Mikel Santiago: "The 'Basque noir' label doesn't bother me; we've created a school of thought."

Mikel Santiago (Portugalete, 1975) left everything to become a musician. He wanted to dedicate himself to rock. He packed his bags and lived in the Netherlands and Ireland. “Spoiler alert: it went terribly wrong,” he tells Cultura/s, not without a certain nostalgia. He ended up finding work as a software programmer, but the artist within him struggled to emerge, and the pen became his escape route. Today, he is one of the leading figures in Basque thrillers, with works such as the successful Illumbe trilogy and the more recent El hijo olvidado , published by Ediciones B.

To talk about Mikel Santiago is to talk about the Basque Country. However, his first novels are set elsewhere. 'Last Night at Tremore Beach' in Ireland; 'The Wrong Way' in the south of France; 'The Strange Summer of Torm Harvey' in Italy…

I started with Ireland because I lived there for a while and set the story in a very harsh landscape that could easily have been a Basque beach. Then, I toured different international locations, which gave me a taste.

At what point did you decide to link your stories to the Basque Country?

The idea began to sprout within me to find a setting I could repeat whenever I wanted. To create a universe there. And what better way to do it than with my homeland.

Towns like Elizondo or even the imaginary Illumbe, by Mundaka, have increased tourism

His land, but in his own way. With a lot of invention involved…

Illumbe is a figment of my imagination, but it fits perfectly with the thriller. It has coastline and cliffs, but also seedy industrial estates…

And if you want to visit it, where should you go?

The epicenter is Mundaka, in the Urdaibai region. The thing is, Illumbe is a more complex setting because, for example, it has a sports club, while the actual municipality doesn't. Or a sanatorium, which coincidentally looks very similar to the one in Gorliz. I bring a bunch of settings that interest me from the Basque Country and bring them together in one place.

In his new novel, 'The Forgotten Son', he leaves there and settles in places like Bilbao and Getxo.

I like to be motivated by what I write, and for me, that motivation is often travel. Sometimes that's a success, and other times, a failure. I know I'll end up returning to Illumbe when I have another great story.

"We all have family problems, but we take them to the extreme," says Basque Mikel Santiago.

And will you leave the Basque Country?

Never say never. It's a long road, and I've already created four stories. But it's true that I'm naturally curious. We'll see.

What do you think about your work being included in what editorially is called 'Euskal noir'?

If you've read Dolores Redondo, Ibon Martín, or Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, you'll likely end up referring to me or any other colleague. It's a label I don't mind. In the end, it's further proof that we've created a school.

His school is interested in family. It's a constant presence in his novels. In this latest novel, the protagonist, Ertzaintza Aitor Orizaola, sees his nephew accused of murder.

Readers have a series of universal coordinates, and one of them is family. We all have family problems, although it's true that I take them to the extreme. Maybe one of your loved ones hasn't been imprisoned, but maybe you've stopped talking to each other for a while. The relationships I create go far beyond the detective story.

He began with short stories and novellas. The first three are published in the collection 'When Night Comes'.

They are corrected and edited stories. One of them was unpublished. Thanks to them, I am who I am today. I started writing on a blog I called "El relatódromo." I did it as a laboratory, to see what people thought. That encouraged me to write an e-book, which I published online. I went on a trip, and it became one of the most read and downloaded e-books in the world, reaching number one in the United States for Spanish-language fiction.

And what happened?

An agent contacted me and asked if I had a new novel. I told him no, but that I'd get started. And so, Last Night in Tremore Beach was born.

Oriol Paul brought it to the small screen in the form of a miniseries and swapped Ireland for the north of the country.

Through Puerto de Vega, in Asturias. A nice change of pace. If someone sees a photograph, they might easily think it's Ireland. Of course, the production isn't an exact adaptation of my book. It's more of a free inspiration, with faithful parts and unrelated parts.