The Pledge
Will be published approx. on 30. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-80533-644-0 (ISBN)
Description
<b>'A book everybody should read' Jonathan Coe</b>
<b>'Powerful and compelling' <i>Sunday Times</i> Crime Club</b>
<b>'Jaw-dropping' <i>Crime Review</i></b>
<b>'As terse and assured as the best of Simenon' <i>Spectator</i></b>
The brilliant Inspector Matthaei is haunted by the case of a young girl brutally murdered in a Swiss mountain forest. Even after a man is arrested and confesses to the crime, Matthaei is convinced the real killer is still out there. He makes a promise to the girl's mother: he will stop at nothing to bring the murderer to justice.
But Matthaei's pledge becomes an obsession, and soon he finds he is descending into the darkness himself...
Reviews / Votes
To add to the excellence of the novel's narrative, the reader also gets Duerrenmatt's provocative thinking on the flaws of crime fiction and police behaviour * The Times * It's a book everybody should read... Not only do you get a cracking murder mystery story... you get an immensely thought-provoking pair of bookends which really undermine and make you question your assumptions about crime writing and about writing generally -- Jonathan Coe * Radio 4's Take Four Books * Literary in style, haunting in mood * Guardian * A chilling study of an obsession that defies all reason * Daily Mail * An absolute corker... One of the most ingenious and surprising detective novels you'll read * Mr Hyde * As terse and assured in construction as the best of Simenon * Spectator * Powerful and compelling, even as Dr H uses the story to undermine all the basic principles of crime fiction * Sunday Times Crime Club * Duerrenmatt's most famous novel... jaw-dropping * Crime Review * Hats off to Pushkin Press for re-publishing this gem, and for planning to delight us with more of Duerrenmatt's tense, melancholy and incredibly seductive writing * Thriller Books Journal * Unusual and arresting... Duerrenmatt is an accomplished and dramatic storyteller, and he has tucked into his short narrative some tantalizing moral questions * Atlantic Monthly * Spellbinding * Washington Post * This spare yet potent book which conjures the most striking magic, entrancing with its chills, shocks, artful delights, and even surprise lyrical wonders * The National * Now that Pushkin Vertigo have granted it a beautiful paperback release (with Duerrenmatt's three other novels on the horizon) it's the perfect time to (re)discover this probing, unforgettable mystery. There are precious few groundbreaking crime novels but this is one. And one of the very best * Hits the Fan (blog) * Short, gripping and a compelling read * Col's Criminal Library (blog) *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pushkin Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80533-644-0 (9781805336440)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Friedrich Duerrenmatt (1921-1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist, most famous for his plays The Visit and The Physicists, which earned him a reputation as one of the greatest playwrights in the German language. He also wrote four highly regarded crime novels - The Pledge, The Judge and His Hangman, Suspicion and The Execution of Justice, all of which will be published by Pushkin Vertigo.
Joel Agee is a writer and translator. He has received several prizes, including the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin in 2008 and the Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize for his translation of Heinrich von Kleist's verse play Penthesilea. His translations of The Judge and His Hangman and Suspicion are also available from Pushkin Vertigo.
Joel Agee is a writer and translator. He has received several prizes, including the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin in 2008 and the Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize for his translation of Heinrich von Kleist's verse play Penthesilea. His translations of The Judge and His Hangman and Suspicion are also available from Pushkin Vertigo.