YOKO (Vol. I)

  • A new, gripping thriller by bestselling author Bernhard Aichner.
  • 40,000 copies sold!
  • Film rights have been optioned.
  • 1 million copies sold of his thrillers altogether!
  • His thriller Totenfrau was translated into 16 languages and adapted into a Netflix series.
  • English sample translation available.

Yoko is just like you and me, until luck leaves her.

In her late twenties, Yoko transforms the butcher shop she inherited from her father into a small artisanal shop, packaging happiness into fortune cookies instead of butchering pigs. She is in love, and her life is filled with lightness for the first time.

But then one day she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. While delivering fortune cookies to a Chinese restaurant, she tries to help a small dog in the back alley and is punished by its tormentors. Yoko becomes an easy target for two violent men. Everything falls apart; her life shatters in an instant.

But Yoko makes a decision: Her pursuers will not decide when her life ends. Fate will not determine the course of her story. She will do it herself. She does not yet know who she is dealing with, how much suffering she will endure, and the unexpected severity with which she will seek retribution. Everything she holds dear will be taken from her. And so Yoko fights back. Ruthlessly.

Press about Yoko

„A masterfully arranged, incredibly suspenseful, highly elegant and extremely concentrated thriller.“ (WDR 5)
„The way Aichner lets this young woman grow, how he lets her overcome fear and find coolness, is simply really good.“ (NDR Kultur)
Yoko is a merciless, thrilling novel that requires nerves of steel and a good stomach. In short: just the thing for fans of hard thrillers.“ (Die Presse am Sonntag)

Contact Foreign Rights
Sample Translations
  • Publisher: Wunderlich
  • Release: 13.08.2024
  • ISBN: 978-3-8052-0109-4
  • 336 Pages
  • Series: Die Rache-Serie
  • Author: Bernhard Aichner

Please be advised that the book cover may be used in its original design only. Details and distortions are not permitted under copyright law.

YOKO (Vol. I)
Bernhard Aichner YOKO (Vol. I)
fotowerk aichner
© fotowerk aichner
Bernhard Aichner

Bernhard Aichner: Born in East Tyrol, he discovered writing at an early age as a way of countering the confines of rural life. Inspired by the tales his mother read to him, he developed a passion for dark stories. To this day, the author writes by hand and sketches each scene on paper first. This deliberate way of working allows him to create a special closeness to his characters that makes the reader empathize intensely. 
Aichner's fast-paced, pictorial narrative style develops a pull that inexorably captivates the reader. His protagonists fight unflinchingly for survival, authentically, emotionally and captivatingly. While his thrillers reveal the deepest human abysses, Aichner inspires his audience with his optimistic and cheerful manner.
Aichner achieved his international breakthrough in 2014 with his thriller “Totenfrau”. The NETFLIX series adaptation was in the TOP 10 in 67 countries worldwide, season 2 will be released in 2025.