Endgame - Softcover

International praise for Endgame
"Endgame is a rare beast: a mystery adventure in the age of internet, of such intimately written humanity that it transcends genre, time and place. If Steinbeck had written The Godfather it might have read like this."
DBC Pierre, author of Vernon God Little
"Endgame is deeply political. It is populated by characters who try to grab that hypothetical treasure on the hill and in so doing tear their local paradise apart. Altan has a deep understanding of what drives them on. It is all very serious but also great fun."
The Guardian
"A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape. Ahmet Altan is one of the foremost voices in Turkish literature and has much to say to the world."
Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect's Apprentice
"An impassioned, captivating dance, a waltz between death and desire that does not release you for even a single moment."
Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
"Endgame is a complex and immensely readable book insightful, disturbing, irritating and riveting."
Andrea Wulf, author of the Invention of Nature
"Extraordinary, delicious, wise."
Linn Ullmann, author of The Cold Song"

International praise for Endgame

-A gripping existential thriller in the vein of Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games (2006).-
--Kirkus Reviews

-Atlan's work is at once atmospheric and distant [...]. Each of the threads are artfully crafted and do come together nicely by the end, as promised. Atlan's characters are, at times, difficult to penetrate, but his story is pointed, enigmatic, and difficult to forget.-
--Publishers Weekly
-Endgame is a rare beast: a mystery adventure in the age of internet, of such intimately written humanity that it transcends genre, time and place. If Steinbeck had written The Godfather it might have read like this.-
--DBC Pierre, author of Vernon God Little
-Endgame is deeply political. It is populated by characters who try to grab that hypothetical treasure on the hill and in so doing tear their local paradise apart. Altan has a deep understanding of what drives them on. It is all very serious but also great fun.-
--The Guardian
-A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape. Ahmet Altan is one of the foremost voices in Turkish literature and has much to say to the world.-
--Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect's Apprentice
-An impassioned, captivating dance, a waltz between death and desire that does not release you for even a single moment.-
--Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
-Endgame is a complex and immensely readable book--insightful, disturbing, irritating and riveting.-
--Andrea Wulf, author of the Invention of Nature
-Extraordinary, delicious, wise.-
--Linn Ullmann, author of The Cold Song

Praise for Endgame

"Existential questions perfectly blended with atmosphere and rat-a-tat prose; highly recommended."
--Library Journal (Starred Review)
"A gripping existential thriller in the vein of Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games (2006)."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Atlan's work is at once atmospheric and distant [...]. Each of the threads are artfully crafted and do come together nicely by the end, as promised. Atlan's characters are, at times, difficult to penetrate, but his story is pointed, enigmatic, and difficult to forget."
--Publishers Weekly
"Endgame is a rare beast: a mystery adventure in the age of internet, of such intimately written humanity that it transcends genre, time and place. If Steinbeck had written The Godfather it might have read like this."
--DBC Pierre, author of Vernon God Little
"Endgame is deeply political. It is populated by characters who try to grab that hypothetical treasure on the hill and in so doing tear their local paradise apart. Altan has a deep understanding of what drives them on. It is all very serious but also great fun."
--The Guardian
"A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape. Ahmet Altan is one of the foremost voices in Turkish literature and has much to say to the world."
--Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect's Apprentice
"An impassioned, captivating dance, a waltz between death and desire that does not release you for even a single moment."
--Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
"Endgame is a complex and immensely readable book--insightful, disturbing, irritating and riveting."
--Andrea Wulf, author of the Invention of Nature
"Extraordinary, delicious, wise."
--Linn Ullmann, author of The Cold Song

Praise for Endgame
"Although it offers an implicit critique of Turkey's corrupt justice system, Endgame is also comic and charmingly absurd, largely due to the reckless efforts of its characters to get even."
--The Washington Post

"Existential questions perfectly blended with atmosphere and rat-a-tat prose; highly recommended."
--Library Journal (Starred Review)
"A gripping existential thriller in the vein of Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games (2006)."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Atlan's work is at once atmospheric and distant [...]. Each of the threads are artfully crafted and do come together nicely by the end, as promised. Atlan's characters are, at times, difficult to penetrate, but his story is pointed, enigmatic, and difficult to forget."
--Publishers Weekly
"Endgame is a rare beast: a mystery adventure in the age of internet, of such intimately written humanity that it transcends genre, time and place. If Steinbeck had written The Godfather it might have read like this."
--DBC Pierre, author of Vernon God Little
"Endgame is deeply political. It is populated by characters who try to grab that hypothetical treasure on the hill and in so doing tear their local paradise apart. Altan has a deep understanding of what drives them on. It is all very serious but also great fun."
--The Guardian
"A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape. Ahmet Altan is one of the foremost voices in Turkish literature and has much to say to the world."
--Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect's Apprentice
"An impassioned, captivating dance, a waltz between death and desire that does not release you for even a single moment."
--Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
"Endgame is a complex and immensely readable book--insightful, disturbing, irritating and riveting."
--Andrea Wulf, author of the Invention of Nature
"Extraordinary, delicious, wise."
--Linn Ullmann, author of The Cold Song

Praise for Endgame

"Although it offers an implicit critique of Turkey's corrupt justice system, Endgame is also comic and charmingly absurd, largely due to the reckless efforts of its characters to get even."
--The Washington Post

"Existential questions perfectly blended with atmosphere and rat-a-tat prose; highly recommended."
--Library Journal (Starred Review)

"A gripping existential thriller in the vein of Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games (2006)."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Atlan's work is at once atmospheric and distant [...]. Each of the threads are artfully crafted and do come together nicely by the end, as promised. Altan's characters are, at times, difficult to penetrate, but his story is pointed, enigmatic, and difficult to forget."
--Publishers Weekly

"Endgame is a rare beast: a mystery adventure in the age of internet, of such intimately written humanity that it transcends genre, time and place. If Steinbeck had written The Godfather it might have read like this."
--DBC Pierre, author of Vernon God Little

"Endgame is deeply political. It is populated by characters who try to grab that hypothetical treasure on the hill and in so doing tear their local paradise apart. Altan has a deep understanding of what drives them on. It is all very serious but also great fun."
--The Guardian

"A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape. Ahmet Altan is one of the foremost voices in Turkish literature and has much to say to the world."
--Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect's Apprentice

"Altan pushes the tropes of detective fiction into existentialist territory."
--The New Yorker, Briefly Noted

"An impassioned, captivating dance, a waltz between death and desire that does not release you for even a single moment."
--Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

"Endgame is a complex and immensely readable book--insightful, disturbing, irritating and riveting."
--Andrea Wulf, author of the Invention of Nature

"Extraordinary, delicious, wise."
--Linn Ullmann, author of The Cold Song

Named one of Washington Post’s 50 Notable Books of 2017

Despite widespread political censorship and crackdowns by the Erdoğan regime, Ahmet Altan bravely crafts a novel about the ways in which corruption envelops contemporary Turkish life. Endgame is an atmospheric and enigmatic literary noir, in which an unnamed writer visits a small town and finds himself involved in a mystery with existentialist implications.

A womanizing writer who has lived his entire life in the city retires to a sunbaked Turkish village. Instead of the quiet life he hoped for, he encounters a world of suspicion, paranoia, and violence. The town's mayor is both his only real ally and his greatest nemesis; his lover shares an ambiguous past with the mayor; the town seems hell-bent on turning him into a murderer; and, he is initiated into the town's biggest secret only to discover this knowledge will become a weapon used against him.

The protagonist of this bestselling existential page-turner is an appealingly untrustworthy narrator whose story transports the reader into a world of lust, ambition, small-town politics, and death. A detective story turned on its head, Endgame is compellingly infused with a dreamlike logic reminiscent of Paul Auster and Graham Greene.