Marc Schlosser, 'n huisdokter, begaan 'n mediese fout en as gevolg daarvan sterf een van sy pasiente. Schlosser moet voor die Mediese Raad verskyn om verantwoording te doen. Schlosser is nie te bekommerd oor die Mediese Raad nie: Hy sal seker 'n paar maande geskors word, wat nie te erg is nie. Wat die saak egter kompliseer, is dat die pasient 'n baie bekende akteur, Ralph Meier, is, wat miskien net te veel aandag gegee het aan Schlosser se pragtige vrou, Caroline. Of hou die hele gedoente verband met wat by die Meiers se vakansiehuis gebeur het toe die Schlosser-gesin daar op besoek was? Soos in Die aandete is die hoofkarakter van die verhaal ook die verteller wat net vertel wat hy wil he die leser moet weet en so die leser aan die raai hou oor wat werklik gebeur het.

Twee broers en hulle vrouens gaan een aand eet in ’n deftige restaurant: Paul Lohman, mislukte onderwyser en sy slim vrou Claire, saam met Serge Lohman, kandidaat vir die premierskap in die opkomende verkiesing, en sy vrou Babette. Teen die agtergrond van die bediening van keurige geregte en tipiese restaurantpraatjies ontvou ’n ontstellende verhaal.

Author of the world-wide bestseller The Dinner, Herman Koch turns his brilliantly acid and forensic eye to the green-eyed monster: the all-too human emotion of jealousy. Robert Walter, the popular mayor of Amsterdam, begins to suspect that his wife is cheating on him with one of his aldermen. Though he is happily married, he has always wondered why his wife, born and raised in a distant country, chose him above his brilliant and good-looking physicist friend Bernhard. When, to add to his concerns, he becomes the subject of accusations relating to his past, at the same time his parents force him to address issues of their mortality. This apparently stable and successful man begins to become consumed by fantasies of jealousy and paranoia. Or does he? Is Robert finally beginning to see the world - and his life - as they are, for the first time? As page-turning and gripping as The Dinner, Koch's new novel confronts us with questions that haunt us all. Who can we trust? Do we deserve our lives or owe them only to luck? And is it when we are depressed that we see the world most clearly?

'An absolute page-turner' Mail on Sunday Dear Mr. M, I'd like to start by telling you that I'm doing better now. I do so because you probably have no idea that I was ever doing worse. Much worse, in fact, but I'll get to that later on. Mr. M is being watched. As a famous writer, he is no stranger to the limelight, although interest in his work has been dwindling of late. His print runs are smaller than they used to be, as are the crowds at his bookshop signings . . . Our narrator clearly takes a keen interest in M.'s work, and indeed in every aspect of his life. But what exactly are his intentions? And to what does Mr. M owe the honour of his undivided attention? Our narrator seems to be no stranger to murder, while his own story appears to bear more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Mr. M's most famous novel: a teacher has an affair with a student, only to be brutally murdered by the girl and her teenage boyfriend. The body is never found. That's the problem with fiction: in real life, bodies have an awkward habit of turning up. Mr. M has used some artistic licence, and our narrator is not pleased, not pleased at all. And just before he fades into obscurity, he's prepared to give Mr. M one last review. And it's unlikely to be a rave. Dear Mr. M is an unsettling and irresistibly readable novel, set in the world of writing and bookselling, by Herman Koch, the author of the international bestseller, The Dinner.

'An absolute page-turner' Mail on Sunday Dear Mr. M, I'd like to start by telling you that I'm doing better now. I do so because you probably have no idea that I was ever doing worse. Much worse, in fact, but I'll get to that later on. Mr. M is being watched. As a famous writer, he is no stranger to the limelight, although interest in his work has been dwindling of late. His print runs are smaller than they used to be, as are the crowds at his bookshop signings . . . Our narrator clearly takes a keen interest in M.'s work, and indeed in every aspect of his life. But what exactly are his intentions? And to what does Mr. M owe the honour of his undivided attention? Our narrator seems to be no stranger to murder, while his own story appears to bear more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Mr. M's most famous novel: a teacher has an affair with a student, only to be brutally murdered by the girl and her teenage boyfriend. The body is never found. That's the problem with fiction: in real life, bodies have an awkward habit of turning up. Mr. M has used some artistic licence, and our narrator is not pleased, not pleased at all. And just before he fades into obscurity, he's prepared to give Mr. M one last review. And it's unlikely to be a rave. Dear Mr. M is an unsettling and irresistibly readable literary thriller, set in the world of writing and bookselling, by Herman Koch, the author of the international bestseller, The Dinner.

Marc Schlosser is a doctor to the rich and famous. When his most famous patient, the actor Ralph Meier, invites him and his family on holiday, Marc finds that he can't refuse. But by the time the suntans fade, Ralph Meier is dead. The medical board accuses Marc of negligence. Ralph's wife, however, accuses him of murder...

"A European" Gone Girl."" --"The Wall Street Journal
"
An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives--all over the course of one meal.
It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader's guide and bonus content

Author of the world-wide bestseller The Dinner, Herman Koch turns his brilliantly acid and forensic eye to the green-eyed monster: the all-too human emotion of jealousy.

Robert Walter, the popular mayor of Amsterdam, begins to suspect that his wife is cheating on him with one of his aldermen. Though he is happily married, he has always wondered why his wife, born and raised in a distant country, chose him above his brilliant and good-looking physicist friend Bernhard. When, to add to his concerns, he becomes the subject of accusations relating to his past, at the same time his parents force him to address issues of their mortality. This apparently stable and successful man begins to become consumed by fantasies of jealousy and paranoia.

Or does he? Is Robert finally beginning to see the world – and his life – as they are, for the first time?

Page-turning and gripping, The Ditch confronts us with questions that haunt us all. Who can we trust? Do we deserve our lives or owe them only to luck? And is it when we are depressed that we see the world most clearly?