As readers, we are accustomed to reading stories of war and injustice from the victims' point of view, sympathizing with their plight. In Detective Story, the tables have been turned, leaving us in the mind of a monster, as Nobel Laureate Imre Kertész plunges us into a story of the worst kind, told by a man living outside morality.
Now in prison, Antonio Martens is a torturer for the secret police of a recently defunct dictatorship. He requests and is given writing materials in his cell, and what he has to recount is his involvement in the surveillance, torture, and assassination of Federigo and Enrique Salinas, a prominent father and son whose principled but passive opposition to the regime left them vulnerable to the secret police. Preying on young Enrique's aimless life, the secret police began to position him as a subversive and then targeted his father. Once this plan was set into motion, any means were justified to reach the regime's chosen end—the destruction of an entire liberal class.
Inside Martens's mind, we inhabit the rationalizing world of evil and see firsthand the inherent danger of inertia during times of crisis. A slim, explosive novel of justice railroaded by malevolence, Detective Story is a warning cry for our time.
Now in prison, Antonio Martens is a torturer for the secret police of a recently defunct dictatorship. He requests and is given writing materials in his cell, and what he has to recount is his involvement in the surveillance, torture, and assassination of Federigo and Enrique Salinas, a prominent father and son whose principled but passive opposition to the regime left them vulnerable to the secret police. Preying on young Enrique's aimless life, the secret police began to position him as a subversive and then targeted his father. Once this plan was set into motion, any means were justified to reach the regime's chosen end—the destruction of an entire liberal class.
Inside Martens's mind, we inhabit the rationalizing world of evil and see firsthand the inherent danger of inertia during times of crisis. A slim, explosive novel of justice railroaded by malevolence, Detective Story is a warning cry for our time.
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Used availability for Imre Kertész's Detective Story
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
January 2008 : Hardback
| Title: Detective Story Author(s): Imre Kertesz ISBN: 0-307-26644-3 / 978-0-307-26644-6 (USA edition) Publisher: Knopf Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
January 2008 : Hardback
| Title: Detective Story Author(s): Imre Kertesz ISBN: 1-84655-183-8 / 9781846551833 (UK edition) Publisher: Harvill Secker Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
Paperback Editions
March 2009 : Paperback
| Title: Detective Story (Vintage International) Author(s): Imre Kertesz ISBN: 0-307-27965-0 / 978-0-307-27965-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2009 : Paperback
| Title: Detective Story Author(s): Imre Kertesz ISBN: 0-09-952339-6 / 978-0-09-952339-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
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