No Exit Press - Chez Max by Jakob Arjouni

ABOUT THE BOOK

A novel about the future, a story from the Stone Age – inspired by the present.

The setting is the year 2064.

Securely fenced off from the rest of the world, life in Euroasia and North America, except for a handful of suicide bombings and border disputes, is constantly improving. On the other side of the fence, countries are being exploited and wracked by regression, dictatorship, and religious fanaticism. People live in poverty and misery.

Max Schwartzwald is the owner of Chez Max, a smart Parisian restaurant but also an Ashcroft agent, a member of a secret government organisation whose mission is to promptly identify and weed out anything that may threaten the political status quo.

Schwartzwald's biggest problem is his Ashcroft partner, Chen Wu,a self-righteous loudmouth, who leaves no taboo unbroken, attacks every human weakness and takes liberties at will - all because of the spectacular successes he has achieved within the organisation.

But is Chen a double agent who is bringing illegal immigrants into the Euroasian world and is this the opportunity for Max to get rid of his partner once and for all?

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