Sebastian David Fitzek (born 13 October 1971 in West Berlin) is a German writer and journalist. His first book, Therapy (dt. Die Therapie), was a bestseller in Germany in 2006, toppling The Da Vinci Code from the first position.^[1] Fitzek is currently one of the most successful writers of Germany.^[2]

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Quick Facts Born, Pen name ...

Sebastian Fitzek
At the Leipzig book fair in 2017
Born	Sebastian David Fitzek (1971-10-13) October 13, 1971 (age 52) West Berlin, West Germany
Pen name	Max Rhode
Occupation	Writer
Language	German
Nationality	German
Genre	Crime thriller
Years active	2000-present
Notable works	Therapy, The Package
Children	3
Website
sebastianfitzek.de

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Sebastian Fitzek was born in West Berlin, West Germany and grew up with his father, headmaster of the Lilienthal-Gymnasium in Berlin-Lichterfelde, and his mother, a teacher. After High school in Charlottenburger Wald-Gymnasium, Fitzek started studying veterinary, but stopped after 3 months. He attended law school until the first state examination, earned his doctorate degree in copyright and worked then as editor-in-chief and program director for different radio stations in Germany.^[3]

He wrote his first book titled Professor Udolphs Buch der Namen with Jürgen Udolph, which came out in 2005. Since 2006, Fitzek started to write psycho-thriller novels, which all became a best-seller.

His very first novel was Therapy (dt. Die Therapie). He got his idea for Therapy in 2000 while waiting for a girlfriend in the waiting room of an orthopedist's office. It contains similar themes to the urban legend the Vanishing Hotel Room (also known as The Vanishing Lady), however, inspiration from the story has not been officially confirmed. After 13 cancellations from different editors, he finally released his book in July, 2006 under Droemer Knaur Verlag. The Odeon Film AG bought the movie rights for Therapy and it was subsequently turned into a TV series in 2023. In 2007, Therapy was nominated for best crime-debut for the Friedrich-Glauser-Award.

His next novel, Amok game. (dt. Amokspiel.), was released in 2007 and Goldkind Film AG bought the movie rights for it. In 2012, his very first film version of The Child (dt. Das Kind) came out.

On 29 October 2016, he published his book The Package (dt. Das Paket.).

In 2017, he published EightNight. (dt. AchtNacht.) and his first children's book called Pupsi & Stinki together with illustrator Jörn Stollmann. In 2017, EightNight was the bestselling work of fiction in Germany.

In 2018, The Package was the bestselling work of fiction in Germany. The Inmate (dt. Der Insasse) peaked at number 3.

Near the end of February 2018, he created the Viktor Crime Awards, where a new voice for thriller and crime literature would be awarded. The first winner was writer Michaela Kastel with So Dark the Forest (dt. So dunkel der Wald).

In November, 2020 The Package was published in English by Head of Zeus, translated by Jamie Bulloch.

According to Fitzek himself, he was inspired by Enid Blyton, Michael Ende and Alfred Weidemann during his childhood and later by Stephen King, Michael Crichton and John Grisham. Today, he reads everything written by Harlan Coben.

Sebastian Fitzek lives in Berlin. He married his wife in 2010. In August 2019, he announced his separation from his wife via Facebook. Fitzek has 3 children.^[4]