Eagles and angels - Juli Zeh

Jessie is dead. She shot herself while on the phone to Max. Juli Zeh's bestselling debut novel brings us a gripping, sinister tale of cocaine, heart wrenching love and political corruption. Max, while grieving for his criminal girlfriend Jessie, slides into a drug-induced oblivion, his personal and professional descent assured. As he probes into Jessie's past, a sinister web of conspiracy is drawn around him, with a cast of international lawyers, drug dealers, UNO politicians, Balkan war heroes and mass murderers. Zeh exposes the fragile line between the safe normality of life, and its madness, crime and cruelty. Part love story, part crime thriller, Zeh's novel is by turns grittily contemporary and dense with poetic imagery. The complex plot unfolds with a wickedly ingenious structure, full of bizarre twists and turns: reading it is deeply satisfying, like solving a sophisticated riddle. Eagles and Angels holds you hostage from the first to last page.