The Third Reich

On vacation with his girlfriend, Ingeborg, the German war games champion Udo Berger returns to a small town on the Costa Brava where he spent the summers of his childhood. Soon they meet another vacationing German couple, Charly and Hanna, who introduce them to a band of locals€”the Wolf, the Lamb, and El Quemado€”and to the darker side of life in a resort town.Late one night, Charly disappears without a trace, and Udo€™s well-ordered life is thrown into upheaval; while Ingeborg and Hanna return to their lives in Germany, he refuses to leave the hotel. Soon he and El Quemado are enmeshed in a round of Third Reich, Udo€™s favorite World War II strategy game, and Udo discovers that the game€™s consequences may be all too real.Written in 1989 and found among Roberto Bolaño€™s papers after his death, The Third Reich is a stunning exploration of memory and violence. Reading this quick, visceral novel, we