Short Circuit

"An act of intricate, puzzle-minded fabulism. Part Italo Calvino and part Ed McBain."-Jim Lewis, Author of New York Times Notable Book Ghosts of New York

"A playful literary mystery. . . . Fans of Anthony Horowitz will find a lot to like."-Publishers Weekly

A clever, electrifying puzzle of a novel, inspired by MC Escher's optical illusions, in which two mirrored plots-a man waiting for an electrician and a mafia informant entering witness protection-delightfully converge.

Franz Escher is waiting for the electrician. His power outlet has a loose connection. To pass the time, he buries himself in a book about a Mafioso-turned-informant Elio Russo. Elio is in jail, awaiting his imminent release into witness protection. He has betrayed so many people that he fears for his life. Unable to sleep, he lies awake at night reading a book about a man named Franz Escher who's waiting for the electrician. His power outlet has a loose connection. . .

So begins Wolf Haas's Short Circuit, an inventive new take on the detective novel. Styled after one of M. C. Escher's impossible drawings, its two stories gradually intertwine only to solve each other, culminating in one final short circuit. A phenomenon after its German publication, this brilliantly entertaining novel promises to defy all expectation.

Wolf Haas was born in 1960 and has received multiple international prizes, including the Bremen Literature Prize, the Wilhelm Raabe Prize, and the Jonathan Swift Prize. His novels include Property, which won the 2024 Erich Kästner Prize; The Weather Fifteen Years Ago; Defense of the Missionary Position; Young Man; as well as nine Detective Brenner crime novels. He lives in Vienna.

Short Circuit is a little demonic machine, a hall-of-mirrors contraption that slowly converges upon its twin subjects until they fuse, in an act of intricate, puzzle-minded fabulism. Part Italo Calvino and part Ed McBain, it eventually becomes genreless, a conceit and a curiosity, singular and inimitable. - Jim Lewis, Author of New York Times Notable Book Ghosts of New York

Drawing inspiration from M.C. Escher's mind-bending graphic art, Haas toys with literary conventions including double identities and problems of translation to dazzling effect . . . a clever, wryly funny ride enhanced by a memorable supporting cast . . . Fans of Anthony Horowitz will find a lot to like. - Publishers Weekly

This book is so weird! And so cool. . . .The slim size of the volume belies the complexity of the plot, but those who stick with it and pay close attention will find themselves rewarded with a mind-bending ending. - Crime Reads

[A] short, sharp shocker . . . [that] feels like a collaboration between Nicholson Baker, Stephen Hawking and Mario Puzo. . . constantly funny, surprising and ultimately moving, which already makes it . . . [a] book of the year. - The Times (UK)

Inspired by M. C. Escher's mind-bending drawings, two apparently independent narratives intertwine in playful and poignant fashion in this literary mystery . . . Haas keeps readers guessing . . . [with Short Circuit's] high-concept narrative . . . flickering between moments of whimsy and pathos. - Booklist

What starts out as a humorous yet somewhat arid metafiction, with characters who are barely sketched in, grows increasingly warm, human, and engaging. It feels as if the books the two main characters are reading are coming to life, animating the shared story. . . . Readers who are willing to play along from the start will enjoy the acceleration of the stories as they entwine, never totally losing the strangeness of the Escher-inspired circularity.

- Crime Fiction Review

Reading this mind-bending novel will take you down a path that leads back to where you began, and I can almost guarantee that you won't know where you went. It's truly mystifying. But it's fun. Even Jamie Bulloch says that if paragraphs went by without a smile, he had to go back and rethink them. So Short Circuit reader, prepare to be perplexed (at the very least) and amused. You will never be able to approach a book in the same way again

- Book Reporter

Short Circuit is incredibly easy to read, as entertaining as a well-oiled thriller, yet so sophisticated that it will dazzle you . . . an absolute must-read. - Die Zeit

Highly entertaining. But it's not just one book; it's at least three in one, all of which are highly enjoyable. He plays cleverly with form and structure-not just as a gimmick but as a fundamental part of the story. Wolf Haas has mastered the rules of writing so completely that he can just as easily ignore them." - Der Spiegel

A novel so rich in allusions, enjoyable, and cleverly constructed that only Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, and Roberto Bolaño could otherwise achieve. - Welt am Sonntag