Fernando Molica's new novel, THE STARTING POINT, begins with a reporter arriving in Arpoador late at night to report on a body found dismembered on the beach. But the plot couldn't be further from the detective genre. While Ricardo Menezes waits for the hearse to arrive and investigates his story, he questions his relationship with his family, his profession, and the city. A renowned journalist, Molica states that the novel's starting point came from a real event he witnessed: "I travel around Rio a lot, including as a journalist—as a reporter, I went to a place about two years ago where there was a dismembered body. This touches me as a journalist and as a citizen, as an author. So much so that the situation ended up serving as the book's inspiration." The choice of a journalist character was practical. According to the author, the important thing was that the protagonist be in a moment of disenchantment. "Ricardo, the protagonist, could have been a doctor disappointed by his shifts filled with stray bullet victims, or a lawyer frustrated with his profession. A guy whose professional life was closely tied to his personal life. But he became a journalist for practical reasons. He would have had to do a lot of research and talk extensively with professionals in one of these fields to create a minimally convincing character." Fernando Molica will take advantage of the release of his third novel—he is also the author of the reportage book *The Man Who Died Three Times* and the novel *Black Flag, Love*, both finalists for the Jabuti Prize—to launch his personal website, where he will archive reports, reviews, and the blog he currently maintains.
