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?

Praise for Herman Koch

Dear Mr M.
'Herman Koch is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers. His three novels, taken together, are like a killer EP where every track kicks ass.' Stephen King

Summer House With Swimming Pool
'Gripping . . . For fans of thrillers such as Gone Girl, this should be essential summer reading.' Guardian

The Dinner
'One of those must-read novels about nature vs nurture, like The Slap and We Need to Talk About Kevin, with a series of dark twists and turns.' Independent

A riveting but disturbing literary thriller from the richly talented Dutch author who sprang to prominence with his gripping The Dinner . . . Delicately told, in spare, haunting prose, there are echoes of Stephen King's Misery, but this is even more subtle, with a denouement to send shivers down the spine.