Interview - A look behind the beautiful appearance

Bobingen. ›Die Haut‹ (The Skin) is the title of Christian Heinke’s debut book. A reading from it took place at the ›Unteres Schlösschen‹ in Bobingen. This thriller follows NYPD Detective Helen Louisiani as she solves her first case, exploring beauty, horror, true love, and dark depths, while revealing the hidden truth behind the glamorous model world and wealthy lifestyle. The Bobinger Weltladen took over the catering on this evening and also benefited from the ticket price. »I’m sure many people wondered beforehand what a thriller like this has to do with the Weltladen,« explained Heinke right at the start of the event, to which, however, only the proverbial handful of visitors had come. »The Weltladen stands for a united world, but that there are always things that stand in the way of these runs through my book.« The author then read out a few scenes from his work, took us into the lives of supermodel Katherine Williams and psychiatrist Andy Peterson, and finally made sure that one of the book’s characters had to shed a piece of their skin now and then. Before revealing the ending or when the excitement became too overwhelming, he made himself available to the audience for questions in a relaxed atmosphere. »I don’t even remember why I chose this topic,« Christian When asked, Heinke had to admit the reason. »The question was, how does a woman deal with losing everything when she had it all?« This is how he came up with the rather cruel topic, even though he himself is a cheerful person. Working on the book for a year »Personally, I detest violence,« laughed the author and shared a funny story from the research period. »I wrote a few chapters about cafes and once did some research on knives on the Internet. The man at the table next to me watched me for a moment and then left hastily.« He worked intensively on the book for a year. »I was a commuter back then. I had an hour’s train journey there and back every day. That’s when I used to write. That worked quite well.« Overall, he is now quite pleased with the result. »At every reading, there are always scenes where I think to myself, oh God, what have I written? And then I think to myself again: where, this is really good,« says Christian Heinke. He is currently engaged in working on his new novel alongside his readings. It will be called ‘The Heart’.