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Sorry

3.43 of 5 stars 3.43 · rating details · 766 ratings · 180 reviews

One. Two. Three. That’s all it takes to drive the nail into her head, to leave her hanging on the wall. She deserved to die. Now all he needs is absolution for his sins, and he knows just the people who can help.

We know what you should say. We say what you want to hear.

Kris, Tamara, Wolf, and Frauke. Four young friends with too much time on their hands and one big idea: a...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published September 20th 2011 by Knopf (first published January 1st 2009)

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Oct 07, 2011 karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: icky-sex

sorry, no.

but the people that froth over The Girl With the Dragon Tattoowill likely find something to appreciate here. this has all the same over-the-top violence and sexual abuse coupled with characters i can't seem to give a damn for with many branching storylines that eventually converge in a way that seems overplotted.

so, very reminiscent of that book, to which i gave three stars, but which the more i think about, the less i actually feel it deserves. violence doesn't bother me - i am one of...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Lance Greenfield Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Have you ever felt sympathy for a murderer?

What? Never?

Do you really believe that it would be impossible for you generate such feelings?

Well, read Sorry and you may change your mind!

Don't get me wrong. This story is dark, and sinister, and horrific. But it certainly challenged my own vIews and values.

Initially, the narration is confusing. The chapters flip between the main characters of the book. The narration also flips from first person singular to third person singular and back again, and th...more

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May 05, 2011 Lennongirl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-stars-amazing, type-fiction, read-in-german, read-in-2011, g-thriller-horror, medium-book, made-me-shudder

First of all: I doubt Drvenkar is for everybody. His writing (narrative) style is probably something you either love or hate. I for once love it. Either way, what we can agree on: It's something very different.

So here are the things you might want to know about Sorry (don't say I didn't warn you). It has multiple narrators. And different point of views. There's all of it: First person POV, second person POV (Drvenkar does that brilliantly, his other most brilliant Thriller Du is written complete...more First of all: I doubt Drvenkar is for everybody. His writing (narrative) style is probably something you either love or hate. I for once love it. Either way, what we can agree on: It's something very different.

So here are the things you might want to know about Sorry (don't say I didn't warn you). It has multiple narrators. And different point of views. There's all of it: First person POV, second person POV (Drvenkar does that brilliantly, his other most brilliant Thriller Du is written completely in 2nd POV, and it's too awesome for words) and, of course, third person. You can never be sure if all narrators are always reliable, not because they lead you on willingly - they just don't know any better. And you, the reader, know little to nothing. It takes a while until you even figure out who all of these narrators are. Some stay anonymous for quite a while. But don't worry: It will all add up at some point, and the moment of clarity will feel so very rewarding.

See what happened here? That is Drvenkar and what he does to me. Narration and plot are much alike: you just never know who's behind it, you never know what's coming next. Everything could happen - or maybe nothing at all?

Sorry is about four friends, all sad existences on their own. Together, they rise to fame and fortune when they found an agency that apologises for others. As you might guess by now, guilt, responsibility and shame are central issues in this book. Morals and ethics are, in a way, too. The plot is fast. It's brutal. It made me sick in a way - humans can be so evil. I really had to put the book away for a few moments to catch my breath. And then, when I read on: another twist. And another turn. And another one. And I wonder: How did he... no wait... really? And I read on because I just can't stop.

And if you're now still not sure whether this is your thing or not - well, I won't tell you anymore, because you'll just have to try for yourself. If this kind of dark story and different narration is your thing, you'll lose yourself in this book. And you'll love it. 5 stars, what a question. More, Mr. Drvenkar, please, give me more.(less)

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Oct 23, 2011 Tegghiaio rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Si pudiera puntuar con decimales, en mi opinión este libro probablemente sería merecedor de un 2,50 o un 2,75; pero si he podido vivir con el hecho de haberle dado 3/5 a "Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres" a pesar de lo mucho que me aburrió la primera mitad, no voy a empezar a darle importancia a eso ahora.

Si bien el libro me resultó entretenido y no puedo decir que en algún momento me haya costado avanzar con la lectura, mi problema con esta historia es que es digna de cualquier película...more Si pudiera puntuar con decimales, en mi opinión este libro probablemente sería merecedor de un 2,50 o un 2,75; pero si he podido vivir con el hecho de haberle dado 3/5 a "Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres" a pesar de lo mucho que me aburrió la primera mitad, no voy a empezar a darle importancia a eso ahora.

Si bien el libro me resultó entretenido y no puedo decir que en algún momento me haya costado avanzar con la lectura, mi problema con esta historia es que es digna de cualquier película de terror de mala calidad. Esas en donde los personajes toman decisiones tan desacertadas que en lugar de asustarte ríes histéricamente cuando algo les ocurre.

Para no empezar el tercer párrafo con otro condicional, quiero dejar claro que no estoy cuestionando la idea de una agencia dedicada a pedir perdón a las "víctimas" de sus clientes, dudo que en la vida real algo así tuviese tanto éxito, pero puedo aceptarlo en un mundo de ficción. Mi problema está en todos esos pequeños detalles que hacen que la trama se sostenga y que a su vez dudo que pudieran ocurrir en la vida real salvo que los involucrados tengan algún tipo de deficiencia mental.

Como la sinopsis en español ya adelanta que dos de los amigos mueren por culpa del asesino, no creo que sea un gran spoiler lo que voy a contarles a continuación, pero de todas maneras ocultaré el texto por si no desean enterarse de los detalles de una de esas muertes. (view spoiler)[Una de estas personas, sin avisarle a los demás, piensa que es una buena idea llamar al asesino al celular y concertar una cita en un lugar público para hablar y hacerlo entrar en razón. El hecho de que el asesino atienda la llamada y acceda queda en nada en comparación con que esta persona acuda al encuentro armada con nada más que un cuchillo; cuando ya vio que el asesino mató a una persona clavándola a una pared, por lo que además es de suponerse que se trata de un hombre corpulento.

El asesino llega a la cita por el lado opuesto a donde se encuentra nuestra aspirante a heroína, separados ambos por un lago congelado (el invierno llegó de forma abrupta y se sobreentiende que se trata de una delgada capa de hielo). A esta señorita no se le ocurre mejor idea que arrancar a correr en modo kamikaze, cuchillo en mano, con la esperanza de alcanzar al asesino y ponerle fin a todo. El hielo se quiebra, ella se hunde y muere. El asesino al menos es un buen ciudadano e informa a las autoridades del suceso.

La víctima era amiga de un policía, quien por supuesto interpela a sus asociados porque duda que su muerte haya sido un simple accidente; no obstante estos niegan completamente que alguien los esté amenazando o que se encuentren en peligro. Pero claro, seguir la lógica y denunciar al asesino le hubiese puesto punto final a la historia. ¿Qué le parece mejor a uno de ellos? Contactar a un delincuente que conoció años atrás para que le facilite una pistola con silenciador. Porque ese es otro punto interesante, el asesino es localizable porque usa un nombre real. Es hilarante el momento en que se altera cuando descubre que dos de estos jóvenes se presentaron en el lugar donde solía trabajar y luego fueron a hablar con su mamá.

Ni qué decir con la facilidad que esta gente cava fosas en cualquier lado. Destaca el momento cuando ha desaparecido el segundo de ellos y los dos que quedan en la casa están hechos un manojo de nervios. Veamos, por mucho que eventualmente se queden dormidos, no hay forma de tener un sueño profundo, ¿cómo es posible entonces que alguien haga una fosa en su jardín, entierre al desaparecido, coloque encima unas flores y se marche sin que estos dos monigotes se enteren? Y eso por citarle algunos ejemplos nada más. (hide spoiler)]

El final tampoco me dejó del todo conforme, a mi entender es innecesariamente dramático.

¿Cosas positivas? Me gustó la estructura del libro y la manera en que el autor iba contando la historia a través de lo que vivía cada uno de los personajes. Excelente a su vez la atmósfera que consigue crear al inicio, culminando con el asesinato que da pie a la historia.

En conclusión, si están buscando una historia lógica y bien elaborada, no lean Sorry; si en cambio disfrutan con esas películas tan malas que terminan siendo divertidas, este pudiera ser su equivalente literario.(less)

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Apr 17, 2013 Teagan C. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For the first quarter of the book I was a bit confused, and for the first third I found the writing style to be really pretentious but that petered out with the more that I read. As the story unravelled it became a bit more easy to read. The book had a good concept to begin with but many of the things the characters did I found questionable enough even with the characters personalities to bring me out of the story. The writing style and ideas within the novel were interesting enough that I may g...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Wendy Hines rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Four friends are having a rough time of it. Frauke's mom has been committed to an asylum and since her father can't sleep alone, he relies on Frauke to retain his sanity. Wolf is heartbroken and filled with grief; the woman he loved overdosed and died. Kris is a journalist but was fired and Tamara lives with the guilt of giving custody of her daughter Jenna to her ex-lover, and the fact that she is a terrible mother in her own mind.

One evening when they are hanging out, they come up with the ide...more Four friends are having a rough time of it. Frauke's mom has been committed to an asylum and since her father can't sleep alone, he relies on Frauke to retain his sanity. Wolf is heartbroken and filled with grief; the woman he loved overdosed and died. Kris is a journalist but was fired and Tamara lives with the guilt of giving custody of her daughter Jenna to her ex-lover, and the fact that she is a terrible mother in her own mind.

One evening when they are hanging out, they come up with the idea for a business, Sorry. They will apologize for corporations and businessmen, offering financial compensation and telling them how sorry their client is. It's an instant success and the friends have more money than they know what to do with. They purchase a villa, renovate it and all move in together, running their agency from there.

However, everything changes with a new client. They do all of their normal contracts and background checks, so they don't anticipate what is at the apartment, where they are to go to apologize. A woman is nailed to a wall mural, nails through her wrists and forehead. With a phone call, their client tells them to do their job and if they want to throw in the perk of getting rid of the body, that would be a bonus. To ensure they do their job, the client threatens them with violence to their family members, with pictures at the crime scene to show that he means business.

Their friendship is tested. Frauke wants to call the cops, Kris wants to go after the client, Lars Meybach, and Tamara and Wolf just want to do what he wants and then it will be over. But it is far from over and the more they chase Lars, the more dangerous it gets for them. You can't say you're sorry if you are dead and the cat and mouse game that Lars takes them on is chilling.

Translated from German, Sorry reads in several perspectives, but the parts in the book make it easy for the reader to follow along. With the ghastly murders, the backstory of the characters, the current investigation and the clues leading you to a shocking conclusion, shivers will run up your spine. I couldn't put it down - it's clever, unique, heart-pounding and disturbing!
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May 11, 2013 Kathy Davie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Drvenkar claims this is a thriller; in my book, this was more of a horror story!

My Take
This was godawful horrible. I'll give Sorry a "5" for the concept behind it and for the mechanics of the writing which was very good as well as the high level of horror, but Drvenkar kept it all so vague that I was never sure what was happening---a "2" in my book which averages out to a "3.5".

I suspect the vagueness is necessary for part of the story---the part that holds back the identity of the murderer. But...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Josie added it · review of another edition

I tend to always keep the same opinion with most books I read and that is that; there are people that will love it and there are people that will hate it. Each to his own and I personally respect that.

I found that this book had it's good points and it's bad points. So I will start off with the good ones.
I don't remember reading a book that was set out in the same way as that one was and because of this, I found it was a refreshing change. Putting you in the perspective of the killer and writing...more I tend to always keep the same opinion with most books I read and that is that; there are people that will love it and there are people that will hate it. Each to his own and I personally respect that.

I found that this book had it's good points and it's bad points. So I will start off with the good ones.
I don't remember reading a book that was set out in the same way as that one was and because of this, I found it was a refreshing change. Putting you in the perspective of the killer and writing it as if you were looking at these people's lives. It's very creative and I enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed the way that it branched out. Like, you think you know something, then someone else gets introduced and then you have an even bigger mystery to deal with. I love it when a good book keeps me guessing. And I really don't like the cliche.

One more thing I liked was the depth of the characters. Most books that I have read, the characters are just there and they progress with the story but they don't have much story behind them either. With Sorry, you have Frauke's mother, Wolf's Girlfriend, Kris' boss is in there, and Tamarra with Jenni. Everyone has their own little story and I loved that.

Now for the bad things.
I felt like I was always waiting for something spectacular to happen, but never did. In fact, I was left waiting till nearly the end of the book before my heart rate sped up a little. But then it all ended too quickly which always left me feeling disappointed.

Another thing, is that I was hoping for a little more interaction between the characters. I really wanted something more to happen with Kris and Frauke, I wanted him to go further with Tamarra and Wolf. I was hoping that it would build up to something more but the book finished before it got there.

There is only so much you should introduce throughout the story. I thought that it branched out a little too far from the initial idea of the book. Sure you hear about the organisation they had going but then it strayed too much and never really returne

To conclude: I did enjoy this book and I do see me reading it again eventually. But, it's not my favourite, it didn't give me the feelings I was hoping for.(less)

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Apr 04, 2012 D.M. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers

I'm still persevering with the translated European novels and wonder why. This one's German, but I have got the gist of how this style of crime thriller can be now. I think that many are trying to fill the shoes of Larsson, and failing. And can I see Sorry made for film, you bet. I can just imagine the plot made into cinema, with the usual dragging the viewer into the lives of these most hapless characters, while the viewer is forced to give a toss for them and while taking in the shock values t...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This isn’t an easy novel to read. It is, at times, confusing, switching from the third person to the second person to the first person, from the present to the past, from an assortment of characters and varying points of view. Nevertheless, it is a well-written thriller that keeps the reader guessing, with the author doling out clues and facts stingily.

The story is quite simple, in essence. Four friends open an agency in Berlin to apologize to others on behalf of clients, relieving them from fee...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unapologetically thrilling
Who is “you” and who is “I?”

Figuring that out is part of the entertainment in this gripping and slippery, grisly thriller that keeps convoluting reality with its use of language and shifting points of view.

But stick with it and try to keep up as time and narrator change. It’ll be worth it. “Sorry” is that kind of a novel that will stay buried in your head for a long time to come.

A literary trickster, Drvenkar is best at manipulation. He’s a master of control and sometim...more Unapologetically thrilling
Who is “you” and who is “I?”

Figuring that out is part of the entertainment in this gripping and slippery, grisly thriller that keeps convoluting reality with its use of language and shifting points of view.

But stick with it and try to keep up as time and narrator change. It’ll be worth it. “Sorry” is that kind of a novel that will stay buried in your head for a long time to come.

A literary trickster, Drvenkar is best at manipulation. He’s a master of control and sometimes he’s very open and honest with information, for example when he addresses you directly, “I’d like to introduce you (the reader) to the people you will soon be meeting.” Or this, “It’s time for you to enter this story. Through a back door. Like a ghost rising out of the flour and taking the stage. Welcome.”

At other times “you” is someone else, a demonic killer speaking in the second person. These chapters are titled “You” and they give you (the reader, again) a glimpse inside the mind of a madman speaking to himself in the second person. “You’re aware that you’ve created a lot of confusion, and then you seriously thought you could just disappear invisibly back into our life and disconnect the line?”

It all sounds very confusing and it is. And it isn’t. You just need to pay attention and when you do everything becomes worth it.

But first you need to get past the first few pages. That’s when a woman gets nailed to a wall and a spike driven through her forehead. That scene is a bit much but the rest of the book isn’t quite as grisly. Almost, but not quite.

The story questions guilt and absolution. Four bright young charismatic people Kris, Wolf, Fauke and Tamara sit in a room one night smoking dope drinking wine and have a flash of inspiration. They create a business that apologizes on behalf of people and corporations who need to be absolved for something they’ve done, who need to get rid of their guilt. Their agency is very successful and soon the money is piling up. As you can imagine the four have gotten themselves into much more than they ever bargained for and pretty soon you (the psychotic killer) seeks them out for forgiveness and the mayhem ensues.

Drvenkar investigates grand themes and he intrigues at every page. The plot twists and turns and there’s a surprise waiting each time you (the madman) reveals to you (the reader) a new bit of information. Seldom does a book come along that’s better when read a second time. This is one of those rare finds.
[4.5 stars]
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Jan 25, 2012 Robert Beveridge rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amazon-vine, finished, owned-and-still-own

Zoran Drvenkar, Sorry (Knopf, 2009)

Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by Amazon Vine.

Here we have a thriller in which the opening scene shows us the crime: a man crucifies a woman to a wall. From there, we are given a back-and-forth effect, with each chapter divided into After, where the protagonists attempt to solve the crime, and Before, where we are given insight into why the criminal did what he did.

How, exactly, do you make this boring?

In Zoran Drvenkar's defense,...more Zoran Drvenkar, Sorry (Knopf, 2009)

Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by Amazon Vine.

Here we have a thriller in which the opening scene shows us the crime: a man crucifies a woman to a wall. From there, we are given a back-and-forth effect, with each chapter divided into After, where the protagonists attempt to solve the crime, and Before, where we are given insight into why the criminal did what he did.

How, exactly, do you make this boring?

In Zoran Drvenkar's defense, it is entirely possible that the fault lies with the translation, rather than the novel itself. But given that I'm reviewing an American edition of the book, and that the majority of Americans will not be able to read the original German edition in order to compare, the point's academic at best. And, okay, maybe “boring” isn't the proper word to use there. “Badly-paced” would be acceptable. But lord-a-mercy, it took me half an age to get through the first thirty pages of this book. It does pick up a bit after that, though it never gets to a pace that one associates with thrillers. I've read Victorian literature that has more of a sense of quickness than this.

All of this may make it sound like I'm going to do nothing but bash Zoran Drvenkar (and/or hapless translator Shaun Whiteside, who seems to spend much of his translation time working on stuff by Freud, Nietzsche, and other assorted nonfiction/explication authors—I'm not sure there's a link there, but it definitely buils an hypothesis in my head). I don't want to. There's a great deal here of interest, mostly in the way Drvenkar builds his characters. Our protagonists have put together a company called Sorry that apologizes for people. It's a brilliant conceit, though Drvenkar shows us the consequences of having not thought the thing through enough (the killer, essentially, blackmails the Sorry folks into doing what he wants despite their obvious ethical qualms). And it makes sense for these people to have been attracted to this idea; all of them are damaged in some way, though to varying degrees, all of them are searching for absolution from something in their pasts, and also deserve it from others (though they may not see it that way). That part of the concept is especially interesting to me, and most of that does get brought to light, though Drvenkar focuses on the killer and the things he went through that lead to his needing an apology. I'd love to get father into this aspect of the book, but every time I start typing another sentence, I realize I'm still heading deep into spoiler territory, since the logical progression takes us to the killer's motives. I will mention one other thing, hopefully without being spoilery: this dichotomy/parallel leads to a very specific expectation in the reader. Whether you like the book may well depend on whether you like how Drvenkar handles that expectation. I was less than thrilled with it, though it wasn't a complete dealbreaker for me as it was for a few other reviewers I've read.

Ultimately, I think a translation from someone used to working in the thriller vein would have made this a better book, though I think it's probably being mismarketed; it's too cerebral and too character-driven to be a straight genre thriller. Which, again, in no way makes it a bad book. But if you can, check it out in the original German, where some of the (presumed) failings of the translation shouldn't be a problem. ***
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Dec 31, 2011 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a tough read. *SPOILERS*

I don't think it's a badly written book. In fact, I admire it's bold, experimental POV style. However, in addition to the relentless bleakness of the plot (horrifically abused child grows into revengeful, murderous adult) and the graphic nature of the backstory (which I found uncomfortable to read), the demands of this book may prove too much as it continually shifts back and forth in time and in POV. You need to concentrate!

Sadly, I found it difficult to empathis...more

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Nov 12, 2011 Margaux rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Four young friends come up with an idea - make apologies for a living. Their business takes off and they are living the good life until a killer client comes along. This isn't your average thriller as the reader is introduced to "you." "You" have nailed a woman to the wall and "you" want to employ these friends to apologize for her death. Great.

I found this novel to be highly original and although I did not love all of it; I was compelled to read on. The jumbled time line, the switching between...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Cheryl rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kris is sitting in the park, when he spots a woman and her boyfriend arguing. He breaks up with her and leaves her crying. Kris comforts the woman and tells her all the right things to make her feel better about herself. One of the things Kris says is that even though the guy did not say it, he is sorry. Later that morning, Kris arrives at work, only to be fired. His boss attempts to apologize but does a poor job of it. After meeting up with his friends, Tamara, his brother, Wolf, and Tamara’s f...more Kris is sitting in the park, when he spots a woman and her boyfriend arguing. He breaks up with her and leaves her crying. Kris comforts the woman and tells her all the right things to make her feel better about herself. One of the things Kris says is that even though the guy did not say it, he is sorry. Later that morning, Kris arrives at work, only to be fired. His boss attempts to apologize but does a poor job of it. After meeting up with his friends, Tamara, his brother, Wolf, and Tamara’s friend and Wolf’s ex, Frauke, Kris tells them about his encounter in the park with the woman and how he thinks that they should start up their own business. The business would be that people could hire them to do the apologizing for them. For example: a break-up, being fired from your job, etc.

Business is good until Wolf arrives at the house of his next person and finds the woman nailed to the wall. There is a nail holding her hands in place above her head and one in her forehead. As if the situation could not get any worse, the person who hired them calls and leads the four into a cat and mouse game, where there is only one winner.

I held great promise for this book. This is the type of books that I enjoy reading. Sadly, this is one of those books where it sounds better than it actually was. Though, I did think that Shaun Whiteside did a good job translating this book from German into English. I can imagine that this must not be an easy job. Ok, now onto my pros and cons of this book.

Cons:

I felt like the characters were too self-absorbed about themselves. Also, they did not have much depth to them. I did not care to know about their past as I felt like I knew all I wanted to about the characters. Even the killer had a passive aggressive attitude. The crimes are violent and there is too much sex for me, even though it seemed like the sex was in just one section of the book. I felt that the sex did not fit in with the story line.

Pros:

I liked the way this book was written. It read like a manuscript. The narrator read like you, the reader was the one narrating the book. To me this made the book feel more interactive as it needed it.
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Sep 29, 2011 Tony rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: thrillers

Drvenkar, Zoran. SORRY. (2009; Eng. trans. 2011). **.
This English edition was translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside. It was a best seller in Europe. Set in Berlin, the author was born in Croatia and then moved with his family to Germany when he was very young. He has a goodly list of books to his credit before this one, but most of them were written for children. This is not a children’s book. The theme of this “thriller” reflects our times, when educated and talented people are deemed...more Drvenkar, Zoran. SORRY. (2009; Eng. trans. 2011). **.
This English edition was translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside. It was a best seller in Europe. Set in Berlin, the author was born in Croatia and then moved with his family to Germany when he was very young. He has a goodly list of books to his credit before this one, but most of them were written for children. This is not a children’s book. The theme of this “thriller” reflects our times, when educated and talented people are deemed redundant in the workplace and cannot find jobs in their fields. Four young people, two men and two women, meet up after years of having lost touch with each other. Each of them has essentially been thrown onto the mass of people looking for jobs – even though each of them has a college degree. After a reunion drunk, one of the four, Kris, comes up with an idea: Why not start a company whose function is to apologize to separated employees by the managements of companies, but at a second-hand remove. The apology may be for dismissal or several other reasons that threw the employees out but left their managers with scads of guilt. The “sorry” could be as simple as a letter and a personal discussion, or could be some form of remuneration. For this service, the agency could charge a fee, after providing appropriate documentation of their efforts to the company. Things went swimmingly at first, much to the surprise of the four principals, until they received a phone call from an individual who wanted to use their services to apologize to a woman. After the appropriate forms were filled out and emails exchanged, the “sorry” team went to the apartment of the woman and found her nailed to the wall of her apartment. Dead. One nail was used to pin her hands above her head, another, a nail of huge proportions, was hammered through her head into the wall behind her. You’d think that the agency would call the police, but no...instead, they take down the body, put it into a sleeping bag, and take it off to the woods to bury it. In order to make sure that the agency group disposes of the body, the original caller sends them threatening letters that contain pictures of their closest relatives and implies that they would be the next victims if they didn’t do what was expected. So starts the series of horrifying crimes that the agency owners have to deal with. What the author does in telling his story is to repeatedly change voices and person and time frame so that you have to read this very carefully to make sure you’re on the same page as he. Although cleverly done, the real problem is that I found the premise totally unbelievable – kind of like zombie movies or “The Blair Witch” film. There ensues a long period of arguments among the staff of the agency as to what should be done to get them out of this predicament and, even, finding out who the dead woman was and why she was murdered. It’s different, but beyond belief.
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Jul 05, 2012 Fence rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-detective

Seeing a couple break-up in public Kris goes over to apologise to the woman. He tells her that her ex is sorry for what he has done, that he wishes he hadn’t, that he wanted to say this himself but couldn’t. It makes her feel better. Of course, it was a lie, Kris doesn’t know this woman. Doesn’t know her boyfriend, he just thought it would help her. And now, it has given him an idea. All around Berlin there are people, corporations who would like to say sorry, but they just don’t know how. Kris...more Seeing a couple break-up in public Kris goes over to apologise to the woman. He tells her that her ex is sorry for what he has done, that he wishes he hadn’t, that he wanted to say this himself but couldn’t. It makes her feel better. Of course, it was a lie, Kris doesn’t know this woman. Doesn’t know her boyfriend, he just thought it would help her. And now, it has given him an idea. All around Berlin there are people, corporations who would like to say sorry, but they just don’t know how. Kris is going to set up an agency. A company to apologise on another’s behalf.

And what a success he, his brother and their friends make of this enterprise. Soon they are getting more jobs than they can handle. They are making so much money they don’t know how to spend it. It seems like things are going well. But there is always a but, isn’t there?

In this case it results in Wolf standing in front of a dead woman. A murdered woman, with instructions to apologise to her. And then to dispose of the body. And from here, things get a lot worse.

I’m a bit conflicted over this book. It isn’t my usual sort of read, but I do like to pick up something “different” every now and then, and this is certainly different. It is divided into sections and timelines. Before and After. And while some chapters are told in the usual third person narrator, others are first person, while others are second person. And there is a mystery over who these narrators are. It makes for a confusing read to start with. But once you come to grips with that you can get more into the mystery aspect.

Who is the murderer? Who are the murder victims? And what does it all have to do with the agency?

And then of course there are the bigger underlying themes. What is remorse? Forgiveness? What is an excuse and what is a reason? Where does compassion and understanding end and judgement and condemnation begin.

As I read the opening few chapters of this novel I was almost ready to put it down and forget about it, but the more I read the more interested I became. I still don’t think I’d rave about it, but it certainly raises some interesting questions.(less)

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Apr 15, 2013 Carla rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked up this one, after reading the insert, and thought it sounded like a great story line, with a lot of action. Well, one (the latter) out of 2 isn't bad I guess. From a fan of most thrillers, including great works such as Silence of the Lambs, I gave this one a low rating due to the "over the top" aspect of a child accepting, and I use that word lightly, horrendous abuse....for years...over the course of 8 years to be exact.... where he would stand willingly on a corner of a busy intersec...more

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Feb 05, 2012 CuteBadger rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Four friends start an agency which is employed by companies and individuals to make the apologies they couldn't or wouldn't make themselves. All goes well until a killer wants to use their services.

When I got this through the post to review from Waterstones it looked like a book I'd really enjoy. I read a lot of crime fiction and thought I was used to bleak storylines, scenes of violence and murder. However, this novel goes beyond pretty much everything I've read before - I found it gloomy, brut...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Denise rated it 2 of 5 stars

2.0 out of 5 stars SORRY - this was not for me.

This suspense thriller about four disaffected friends whose unique business venture goes dreadfully wrong was not for me. I would call it a complicated mess. As a device, the author used shifting points of view throughout the narrative as well as all different voices (first, second and third person) alternatively so that the reader was often confused. Not only that, but there were also backward and forward movements in time so that any sense of an u...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Althea Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this thriller because I saw it recommended for fans of Stieg Larsson, and I saw that it's translated from the German. I kinda figured that if it's good enough to translate, it must be a cut above the average.
For most of the book, I did think that it was above average. I think the translator did an excellent job; I didn't notice any awkward language at all. I very much liked the narrative style, which I truth was brought over faithfully from the original. I thought it was very well-wr...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Kirsty (Blatant Biblioholic) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, crime, death, fiction, mystery-thriller, arc-review-copy

My first thought when closing the final pages of this book was "WOW!” I haven't read a thriller recently that packs quite as much of a punch as this one. It tells the story of a group of four friends who decide to go into business together with a new, original idea. They set up an agency to say 'sorry' on behalf of their clients - the idea is that big businesses don't want the embarrassment of having to admit in person that they're wrong, so our protagonists do it for them, for a fee. All is goi...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Michele rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, translated-to-english, thriller

For the last couple of years I have been seeking out crime thrillers from foreign authors translated into English (the Stieg Larsson books opened up a whole new world for me). This novel, translated from the German, fell quite short for me. Each chapter is told from a different person's POV. Most are told third-person narrative from one of the various characters POV, but interspersed are chapters told in second-person (ie, you) in what I'm assuming is an attempt to draw the reader further into t...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller, translated-fiction

This is certainly an odd sort of novel! Translated from the German, the writing feels well translated. The use of P.O.V. is certainly unique, and unfortunately, but the time I became accustomed to it, the book was nearly over. The premise interested me - though I suppose there are some fundamental gaps in plausibility, after all consultants are not a new thing, but typically they have more experience than this odd bunch. And as the plot brings together one coincidence after another, the overall...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Luce Konickovova rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not so interesting from the beginning BUT THEN... This book is written with particular sense for genre. I´ve never read a story like this. Fascinating. But you´ll find that after about 50 pages because the story needs you to become familiar with the scene and all of its details.
There are a lot of views and beside storylines which make you became more curious for the final punchline. And that one is really good. I like the surprising moments when everything you read and think before get twisted...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Craig Harris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a wonderful book about a group of friends who come up with an idea for a company of professional apologists. Your company screws someone and you feel bad about it afterwards? Hire these folks to make it all seem better. But this is a thriller, so...

It starts off with a most gruesome murder. In fact, after reading that, I was thinking, "God, what have I let myself in for?" Then we meet the friends, and the nastiness fades into the background as we get involved in the lives of these well-d...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Benjamin Stahl rated it 3 of 5 stars

For anyone who enjoys a thriller that is dark, disgusting, disturbing and upsetting, than this one is definitely for you. The style of the writing, where Drvenkar uses various perspectives for various characters at various points in time,can get annoyingly confusing whilst starting out. But once everything starts getting clearer, and the reader can map everything out, it lends the story a unique and interesting quality. The writing varies from average to good, but the handling of plot-twists and...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Petit-lips rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://lectures-petit-lips.blogspot.f...

~ Le synopsis promet une histoire très originale. Un groupe de copains trentenaire décide, lors d'une soirée, de créer une entreprise baptisée Sorry. Cette entreprise s'excuse à la place des autres, tout cela dans un cadre professionnel. Jusqu'au jour où un certain Lars Meybach leur présente une mise en scène plutôt macabre, et leur demande de s'excuser auprès d'un cadavre. Le tueur tient les 4 amis et les fait chanter pour obtenir ce qu'il veut.

~ Si l'his...more http://lectures-petit-lips.blogspot.f...

~ Le synopsis promet une histoire très originale. Un groupe de copains trentenaire décide, lors d'une soirée, de créer une entreprise baptisée Sorry. Cette entreprise s'excuse à la place des autres, tout cela dans un cadre professionnel. Jusqu'au jour où un certain Lars Meybach leur présente une mise en scène plutôt macabre, et leur demande de s'excuser auprès d'un cadavre. Le tueur tient les 4 amis et les fait chanter pour obtenir ce qu'il veut.

~ Si l'histoire en elle même et son cheminement m'ont plu, certains passages trop crus m'ont rebutée et j'ai eu du mal à terminer ma lecture.
La quatrième de couverture n'annonce pas un contexte pédophile et je le regrette, car c'est le genre de chose que je ne veux pas lire. J'aurai ainsi passé mon chemin. Je n'ai pas vu l'intérêt de passer en revue tous les détails des sévices qu'ont subit les enfants de ce livre. Le viol, ces pauvres enfants... c'est glauque, sordide, difficile à lire. J'étais mal à l'aise de lire ce genre de truc.

~ Les personnages créateurs de l'entreprise (Kris, Tamara, Frauke et Wolf) ne m'ont pas spécialement marquée, mais ils ont tous leur place dans ce livre. On ressent leur tension, leurs doutes, leur soif de savoir ce qu'il se passe dans la tête de Lars Meybach.
L'histoire de Butch et Sundance m'a touchée et je suis écœurée du comportement des adultes. Il s'agit certes d'une fiction, mais la psychologie des personnages impliqués dans cette histoire de pédophilie est tellement "bien trouvée" que c'en est déstabilisant. On a vraiment l'impression de lire les propos d'un pédophile par moment. En fait, je trouve que ces personnes là n'ont pas assez souffert dans le livre (si vous lisez ce roman, vous comprendrez de quoi je parle). Ces gens là ne méritent pas le pardon.

~ L'écriture du l'auteur est fluide bien que particulière, surtout dans son choix de narration. On alterne entre le « il », le « tu » en nous prenant à témoin, nous incluant dans l'histoire. Cependant je dois avouer que l'écriture de Zoran Drvenkar est plaisante et que, malgré les passages liés à la pédophilie, les pages se tournent facilement.

~ Ce livre m'a laissé un petit goût amer sur deux ou trois jours, je me suis sentie mal à l'aise en y repensant et j'ai laissé passer du temps avant d'écrire mon avis. J'aime les Thrillers et les Policiers, mais lorsque cela touche des sujets tels que la maltraitance des enfants, le viol, la pédophilie... non, je ne peux tout simplement pas "apprécier". Cependant je sais qu'il y a des gens que ça ne dérange pas, qui arrivent à mettre une certaine distance entre une histoire sordide et eux.
Dans le fond, Zoran Drvenkar est un bon auteur de Thriller (de part son style et son imagination), l'intrigue en elle même est intéressante, mais le thème choisi est à mon sens une erreur (ou alors bien trop exploité dans ce livre).

~ En conclusion, si vous aimez lire des Thriller de ce genre, je pense que « Sorry » a tout pour vous plaire ! Cependant si vous avez du mal avec les scènes trop crues et la pédophilie, je vous conseille de passer votre chemin.(less)

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Aug 21, 2011 Randy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A German thriller, the translation is by Shaun Whiteside.

I'm tempted to make jokes about the title. I'll do one. I love thrillers. Sorry, just not this one.

The author had a good idea: a killer who likes to nail his victims to a wall. The four main characters business that brings them into contact with the killer less so, though I could live with it. The idea that any business would ever pay someone to apologize for firing people or laying them off, jilted lovers, was a bit out there.

The killer's...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Vishy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked Zoran Drvenkar’s ‘Tell Me What You See’, which I read in November, so much, that I decided to read his thriller ‘Sorry’.

‘Sorry’ is a story told through different viewpoints. Or rather it presumes to tell a story through different viewpoints. Two points of view are quite clear – one in the second person, using which Drvenkar cleverly tries to co-opt the reader into the story, and the second one told in the first person where the identity of the narrator is not revealed till the end. The...more I liked Zoran Drvenkar’s ‘Tell Me What You See’, which I read in November, so much, that I decided to read his thriller ‘Sorry’.

‘Sorry’ is a story told through different viewpoints. Or rather it presumes to tell a story through different viewpoints. Two points of view are quite clear – one in the second person, using which Drvenkar cleverly tries to co-opt the reader into the story, and the second one told in the first person where the identity of the narrator is not revealed till the end. The other points of view are not really that – they presume to tell the story from the perspective of different characters, but they actually narrate the story in a linear fashion.

The start of the story is told from a second person point of view. We, as readers, are excited to be co-opted into the story. Unfortunately, it results in a man visiting a woman’s house, kidnapping her, taking her to an abandoned apartment and then nailing her to the wall. The woman looks like a nice and gentle person and the man is clearly violent. The story then goes back in time and turns to the lives of four friends – two young men who are brothers and two young women who are close friends. One of them has an idea – to start an agency which will apologize on behalf of corporate customers who make mistakes, mistakes like firing an employee for a crime he / she didn’t commit. Their business thrives and the agency starts doing well and the four friends buy a villa near a lake. Things are quite hunky dory for them. Then our man, who nails the woman to the wall, calls them. He tells them that he needs their services. He wants to apologize to someone. He makes the payment for their services and gives them the address. One of the four friends reaches the address. He finds the woman nailed to the wall. He panics. He realizes that they are neck deep in trouble. Then things start getting worse. All is not what it seems. The murderer is not the black hearted villain he seems. And the dead woman is not the innocent angel she seems. And there is a third, unknown old man who comes into the picture, who seems to have sinister designs. And the book is not the thriller that it seems.

I found ‘Sorry’ to be an interesting book. I found the experiment with the multiple points of view quite interesting. Though I also felt that Drvenkar wasn’t able to pull it off. For example, as Iain Pears has brilliantly done in ‘An Instance of the Fingerpost’. Because multiple narrators offer fascinating opportunities for complex storytelling. If one of the narrators is unreliable, it makes things more interesting. But Drvenkar seemed to have missed a trick here. I found it quite interesting that the murderer’s story is told in the second person. When we, the readers, are quite excited to be co-opted into to the story, we immediately see a gruesome murder and are repelled. And we are able to see what is happening in the murderer’s mind, which is quite scary. The book also seems to address the philosophical issue of whether apologizing is a personal thing and whether it can be done by a third party on one’s behalf and whether this is enough to lessen one’s guilt. It also asks questions on whether it is morally right to assuage one’s guilt in this way. The basic plot of the book was interesting and fast-paced. It was not an amazing pageturner, but it was good.

My favourite feature of the book was this. There were beautiful sentences strewn like pearls throughout the book which described everyday things in beautiful ways; sentences like these :

“She cries silently; the people react as people always do and look the other way”.

“The woman’s pain is like a bridge that any one can walk on, if they can summon up some compassion.”

“There’s just the desire somehow to fit in, but without really having to belong. She likes society too much to be an outsider, she’s too much of an outsider to conform.”

“It’s always difficult when your surroundings don’t change at the same pace as you do yourself.”

“the morning light is like underwater photographs on a rainy day.”

“The cat’s belly rises ad falls as if it feels completely safe. Wolf wishes he had the cat’s confidence.”

“Frauke appears as a negative for a moment.”

“Winter hurled itself over the land, and has withdrawn just as quickly.”

“In her scent he finds the whole day. The grief, the weariness, and the fury.”

These sentences kept on coming again and again and I loved them. I think this was the most wonderful thing about the book. Thrillers have surprised me on this front ever since I started reading them – they have some of the most beautiful sentences. Probably since the time Raymond Chandler started writing them. Drvenkar continues this proud tradition.

If I have to give the book a rating, I would give it the highest rating for these beautiful sentences and images and I would give it an average to good rating for the plot and other elements of the story. If you like an interesting unconventional thriller, you can give it a try.

I will leave you with some of my favourite passages from the book.

Wolf is one of those writer types who only venture into writing very cautiously. He says he’s collecting experiences, but in fact he uses that to hide the fact that he isn’t sure what story he has to tell. His first great novel is waiting to be written. Short stories and poems are his bridge to that dream.

Two pigeons strut to the middle of the road and wait for the lights to change. When the cars start moving, the pigeons fly up and land on a windowsill. As soon as the light turns red. they land on the pavement, strut back to the middle of the road, and the game starts all over again. You watch them for four phases of the lights and wonder if pigeons have a sense of humor.

As he was nostalgically watching the new day, he suddenly had a curious feeling. It was one of those premonitions that can be prompted by anything – by the silence between two songs, the sound of a waiter clearing his throat, scraping chair legs, or the silence after someone has lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke.

I think that if you’ve been pursued by a nightmare for seven years, however often you wake up, you don’t trust the whole thing. The nightmare becomes reality and why should reality suddenly disappear?

Have you read ‘Sorry’ by Zoran Drvenkar? What do you think about it?(less)

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About Zoran Drvenkar

Zoran Drvenkar was born in Križevci in Croatia in 1967 and moved to Berlin with his parents at the age of three. He has been a writer since 1989, and his novels, poems, plays and short stories have won him numerous awards and prizes. Zoran Drvenkar currently still lives in Berlin.

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Quotes from Sorry

“In the winter you could see them sitting on the benches by the war memorial. The cold couldn't touch them in those days. They drank mulled wine from thermos flasks and smoked their cigarettes hastily, as if they might warm them up. Tamara doesn't know when the cold took hold of them. They feel it much more quickly now, the whine more, and if anyone asks them why, they reply that the world is getting colder and colder. They could also answer that they'd got older, but that would be too honest, you don't say that until you're forty and you can look back. In your late twenties you go through your very private climate disaster and hope for better times.” — 1 person liked it

“Estar enamorada de alguien y amar a alguien son para ella dos estaciones de tren distintas.” — 1 person liked it

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