crime story and social study.
Jorg Kirjanski (Book Nerds)
Once again, the Croatian author shows that the description of a crime and its resolution are not enough for him. With "Mater Dolorosa" he goes far beyond the definition of a "crime novel"... A diabolical, but very quiet chamber play.
Thomas Lawall (Literatur)
Beneath the guise of a detective novel, Jurica Pavičić's new novel is a masterful reflection on the weight of the past and blood ties.
Annick Steta (Revue Des Deux Mondes, France)
Crime novel?... Much more than that....A quiet masterpiece that breaks the crime genre and looks deep into the abyss of a society torn between tradition, church and western modernity. For readers who like literary, challenging, psychologically charged novels, Mater Dolorosa is a real insider's tip.
Eo Mager (Litblogkoeb, Germany)
In Mater Dolorosa, Jurica Pavičić paints a gripping picture not only of the characters but also of Croatian society. Another highly compelling novel by Jurica Pavičić, which I highly recommend to all crime fiction fans.
Petra Reich (Literaturreich, Germany)
In Pavičić's book, I find the resolution of the crime secondary, because the real suspense lies in his exploration of the human psyche. Meanwhile, I hear the strong Croatian heartbeat.
alle-meiner-buecher (Switzerland)
