You give him your photograph, specify when and where to find you, then sit back and prepare to die. Marital troubles? Sick of life? Suicide the answer? Why not get yourself a contract killer? Nothing easier, provided you communicate only by phone and box number. More to him than met the eye will be the judgement. Murdered, you will be of greater interest than ever you were in life. Our hero meticulously plans his own demise, except for one detail: what if he suddenly decides he wants to live? This darkly funny tale is Kurkov on top form. A mysterious killing lives long in the popular memory. 2006