The tour-de-force, hair-raising new novel from Herman Koch, New York Times bestselling author of The Dinner and Summer House with Swimming Pool.
Once a celebrated writer, M's greatest success came with a suspense novel based on a real-life, unsolved disappearance. It told the story of a history teacher who went missing one winter after his brief affair with a stunning pupil. Upon publication, M.'s novel was a bestseller, one that marked his international breakthrough.
That was years ago, and now M.'s career is almost over as he fades increasingly into obscurity. But not when it comes to his bizarre, seemingly timid neighbor who keeps a close eye on him. Why?
From various perspectives, Herman Koch tells the dark tale of a writer in decline, a teenage couple in love, a missing teacher, and a single book that entwines all of their fates. Thanks to M's novel, supposedly a work of fiction, everyone seems to be linked forever, until something unexpected spins the "story" off its rails.
With racing tension, sardonic wit, and a world-renowned sharp eye for human failings, Herman Koch once again spares nothing and no one in his gripping new novel, a barbed tour de force suspending readers in the mysterious literary gray space between fact and fiction.
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“An exhilarating and unpredictable novel…[that] opens before us like a set of nesting dolls, each narrative turn revealing another…A darkly comic meditation on creativity and the limits of creativity, on the art of fiction and its discontents.”
— Washington Post
“A psychologically sophisticated thriller.”
— Charlotte Observer“With a classic whodunit as its spine, the novel is elevated by Koch’s elegant handling of structure, willingness to cross-examine the Dutch liberal sensibility, and skewering of the writer’s life.”
— Millions“His sardonic sense of humor and dark perspective on human failings give the novel a greater, more satisfying depth than the usual thriller.”
— Publishers Weekly“Narrator Luke Daniels is in tune with Koch’s approach and delivers it effectively, teasing out the distinctiveness of the characters and leaving listeners questioning the unreliable narrators while surrounding them with the rich atmosphere.”
— AudioFileBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Herman Koch is the author of several novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner has been published in twenty-five countries and was the winner of the Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Amsterdam.
Luke Daniels, winner of sixteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and a finalist for the Audie Award for best narration, is a narrator whose many audiobook credits range from action and suspense to young-adult fiction. His background is in classical theater and film, and he has performed at repertory theaters around the country.