It was not until Dutch writer Herman Koch published his sixth novel (he has also written multiple short story collections) that readers in this part of the world were generally able to find his work for the first time. That book, The Dinner, because it is home to one of the most unreliable narrators readers are likely to have encountered for a while, was a huge surprise to American readers who picked it up not knowing what to expect. Herman Koch was a hit in North America, and readers soon looked forward to more of his books – be they the five published before The Dinner or the ones to follow it.

Dear Mr. M, Koch’s eighth novel, once again makes good use of an unreliable narrator or two but still manages to keep its biggest surprise until the book’s last few pages. “Mr. M,” the book’s title character, is a prominent Dutch novelist who, as he is well aware, is fast-approaching the end of his career. The peak of that career, a novel based upon the likelihood that a teenaged couple murdered one of its teachers, is long behind him. He will never sell as many copies of a single book again, and he is trying to learn to be satisfied with his lesser numbers.

Mr. M, however, is not ready to roll over and die. On the contrary, he has a beautiful young wife and a daughter who will barely remember him if he dies anytime soon. He loves his family, and his books still sell in “respectable” numbers – and although he knows it or not, Mr. M has a downstairs neighbor who is absolutely infatuated with Mr. M and his daily routine. But that downstairs neighbor is not just interested in any book; he is obsessed with Mr. M’s fictional portrayal of what happened to the missing schoolteacher, and he is determined to discuss the real incident in detail with Mr. M. Whether the man wants to reveal the truth about what happened or to find out just how much Mr. M knows about it remains to be seen. Who is this guy, anyway?

Dear Mr. M is an intriguing murder mystery (was there even a murder?) told via multiple points-of-view and time periods, and the key characters are as well-developed as their psychotic personalities will realistically allow them to be known to the casual observer. The characters are of many types, but frankly, they are an unlikable lot who pretty much deserve each other and what happens to them. Dear Mr. M is a cynical novel, one filled with equally cynical characters, but that is the root of the darkness that makes the book so intriguing and, dare I say it…so much fun.