No Exit Press - Magic Hoffmann by Jakob Arjouni

ABOUT THE BOOK

Fred, Nickel and Annette share a dream, to escape to Canada, away from the crushing boredom of provincial Germany. Canada - where you can live free, rent a house on the lake, go fishing, become a famous photographer....but such dreams cost money...and money comes from...banks. But the great bank robbery goes horribly wrong, Fred is arrested but as in all good movies he doesn't grass up his friends.

Four years later, Fred is out and heads for Berlin, a city in flux after the dismantling of the Wall. He is pursuing his money, his friends and still, his Canadian dream. But for Annette and Nickel life has moved on... Magic Hoffmann is a superb novel about contemporary Germany and about one man's refusal to be brought down by his country and his "friends".

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

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

'Jakob Arjouni writes the best urban thrillers since Raymond Chandler' - Tempo

'There is hardly another German-speaking writer who is as sure of his milieu as Arjouni is. He draws incredibly vivid pictures of people and their fates in just a few words. He is a master of the sketch – and the caricature – who operates with the most economic of means.' - Die Welt, Berlin

'Arjouni is a master of authentic background descriptions and an original story teller' - Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

'Arjouni tells real-life stories, and they virtually never have a happy ending. He tells them so well, with such flexible dialogue and cleverly maintained tension, that it is impossible to put his books down' - El País, Madrid

'His virtuosity, humour and feeling for tension are a ray of hope in literature on the other side of the Rhine' - Actuel, Paris

'A genuine storyteller who beguiles his readers without the need of tricks' - L'Unità, Milan