Head Count - Softcover

Noll, Ingrid

4

1,118 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006497675 ISBN 13: 9780006497677

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

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A brilliant, darkly comic mystery from Germany’s answer to Patricia Highsmith.

From her earliest childhood, Maya can remember being at odds with her mother and much-hated brother. Only her father seemed to love her but he mysteriously disappeared. Nicknamed ‘Elephant’ by schoolmates and family, life for Maya is embattled until she meets the sophisticated, beautiful Cora.

These two form an intense friendship, founded on a conviction that they are somehow separate from the rest of society and do not have to abide by its rules. They dabble in crime in a minor sort of way and live fantasy lives – but rude reality intervenes in the form of manslaughter and the shattering of a precious illusion.

They grow up and seemingly apart. Maya is trapped in a conventional marriage, made worse by the visitations from her mad family, while Cora, now in Italy, is enjoying the life of luxury with a sugar daddy. But they are to join forces again, driven by their unwillingness to conform to anything but their own desires. Inevitably and, as it turns out, most inconviently, other people get in their way and steps have to be taken...steps that will lead to murder.

Beautifully written, witty and original, Head Count is the new bestselling novel from one of Europe’s hottest crime writers.

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Review:

Praise for Ingrid Noll:

‘Germany’s Queen of Crime’
Observer

‘A first-rate example of the Eurocrime novel that focuses on the internal lives of its characters’
Val McDermid [of Hell Hath No Fury]

From the Back Cover:

Nicknamed ‘Elephant’ by schoolmates and family, Maya is at odds with the world until she meets beautiful, sophisticated Cora. These two form an intense relationship based on a conviction that they are somehow separate from the rest of society and its petty rules. They dabble in crime and lead fantasy lives ... then reality creeps in and explodes their illusions.

Years later, Maya is trapped in a conventional marriage, while Cora enjoys a life of luxury in Italy with a sugar daddy. But they join forces again, driven together by their refusal to conform to anything but their own desires. Inevitably, other people get in the way, and naturally the only solution is murder.

Beautifully written, witty and original, 'Head Count' is the new bestselling novel from one of Europe’s hottest crime writers.

“It is impossible to categorize something so completely original ... [Ingrid Noll’s} gruesomely jaunty account of the lives and deadly exploits of two intelligent, amoral young women in unholy alliance is ... riveting”
JAMES MELVILLE, 'Ham & High'

“A racy thriller that keeps you guessing until the end”
LOUISE MCCALL, 'Ulster News Letter'

“Ingrid Noll is often referred to as Germany’s “Queen of Crime”, and her 'Hell Hath No Fury' shows how fully she deserves this title”
DONNA LEON, 'Sunday Times'

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