Better well-aged than arrived too early: Jürgen von der Lippe's debut novel. Recently, my wife said to me, "Why don't you finally write something with depth? I would love to read a worldly, multi-layered plot from you, a panopticon of characters, a clever mix of action and reflection, social criticism and psychological depth, maybe even a cleverly integrated crime storyline, and if you like, seasoned with a bit of tastefully described sex—go ahead, you can do it!" So I sat down at my notebook and wrote: "I want to tell you a rather incredible story. I know this isn't a happy beginning for a book that should grab its readers in a chokehold from the very first sentence and not let go until the last word. 'They had slit his throat and then let him bleed out in the urinal' is a different caliber altogether, but in the world of senselessly wielding raw forces, I'm not as at home as I am in the psyche of the gentle, unassuming with their small lovable quirks. People like Gregor and his dog Waldmeister...".