When Peter Balko’s second book appeared in the bookshops, areviewer in one of the quality dailies immediately warned readers: “If you‘re afraid of fantasy, don’t come near this book.” But though this exciting novel by the author of the bestseller Vtedy v Lošonci(Once Upon a Time in Lošonc)is primarily about the power of fantasy, it is also about the act of writing. In telling his story, Balko combines detective thriller and parody together with other elements of so-called genre fiction. Will the novel’s main protagonist, an aspiring young writer, manage to find his famous counterpart stuck somewhere between reality and fiction on the secret Østrov island?