An inventive literary obituary for Kafka, this thriller of love and revenge brings the Cold War to life, from Paris and Istanbul to West Berlin and Tel Aviv. Amid the student protests in 1960s Europe, Kafka’s best friend, Max Brod, becomes a target of their ire: Against the dying writer’s wishes, he had published texts that never should have been part of his legacy. After Brod is injured in an attempted assassination, assailant Ferdy Kaplan is captured and questioned by Commissioner Müller of the West Berlin police. As his interrogation progresses, through dialogues in the police station, the courtroom, and the prison, Kaplan’s background is revealed piece by piece, from the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, to their shared passion for Kafka, which leads them to join a radical group. But when a shocking discovery is made about the person who ultimately set Brod’s attempted murder in motion, Kaplan and Müller...
Description:
An inventive literary obituary for Kafka, this thriller of love and revenge brings the Cold War to life, from Paris and Istanbul to West Berlin and Tel Aviv.Amid the student protests in 1960s Europe, Kafka’s best friend, Max Brod, becomes a target of their ire: Against the dying writer’s wishes, he had published texts that never should have been part of his legacy. After Brod is injured in an attempted assassination, assailant Ferdy Kaplan is captured and questioned by Commissioner Müller of the West Berlin police.
As his interrogation progresses, through dialogues in the police station, the courtroom, and the prison, Kaplan’s background is revealed piece by piece, from the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, to their shared passion for Kafka, which leads them to join a radical group. But when a shocking discovery is made about the person who ultimately set Brod’s attempted murder in motion, Kaplan and Müller...