The Dinner

The Dinner by Herman Koch, 304 pages

This book was strongly recommended by a fellow blogger who, to build suspense, will remain nameless. While she has yet to recommend a bad book, I was not sure what to make of a novel that happens entirely around a restaurant dinner table. But what starts out as a slow novel with all of the building of the characters and their personas, eventually spirals into a dark and sinister finish. There are several hints provided throughout the novel that allude to the ending but I didn't find them to be so over done as to spoil it.

By the end I found myself liking the books delivery and pace even if the message behind it is so horribly wrong. I would have thought it difficult to convey an entire mystery and suspense story through a dinner conversation but Koch certainly pulled it off.

Though I must admit I, at times, found myself wondering if the was an underlying reason or secret behind the forceful recommendation of this book.