Das Netz

by Hans Habe

Habe, Hans, Poisoned Stream, The

524 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Janos Békessy, better known under his pen name Hans Habe (12 February 1911, Budapest – 29 September 1977, Locarno) was an Hungarian-Austrian writer and newspaper publisher. From 1941, he held U.S. citizenship. Habe used also the pseudonyms Antonio Corte, Frank Richard, Frederick Gert, John Richler, Hans Wolfgang, and Robert Pilchowski.

Habe was born as Janos Békessy in Budapest, then capital of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His parents, Imre Békessy and Bianca Marton, were of Jewish origin but converted to the Christian (Protestant) faith.[citation needed] After World War I the family moved to Vienna where his father published one of the first daily tabloids, Die Stunde (The Hour), from 1923 to 1926. János was educated at the Franz-Joseph-Gymnasium between 1921 and 1929. Afterwards he started to study Law and German Literature at Heidelberg, but returned soon to Vienna because of the growing Anti-Semitism in Germany.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hans Habe’s Das Netz centers on a murder case involving a “call girl”, where the killer is already known to a newspaper reporter. Instead of going public, the newspaper chooses a cynical and morally questionable path: it keeps the murderer’s identity under wraps in order to strike a deal with him, effectively offering him the chance to tell—and sell—his own story. In return, the paper secures exclusive rights to his memoirs, hoping to turn the eventual revelation into a major media sensation.
The premise is certainly provocative and initially engaging, particularly in its exploration of media ethics, manipulation, and the commodification of crime.
Structure wise, each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view. This shifting perspective gives the story a certain energy and variety, and it initially makes the narrative feel quite dynamic and layered.

However, the execution does not fully sustain its ambition. The writing increasingly feels dated, increasingly used sexual references feel somewhat misplaced and unnecessarily exaggerated.
Additionally, the novel suffers from its length; it feels way stretched without offering anything to the story. This would definitely have been a better book if shortened by at least half if not 2/3.