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A review by beate251
Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for this ARC.
Björn Diemel, 42, is a criminal lawyer with a wife, Katharina, and a daughter, Emily who is 2 1/2 but talks like a 12 year old. He's a stressed workaholic who never sees his family until his wife forces him to see mindfulness coach and author of "Slowing Down in the Fast Lane: Mindfulness for Managers" Joschka Breitner, in order to save their marriage.
So when his client, crime boss Dragan Sergowicz interferes with his new found family time, he has no choice but to kill and dismember him. Mindfully of course. Dragan has a lot of people who work for him and Björn has to keep the illusion that Dragan is alive and giving instructions through him. However, the solution that Björn has mindfully come to is that it's easier to kill most of them. So begins Björn's journey into mindfulness and murder, while at the same time trying to get a preschool place for Emily, in his own surprising but mindful way.
This is a book by a German author that has been a success in German speaking countries since 2019. "Achtsam Morden" has finally been translated into English and is the first of a series of five books so far, which we will hopefully all be able to read in due course.
You get two books in one - a crime thriller and a mindfulness guide. There is a lot of talk about breathing exercises, time islands and mindful action. Mindfulness is all Björn ever talks about now, and he uses it more and more to justify his murderous actions. The advice from the mindfulness guide at the beginning of each chapter is repeated within the chapter, which made me skip the chapter introductions after a while due to overkill (pun not intended).
It's a darkly funny story about what happens when a stressed lawyer finds a new way of thinking and addressing his problems. It ends rather abruptly, but we're not done with Björn yet, and in the meantime, if I ever need to murder someone I know how to do it mindfully now.
This is an unconventional approach to crime narrated in first person by a smart but rarely likeable lawyer who tries to do what's best for his family in a rather violent but original way. There are plenty of twists in this very engaging read. Recommended for lovers of dark humour who don't mind the occasional torture or dismemberment taking place.
"Mindfulness was just autogenic training without lying down. Yoga without contorting yourself. Meditation without sitting crosslegged. Or, as the article in Manager magazine my wife once demonstratively placed on the breakfast table put it: ‘Mindfulness means taking in each moment with love and without judgement."
Björn Diemel, 42, is a criminal lawyer with a wife, Katharina, and a daughter, Emily who is 2 1/2 but talks like a 12 year old. He's a stressed workaholic who never sees his family until his wife forces him to see mindfulness coach and author of "Slowing Down in the Fast Lane: Mindfulness for Managers" Joschka Breitner, in order to save their marriage.
So when his client, crime boss Dragan Sergowicz interferes with his new found family time, he has no choice but to kill and dismember him. Mindfully of course. Dragan has a lot of people who work for him and Björn has to keep the illusion that Dragan is alive and giving instructions through him. However, the solution that Björn has mindfully come to is that it's easier to kill most of them. So begins Björn's journey into mindfulness and murder, while at the same time trying to get a preschool place for Emily, in his own surprising but mindful way.
This is a book by a German author that has been a success in German speaking countries since 2019. "Achtsam Morden" has finally been translated into English and is the first of a series of five books so far, which we will hopefully all be able to read in due course.
You get two books in one - a crime thriller and a mindfulness guide. There is a lot of talk about breathing exercises, time islands and mindful action. Mindfulness is all Björn ever talks about now, and he uses it more and more to justify his murderous actions. The advice from the mindfulness guide at the beginning of each chapter is repeated within the chapter, which made me skip the chapter introductions after a while due to overkill (pun not intended).
It's a darkly funny story about what happens when a stressed lawyer finds a new way of thinking and addressing his problems. It ends rather abruptly, but we're not done with Björn yet, and in the meantime, if I ever need to murder someone I know how to do it mindfully now.
This is an unconventional approach to crime narrated in first person by a smart but rarely likeable lawyer who tries to do what's best for his family in a rather violent but original way. There are plenty of twists in this very engaging read. Recommended for lovers of dark humour who don't mind the occasional torture or dismemberment taking place.
"Mindfulness was just autogenic training without lying down. Yoga without contorting yourself. Meditation without sitting crosslegged. Or, as the article in Manager magazine my wife once demonstratively placed on the breakfast table put it: ‘Mindfulness means taking in each moment with love and without judgement."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Murder