SAND

Sand is both a spy thriller and a sublime work of literature. Set in an imaginary country in North Africa, sometime during the Seventies, it is populated by colourful figures with wacky names, who talk like B movie characters and seem taken straight from films and genre fiction. All of them are after a microfilm containing blueprints for an ultracentrifuge, but before the hunt is even fully on, sunstroke hits. Further complications ensue when inept CIA agents muddle up things even more, an accident causes amnesia in a character at a crucial point, an espresso maker is mistaken for the top-secret ultracentrifuge, and overall stupidity runs rampant… A novel such as can only be written by this author: artfully composed and nonchalant, profound, funny and mysterious, accessible on various levels – a fantastic read!