A beguiling novel about a crime committed out of love
This evening will decide everything. Jan has booked a table at a flashy restaurant; the ring is in his pocket and his proposal speech in his head. His chances of winning the beautiful Nadine away from her fiancé to live with him in Berlin are, admittedly, slim. Tonight, though, he wasn’t expecting the arrogant antics of Plewka, the restaurant’s owner who insists on payment in cash, which Jan has to go and get, as he doesn’t have enough money on him. Neither could he have foreseen the need of aging police officer Henschel to show that he’s a tough old dog after Jan is seen running away from a bank. Jan, whose only thought is to get back to Nadine, is taken to the station where he finally loses it, and where numerous humiliations needle him towards a dreadful, violent act. Over the course of a single night, the euphoria and urgency of young love combines with all-too-human weaknesses and a few not-so-unusual circumstances to produce a maelstrom of violence.
Volker Heise’s brilliantly told story incorporates a scintillating kaleidoscope of big city dwellers and shows just how far one human is willing to go. This is a beguiling novel about a crime committed out of love, the roots of violence and a deadly rampage.
