‘First off, I’m not a violent man. Quite the opposite. I’ve
never once gotten into a fight. And I didn't even kill anyone until I was
forty-two.’
THERE surely couldn’t be a more ‘arresting’ start to your
new year of reading than to indulge in the sheer comic joy of Murder Mindfully,
German lawyer and debut novelist Karsten Dusse’s dark and sublimely
entertaining crime romp which has sold over two and a half million copies and
is now a major Netflix series.
In a translation from the German by Florian Duijsens, which
expertly picks up Dusse’s complex nuances and black humour, this satirical gem achieves
what might seem to be the impossible... the melding of a riotous killing
rampage with a perfectly authentic guide to the calming power of mindfulness.
Dusse (pictured below) has been writing for television formats for a number
of years, and has won the German Television Award and the German Comedy Prize
several times, and he has a ball with this murderously clever plot using his
legal background and eye for visual drama to dish up a wickedly brilliant dance
of death.
Until then he is making his money ‘doing good for bad people’ and has learned over the years to master it perfectly. His long-time principal client is gang boss Dragan Sergowicz, a ‘violent lunatic,’ and his bunch of acolytes... and however morally reprehensible his work may be, the money has provided an expensive home for Björn, his wife Katharina and their two-year-old daughter Emily. But he never sees his child because he’s always working, and Katharina doesn’t understand him and hates his job and his absences... so much so that she has given Björn an ultimatum; he must repair his work-life balance or she will leave him and take their precious daughter with her.
Despite his reservations, he reluctantly signs up for one-to-one
Mindfulness for Managers sessions to demonstrate his willingness to change... and
to his surprise, they are a revelation. He becomes calmer, more focused, and soon
starts to understand what’s really important in life.
Time with little Emily is now sacrosanct and his client
Dragan has been made aware of this so when Björn’s make-or-break weekend away
at a lake house with Emily, while Katharina enjoys a spar weekend, is rudely
interrupted by the crime boss, stressed-out Björn remembers his new-found goal
to find serenity... and kills him.
The murder means Björn can deepen his mindfulness practice,
seek inner peace and stay calm in dangerous situations, but it also means that
he has a new – and very different – role to play when it comes to handling his criminal
clients...
Murder Mindfully is a triumph of twisted storytelling as Dusse immerses readers in the bizarre and increasingly brutal life of Björn Diemel... a life that should, in theory, be disturbing but instead dishes up a feast of feelgoods, and humour with a deliciously dark flavour. To leaven all the chaos, bone-crunching violence and fast-paced action, each chapter begins with a mindfulness exercise, a reminder of the stresses that bedevil modern life and that it was the author’s own rewards from practising self-help and mindfulness that inspired this razor sharp satire.
With a host of useful meditation and mindful tips, suspense
at every turn of the page, and a lead player with a killer line in comedy, it
would be a crime to miss the fun!
(Faber & Faber, paperback, £9.99)
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