Ruiz Zafón's first novel, El príncipe de la niebla 1993 (The Prince of Mist, published in English in 2010), earned the Edebé literary prize for young adult fiction.

In 2001 he published his first adult novel La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind, Lucia Graves' English translation published in 2004), a Gothic mystery that involves Daniel Sempere's quest to track down the man responsible for destroying every book written by author Julian Carax.

It follows (and is narrated by) David Martín, a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book.

It returns to The Shadow of the Wind's Daniel Sempere and his travel back to the 1940s to resolve a buried secret.

[citation needed] Influences on Ruiz Zafón's work have included 19th century classics, crime fiction,[11] noir authors, and contemporary writers.

He said in interviews that he found it easier to visualize scenes in his books in a cinematic way, which lends itself to the lush worlds and curious characters he created.