Review: Sorry by Zoran Drvenkar

Title: Sorry

Author: Zoran Drvenkar

Genre/Audience: Thriller, suspense, mystery, adult

Publication: 2011 in U.S., 2009 in Germany

Source: Library

Summary: Four 20-something friends, Kris, Tamara, Wolf, and Frauke, living in Germany, have not much to do and not much direction, and on a whim one night, decide to start up an agency. It will be called Sorry, and they will apologize for people for all sorts of things. Sounds strange, but soon, they are getting call after call, and are raking in the money. Their latest client, however, is a killer, and he has called them to apologize to his victim, and to dispose of the body. He taunts them endlessly, and as they try to discover his identity before he comes after them, the question remains: why did he do this? And, are they next? 

My Thoughts: This was book was GOOD. And crazy. It was also bizarre, and graphic, and addicting and I'm STILL trying to wrap my head around it. A short "story" here will give you a brief summary of my up and down thoughts: A librarian coworker saw me reading this when I had first started, and asked how it was. I was only about 20 pages in and my response was: "weird. Its narration for a killer is from the point of view 'you.'" A couple days later, halfway into the book, she saw me reading and asked again how I liked it. My response this time was drastically different: "it's really good. It started out strange, but stick with it." This is what I would tell you, too. But first, a warning: this book is extremely graphic and very disturbing and dark, including such things as rape, pedophilia, and gory killings. If you can handle that, and you love thrillers, then this is an excellent book for you. But it is bizarre! It has shifting narration: from each of the four friend's perspectives, "you," AKA the killer, "I," who is unknown until the very end, and from "the man who wasn't there," someone who is watching the friends, but also is not revealed until later on in the book. So many strange and disturbing things happen and while the odd narration can be unsettling, I grew to like it, after hating it at first. I liked the book so much because it never stops and never relents. The action and mystery just keep at it until the very end, and I liked how unique the story was, both in its plot and its take on narration. This book truly is not for everyone; you must not have a weak stomach, and you have to enjoy "bizarre." If both of these things apply to you, and you're up for something really different, and exciting, then I'd recommend you pick this book up ASAP... but you've been warned!

My Rating: 4/5