Love from a scientific point of view and gothic detective stories: what are the new books of January about

Bernhard Schlink, "Granddaughter" ("Azbuka-Atticus")

In Russia, Bernhard Schlink became famous thanks to the bestseller The Reader, which was filmed in 2008.

In the novel "Granddaughter" the writer again touches on the theme of love and family relationships in post-war Germany.

The main character Kaspar arrives in the summer of 1964 from West Germany to East and meets the charming Birgit.

Young people fall in love with each other at first sight.

Kaspar helps his beloved escape to Germany, where they begin to live together and build a common future.

But Birgit cannot find peace of mind anywhere: the past does not leave her, and the present is full of doubts.

The heroine gradually plunges into alcohol addiction and becomes more and more isolated in herself.

One evening, already 70-year-old Kaspar returns from work and finds his wife dead.

Her death not only brings him suffering, but also reveals all the secrets of Birgit - the hero learns about the secrets that she carried through her whole life.

Each new fact raises a question in Kaspar: did he even know the person with whom he lived most of his life?

Now he will have to do what Birgit did not dare to do - find his daughter.

“When Kaspar returned home, his hands were shaking.

Escape suddenly turned from an idea into a reality.

Embodied in word and debt.

He needed to transfer documents across the border, for which, in case of failure, he and Birgit were both threatened with prison.

And Birgit, moreover, had to live with this fear until she crossed Czechoslovakia and ended up in Austria.

The danger is no longer theoretical.

She became real.

Kaspar was terrified.

He suddenly lost strength.

Trembling, he went to bed, fell asleep and woke up two hours later, wet with sweat.

But the fear vanished.

Then, years later, he woke up more than once in the middle of the night with a beating heart, because he dreamed of a border check during which they might find something forbidden on him, or an interrogation in which he was desperately trying to hide some secret.

Until the day he escaped, the fear did not return to him even in his sleep.

Everything that needed to be done, he did quite calmly.

• © Azbuka-Atticus

Ernest Kline, Ready Player Two (AST)

The sequel to the acclaimed novel "Ready Player One" is even more eclectic in content than the first part, and more and more resembles not even science fiction intertwined with dystopia, but a gloomy literary RPG (role-playing computer game), which, however, does not spoil the impression and doesn't make the book worse.

According to the plot, the main character Wade Watts, who became a billionaire and the owner of the GSS company, inherits from its founder Holliday a new ONI neural interface, which allows not only to experience the full range of sensations inside the OASIS game, but also to record them in real life.

The device gives users a lot of new emotions, but is fraught with a serious danger: using THEM for more than 12 hours without a 12-hour break can lead to critical brain damage.

The protagonist decides to release a new interface to the market, with which his team fundamentally disagrees, and the “magnificent five” breaks up.

When, after a while, most of the OASIS users are connected to the game with the help of THEM, Wade receives a new task from Holliday - to collect the Seven Shards to recreate the Soul of the Siren.

But he will be opposed by an incredible opponent, and the situation will be aggravated by the fact that users connected to the game with the help of THEM will be held hostage - any attempt to leave the OASIS will simply destroy their brain.

The hero will have to assemble his team again, defeat the insidious enemy and make a very important choice.

Cline's debut novel, Ready Player One, was released in 2011 and was adapted into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 2018.

The roles in the film were performed by Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn and others.

“I chose the first file and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, I found myself on a surfboard, sliding along a huge wave towards some tropical island.

However, when I tried to automatically twitch to keep my balance, nothing happened: I had no control over the body, but was only a passive observer - a simple passenger.

And for some reason, I felt different than in Anorak's office: there everything seemed incredibly clear and perfect, but here everything was, though brighter, but somewhat disturbing and confusing.

Looking down, I saw that I no longer looked like Parsifal.

This avatar is smaller and leaner, with darker skin and streaks of long black hair falling over his eyes.

And also in a bathing suit.

And with a bulging chest... I was a woman!

And an experienced surfer, obviously.

Then it dawned on me - I'm no longer an avatar!

I am in the head of a real person who recorded this event in reality.

I experienced a piece of someone else's life!

I did not control anything, but I saw, heard and felt everything - every single feeling of the woman who made this record.

I even felt an ONI headset on my head and noticed a portable data storage device in a waterproof case strapped to my… her right arm.”

• © AST

T.A.

Williams, "Dreaming of Venice" ("ABC-Atticus")

The main character of the novel T.A.

Williams "Dreaming of Venice" Penny Lane lives in a house full of rats, works in a cheap London cafe, is going through a breakup with a young man from Australia and dreams of her own exhibition in a Venice art gallery.

Penny's everyday life is colorless and boring, only dreams give joy: in them she walks around Venice and rides in a gondola through the canals.

The case changes everything: a girl accidentally saves a child whose carriage was almost hit by a train, and becomes - albeit not for long - a celebrity.

She is noticed by the assistant of a wealthy young woman, Olivia, who has fallen into depression after the death of her father.

The girls look like twins, and Penny gets a surprising offer: to fill in for Olivia at social events.

She agrees, because paying to play another person will allow her to pay off her tuition debts and can help fulfill her cherished dream of Venice.

Williams' novel is a love story about a modern-day Cinderella, full of adventure and picturesque descriptions of an Italian city in a classic author's style.

Surprisingly carefully and detailed characters interact in an equally detailed world, and the love line is so skillfully woven into the overall outline of the story that Dreaming of Venice will appeal not only to the fair sex, but also to the male audience.

“Penny's first public appearance as Olivia came the following week and nearly ended in disaster.

She was told it would be an afternoon reception for wealthy donors to several charities, to be held at the Southbank Center.

She was also ordered to report to the Brooks-Websters' house in Notting Hill at noon and dress in the most exquisite manner.

In an email, Caroline explained that one of the most expensive designer dresses and high heels should be worn.

Penny chose a very beautiful cream-colored Chanel dress with a deep, too revealing neckline.

Following Caroline's instructions, Penny took a taxi to Olivia's house, but she made sure to ask the driver for the receipt.

Although Caroline promised to reimburse all expenses, Penny did not want to be thought of as asking too much.

But she did not have to rely on Caroline's support.

As Penny had feared, only Mrs. Brooks-Webster met her.

Olivia's mother must have loved these ostentatious gatherings, where one could amuse one's own vanity.

Today she was all hung with jewels and specially made a new hairstyle.

The color of the nails changed to dark red, matching the very elegant dress.

Penny, not without internal malice, noticed that the dress was too narrow in the hips.

So Mrs B-U had to squeeze into it.

This thought warmed Penny, while the mistress of the house meticulously examined her from head to toe.

Penny's hopes for moral support did not materialize."

• © Azbuka-Atticus

Alice Feeney, "Dark Daisy" (AST)

The new novel by British writer Alice Feeney is a dark, almost gothic detective story about members of an unusual family who have avoided each other for many years.

But one day the grandmother gathers her relatives under the roof of her house to celebrate the anniversary.

The house is located on a secluded island, which is cut off from the rest of the land by the tide for eight hours a day.

At midnight, one of the family members dies.

An hour later, another one.

Who is the killer?

Why is everything happening this way?

The survivors have only a few hours to find the answers to these questions.

The undoubted advantages of Feeney's new book are the detective story and the atmosphere in the spirit of the works of Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe.

The plot is predictable in places, but still keeps you in suspense and pleases with infrequent, but original twists.

The disadvantages include quite cardboard characters that do not always act logically and adequately.

Alice Feeney's debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, became an international bestseller and has been translated into more than 20 languages.

“Grandma must have been writing this when she fell.

Why would she write such terrible things about us?

Lily asks.

Rose and Conor stare at the poem, but they don't have an answer to the question.

None of us know what to say or do.

Lily, who is always uncomfortable in silence, fills it again with her voice.

“I just realized it's Halloween,” she says with a faint smile.

Maybe this is some kind of prank?

It's true, Grandma always liked to play pranks on us on Halloween.

It was her favorite night of the year for a number of reasons.

She believed in the ancient Celtic origins of the celebration and reminded us of them every year on her birthday.

The Celts, who lived in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales over two thousand years ago, believed that on October 31 a portal opened between the dead and the living, allowing most souls to return to earth.

Grandmother always believed in ghosts, but she believed that they only walk among us at this time of the year.

Remember when grandma taught us to play trick or treat?

Lit a bunch of candles, scared us with her scary stories?

Lily says, as if expecting grandma to sit down and laugh at our naivete.

“This is not a prank,” Rose says, wiping a rare tear from her cheek.

- She is dead".

• © AST

Donato Carrisi, House Without Memories (ABC-Atticus)

For the first time in Russian, a novel by the world-famous Italian master of action-packed detectives, screenwriter, and winner of numerous awards Donato Carrisi, "The House Without Memories", is published in Russian.

This is the second book in the series about the adventures of the psychologist-hypnotist Pietro Gerber, the continuation of the novel House of Voices.

This time, Gerber must solve the mystery of a mysterious boy found by an elderly woman who, for some unknown reason, woke up at the same time every day and went into the deep forest.

The child is not able to explain anything and tell about himself - he is silent.

There is a feeling that he is dumb, but Gerber manages to do the impossible: thanks to his efforts, the boy returns to the gift of speech.

However, the number of mysteries from this only grows, because the child in a completely different voice tells a terrible story from the past, full of kidnappings, murders and other crimes.

Gerber listens to the little witness, not even suspecting that he himself is being watched by someone unthinkable in the ordinary world - the keeper of fairy tales, from which the blood runs cold.

In The House Without Memories, Carrisi masterfully combined a detective and a psychological thriller into one whole, colorfully talking about working with the unconscious with the help of hypnosis.

Well, the descriptions of Florence, in which the events take place, are so scrupulous and beautiful that it seems to come to life on the pages of the book.

“The evening promised to be wonderful.

Gerber believed that such hits to the point were necessary in order to keep even the happiest marriage afloat.

Like all couples, he and Sylvia had their ups and downs over the nearly five years, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

Until the "Hall case".

So they called it, keeping a safe distance from the events that threatened their relationship.

At that time, Gerber removed his wife and son from him, but only to protect from the intrusion into their lives of a mysterious patient, the only adult he had ever had to treat.

But Sylvia turned out to be more mature and responsible than he, and with her inherent foresight and willpower, she coped with the crisis, not allowing their marriage to shatter.

When Pietro Gerber stepped through the threshold of his apartment that evening, inspired by the brightest prospects and filled with the best of intentions, he was greeted by something unexpected.

In the hallway stood a vase of yellow tulips, exactly the same as he was clutching in his hands.

While he was asking himself how this was possible, he was overtaken by the coldness and impenetrable silence that reigned in the house.

He was surrounded by emptiness.

Doubts came one after another;

Pietro was taken aback.

Why is there no one?

Where did everyone go?

What happened?

Then out of the darkness to meet him, with a mute cry, the phantom of sad reality jumped out.

Ever since he sent them away, Sylvia and Marco have never returned."

• © Azbuka-Atticus

Anna Johannsen, "Dead Man on the Beach" (AST)

Police Commissioner Lena Lorenzen returns to her homeland - the island of Amrum - after 14 years and plunges not only into unpleasant memories, but also into the investigation of an unusual murder.

The body of the director of the orphanage was found on the beach.

Everything pointed to a heart attack, but the examination showed the presence of poison in the body.

At first, the story seems banal and even boring - everything looks like an ordinary provincial murder.

However, towards the middle of the novel, the action changes: events rush at a gallop, the crime turns out to be much larger, and the forces behind it are more formidable than it seemed.

A separate advantage of the book is interesting interludes on behalf of the criminal, which provide reflections on the current state of affairs.

Johannsen deliberately cheated in them, writing all the inserts in such a way that it was impossible to understand the gender of the villain.

The story is in the spirit of classic Scandinavian film noir and will appeal to fans of Heine Bakkaid, Karin Fossum and Håkan Nesser.

“We didn’t overdo it?

Johan asked as he and Lena got back into the car.

We are policemen, not psychologists.

How many pleasant interrogations have you seen?

I have little.

We have to dig into someone else's dirty linen, pull out the facts that people want to hide ... We cannot overdo it, and even more so during a murder investigation.

We wander in the dark.

So far, we've only managed to raise a little noise.

It's not for me to tell you that most killers are intimately familiar with the victim.

In addition, we still do not know how Hein Bohlen was killed.

If he really was poisoned, then the criminal must have access to the poison and some kind of medical knowledge.

“Mistress Bohlen does not look like a murderer, much less a cold-blooded poisoner,” objected Johan.

Or she wants us to think so.

Who do you think looks like the killer?

• © AST

Stephanie Cacioppo, "Where Love Is Born" (MYTH)

What is love?

Is it possible to love one person all your life?

Is monogamy natural or is it a product of society?

Love at first sight - reality or a beautiful fairy tale?

Readers can find answers to these and many other questions on the pages of this book.

Stephanie Cacioppo is an eminent psychiatrist and neuroscientist.

For many years, she has studied love scientifically and figured out how romantic relationships and their development affect the human brain.

In the book "Where love is born" the author tells how and why people fall in love with each other, which allows you to save feelings forever and how to survive the loss of a partner.

At the same time, she supplements and reinforces the results of scientific research with her own experience and a touching personal story.

Stefani Cacioppo's scientific work has been published in leading trade journals and featured in renowned periodicals.

The writer is considered one of the world's leading experts in the study of human emotions and relationships.

“One 2013 study found that people who were in long-distance relationships and who had only text messages, phone and video chat at their disposal interacted more meaningfully with each other compared to couples who met every day in real life.

Paradoxically, the distance led to a deeper connection between the partners.

The fact that separation can refresh a relationship has been confirmed in many social species, even elephants, who greet each other more creatively after a long separation.

This is partly due to the social brain's innate craving for novelty.

Distance allows us not to take a partner for granted and reminds us of what we miss most in our soulmate.

It is not surprising that the bitterness of parting is sweet, and the reunion is pleasant to the point of pain.

• © MIF