The Pledge - Softcover

To add to the excellence of the novel's narrative, the reader also gets Durrenmatt's provocative thinking on the flaws of crime fiction and police behaviour The Times 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 Hats off to Pushkin Press for re-publishing this gem, and for planning to delight us with more of Durrenmatt's tense, melancholy an incredibly seductive writing Thriller Books Journal Unusual and arresting... Durrenmatt 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 Durrenmatt'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)

"'It's a promise, Frau Moser,' the inspector said, impelled solely by the desire to leave this place. "'On your eternal salvation?' "The inspector hesitated. 'On my eternal salvation,' he finally said. What else could he do? When a young girl is found brutally murdered in a Swiss mountain forest, the brilliant Inspector Matthai can't put the case behind him. Not even when a local felon is arrested. Not even once the suspect has confessed. Matthai promises the girl's mother that he will stop at nothing to find the real killer. Adapted into a Hollywood film, The Pledge is the chilling story of a man in desperate search of the truth. A man driven to sacrifice everything, to commit acts of cruelty and obsession in a desperate search for a killer he can't find.