Respect for the Dead — Nick O'Brien

The year is 1997. Roger Carter, middle-class, middle-aged and languishing in a tedious job and a lifeless marriage, has never set foot on foreign soil. But to his astonishment he is plucked from his suburban mediocrity and sent to Amsterdam for training by his employers. Or so he thinks. There he becomes infatuated with his mentor, Helga, an enigmatic woman of haunting beauty. But he also encounters Helga's sinister brother, Peter, and soon he is unwittingly embroiled in the darker side of the city with its criminal underworld, prostitution, drugs and murder. Roger is caught up in a whirlwind of disturbing events over which he seems to have no control, and ultimately tragic consequences follow. This mysterious, dark drama, laced with biting humour, will make the reader learn to expect the unexpected.