The sweetness of life
By: Paulus Hochgatterer ; translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
Publisher: Maclehose Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 232
ISBN-13: 9781623658533
Subjects: Murder; Fiction
Work titles: Su©e des lebens
Description: A chilling psychological thriller a group of damaged people living in a pleasant and seemingly tranquil Austrian village. It's the Christmas holiday, the presents have been opened, and a six-year-old girl is drinking cocoa and playing with her grandfather. The doorbell rings, and the old man gets up. The next time the girl sees her grandfather, he is lying by the barn, his skull broken; his face a red pulp against the white snow. From that time on, she does not speak a single word. Along with Detective Superintendent Ludwig Kovacs, Raffael Horn, the psychiatrist engaged to treat the silent child, reluctantly becomes involved in solving the murder. Their parallel researches sweep through the town: a young mother who believes her new-born child is the devil; a Benedictine monk who uses his iPod to drown the voices in his head; a high-spending teenager who tortures cats. Hochgatterer draws back the veil of normality and presents a disconcerting portrait of a winter-held town filled with unsavory inhabitants.
Notes: Originally published in Germany as Die Su©e des lebens -- Title page verso.

Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch.