This wasn't an easy book to get into, but it was well worth it. If you enjoy puzzles that aren't quite mysteries, I would highly recommend this title. It also has a lot to say about the effects of the Holocaust on the psyche of the victims that is difficult but perhaps necessary to explore. In fact, as I think about it, victim and perpetrator opposition is danced with quite a bit in this novel, giving it its chilling, noir quality.

The story is relatively simple. Maybe even deceptive. A disgraced creep of an academic finds that his office is particularly well suited for eavesdropping on the psychiatric sessions taking place next door, particularly when the white noise machine is turned off at the request of one of the regular patients. As he becomes more and more engrossed in the life of the woman he is spying on, he forms a bond with her that begins to influence the session and change his whole perspective on his own situation.