ABOUT THE BOOK

It all began with a favour. Kayankaya and Slibulsky had wanted to help out Romario, the owner of a small Brazilian restaurant, when he is threatened by extortionists. Then suddenly there were two bodies on the floor of Romario's restaurant, their faces caked in white powder. Kayankaya is troubled by these deaths and decides to find out who the men are, until he himself is pursued by a mafia organisation about whom nothing appears to be known. Gradually it becomes clear to Kayankaya that he is facing the most brutal and dangerous group of gangsters to have run Frankfurt's station quarter. And then a new assignment comes in: he is to find a woman he has seen in a video film, and who he is convinced was looking at him from the screen.

Kismet is about organised crime and war profiteers, about the insanity of nationalism and the madness of the Balkan conflict, and about the longing for one great love. It is a thrilling, utterly captivating novel - Jakob Arjouni at his best.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

Jakob Arjouni writes the best urban thrillers since Raymond Chandler.' Tempo, Hamburg.

'A remarkable debut' - The London Guardian

'..tautly narrated..not a word wasted' - London Sunday Times

'An exceptional achievement' - Hungry Mind Review

'The greatest German mystery novel since WWII' - Suddeutsche Zeitung

'A worthy grandson of Marlowe and Spade.' - Stern

'The latest wunderkind.' - Der Speigel

'Germany's youngest and hottest mystery writer' - Wiener

'A pitch black noir, powerful and tasty' - La Depeche

'The protagonist of a most successful series of novels.' - Panorama

'Unusually gifted...' - Neue Zurcher Zeitung