This is a very silly book indeed. It's also fairly gruesome as crime novels go. But it's got a great detective in Simon Brenner and a fun plot. Set in present-day Austria, the story focuses on a chicken shack where the well-heeled forsake gourmet fare in favor of the greasy stuff. You know, like when someone eats cheap barbecue because it makes him feel like a man of the people. That. But when some bones more human than chicken turn up in the pile, some questions need to get answered.Investigating this mess, Brenner turns up all kinds of dirty dealings, including someone's head in a soccer bag. Haas's tone is ironic and silly as well as dark and he's got one of the funnest narrative voices in crime fiction as far as I'm concerned. He creates a very colorful world filled with bizarre characters you have to read to believe and a plot straight out of "Eating Raoul".
I read this book a while ago and a lot of the details are escaping me now, so I can't write a very long review other than to say Wolf Haas is a writer to check out, and The Bone Man is silly fun right till the end. If you like absurdist crime, definitely add Wolf Haas to your reading list.
Rating: BEACH
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Melville House.
2 comments:
I like it when an author eases the tension with humor so I'll have to check Haas out.
I need a little more silly in my life :)
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