Dear Mr. M.

This third novel to be translated into English from Koch's native Dutch may change the way readers think about the publishing realm forever. The main protagonist, "H," begins the tale by writing a letter to an author, referred to as Mr. M. In this letter, H lets Mr. M know that H is a neighbor and wishes to interview him. He then describes, in haunting detail, Mr. M's movements and those of his much younger wife and three-year-old daughter. The story then continues from the perspective of different characters. Forty years ago, Mr. M wrote a book called Payback, which he based loosely on a true event involving two high schoolers who apparently killed their teacher at a vacation town, although a body was never recovered. As Koch unfolds events up to the present, he has his characters use similar phrases and descriptions to convey their sense of connection, giving the entire narrative coherence.