A magnificent book.HHhH: 'Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich,' or 'Himmler's brain is called Heydrich.' The most dangerous man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the 'Butcher of Prague.' He was feared by all and loathed by most. It's one of the best historical novels I've ever come across.' - Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho and Less Than Zero He has a bright, bright future.' - David Annand, The Telegraph Laurent Binet's brilliantly translated debut deconstructs the process of fiction writing in the face of the brute reality of facts.Binet's resets the path of the historical novel. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius did it for the memoir, Reservoir Dogs for action films, and now HHhH does it for the historical novel. 'Every now and then a piece of work comes along that undermines the assumptions upon which all previous works have been built.These pieces of art complicate the genre for everyone that follows. ' knows how to wrangle powerful moments from history.' - Susannah Meadows, The New York Times Very few page-turners come as smart and original as this.' - Chris Power, The Times (London) The book's final section, which recounts the assassination and subsequent manhunt in minute detail, is a masterpiece of tension, and its closing pages are extremely moving. His fidelity to the historical record, and obsessive urge to analyse those moments where surmise replaces fact, makes HHhH as much about the technical and moral processes of writing a historical novel as it is a historical novel.This unusual method results in a literary triumph.Using short, punchy chapters, Binet keeps his story haring along. Ample material for a decent espionage thriller, but Binet, 'a slave to my scruples,' makes something altogether less commonplace of it. the training in Britain of the Czech and Slovak assassins, Jan Kubi and Jozef Gabcík, who parachuted into the country in December 1941 to kill Heydrich. HHhH, translated from the French by Sam Taylor, charts Heydrich's rise through the Nazi ranks and Germany's march to war.

'Marvelous.Pulsing with life, lit by a wisp of dry humor, fully imagined.' - Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times ' HHhH is a startling novel.Who would expect a postmodern exploration of the limits of historical fiction to be a page-turner? But it is, absolutely.Fascinating.' - Madeline Miller, NPR The tone is clever, witty, casually postmodern.Captivating.' - James Wood, The New Yorker 'Binet has threaded his novel with a contemporary story, which is the drama of the book's own making. 'Brings a raw truth to an extraordinary act of resistance.A literary tour de force.A gripping novel that brings us closer to history as it really happened.' - Alan Riding, The New York Times Book Review

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