Decompression

In this riveting tale we meet two couples caught in a web of conflicting passions, Diving instructor Sven Fiedler and his girlfriend, Antje, who live and work on the Spanish island of Lanzarote. When a tourist couple—Jola, a soap opera actress, and Theo, a stalled novelist—arrive for an intensive two-week diving experience, Sven is captivated by Jola’s beauty and evident wealth.
        Theo suspects that Sven and Jola have begun an affair, but oddly, he seems to encourage them. Antje looks on, increasingly wary of these new clients. Cycling through different points of view, we are constantly kept guessing about who knows what—and who is telling the truth. A brutal game of temptation and manipulation unfolds, pointing toward a violent end—but a quiet one, underwater, beneath the waves.

“A mesmerizing and disturbing psychological thriller. . . . Fantasy and reality entwine.” —The Wall Street Journal

"Zeh is adept at describing the carelessness and perversities of the rich and famous. . . . A story about obsession—this time with status, looks, and celebrity culture." —The Independent

“Gripping. . . . Keeps the reader guessing to the end. A darkly comic thriller that is impossible to put down.” —Library Journal

“Compelling. . . . Erotic intrigue, deep-sea diving and clients from hell make for a lively mix.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“[A] deft thriller.” —Publishers Weekly

“A tale that unfolds at a high level of psychological excitement.” —Der Spiegel

“This is phenomenal. . . . A nightmarish, furious, cold thriller. . . . Juli Zeh is at her literary best when she’s describing underwater silence, when she’s describing situations in which isolation is total and the world as it exists above water is bidden farewell.” —Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

“Juli Zeh’s love-triangle drama easily bears comparison with the work of Patricia Highsmith, doyenne of the conspicuously amoral.” —Brigitte

Juli Zeh’s novels include Eagles and Angels, winner of numerous prizes including the German Book Prize; Gaming Instinct; In Free Fall; and The Method. She has worked at the United Nations in New York, taught at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig, and currently lives in Brandenburg. In 2013 she was awarded the Thomas Mann Prize.