New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. dj. Hardcover first edition - The last novel by this Nobel laureate - "The thoughts and utterances of the numerous characters reflect a skewed, madhouse reality and seem often to rise from their uncensored fears and nightmares. Men and women openly discuss their sexual liaisons, their criminal machinations, their oddities . . Boll treats his female characters with compassion. Elisabeth is confined to a rest home for political wives who know too much, where they are given therapists and gigolos. Eva considers walking into the Rhine to her death, as her mother-in-law did before her. The river, seen from villas, gardens and bedrooms becomes a symbol of past greatness and depravity, holding the fabled Rhinegold as well as broken Nazi helmets. This is Boll's indictment of present-day Germany, which he sees as infected with post-Nazi corruption and malaise." (Publishers Weekly) Translated from the German by David McLintock. 208 pp. ISBN: 0-394563751.