Translated in English as The Pledge, this meta crime thriller transports us to the magical, otherworldly, liminal setting of 1950s Switzerland, where women don't work, everything reeks of cigarettes, and you really, really don't want to know what terms doctors use to refer to mentally ill people.

All jokes aside, despite having aged like a raw chicken breast left out in the sun, this is a great novella about the conventions of crime fiction. In it, a retired police chief tells a thriller author the story of a wild investigation surrounding the gruesome murder of a little girl. In the process of being super self-aware, the book fortunately also delivers a solid crime thriller in itself. The writing is pretty great too: very readable, concise and also occasionally poetic. All in all, this is a very smart page-turner that I wouldn't have touched in a million years if it wasn't a book club read.

If you can stomach dark crimes and want to spice up your crime thriller needs with some literary hijinks and a hilariously retro setting, this book is a great choice

I liked the setting and generally liked this book. I was a little disappointed in the ending but the story was good. It was not formulaic or predictable like so many mysteries (that's why I don't read them very often!).

This short book tells the story of a policeman who got too caught up in a case. It's narrated by a retired policeman who is telling the story to an author of crime novels. He tells the author that his novels are simplistic, and are wrong in always ending with a resolution. Then he proceeds to tell the tale.

Odd, interesting, sad, shocking. An interesting read.

Friedrich Dürrenmatt is very highly regarded in Switzerland and has even had a vast underground museum constructed in his honour, designed by a bombastic, constipated famous architect, below the house in which Dürrenmatt used to live; an enormous cavern that surely has Dürrenmatt turning in his grave.

There's a great warmth to Dürrenmatt's writing, and a love of everyday Swiss life, but as a piece of crime fiction, this book really doesn't cut the mustard. Think:

Steaming plates of Swiss comfort food served in well-appointed restaurants decorated with the finest works of contemporary art; many bottles of good wine; selections of cigars; charming villages, little roads, forest glades, country people toiling in the fields, a flight to Syria aborted at the very last minute, delightful Swiss landscapes, a little girl with a red skirt (murdered for no credible reason) and a rather tall tale about a police investigator.

This little book gives us a delightful picture of Swiss country life. It's supposed to be a detective novel but ultimately, the detective fails to find the murderer of the little girl, even though he dedicates his whole life to the search and even completely changes his identity for the purpose.

As you read you're preached at for expecting the usual kind of detective novel: the kind where the murderer is finally uncovered, right at the end. And so he is. But it's all very contrived and anticlimactic.

I remember reading this and getting so attached to the story, I would read it every free moment I had: on the bus, while crossing the street (not a good idea), while on the toilet.

The story is in perfect Dürrenmatt style: simple but weird, it made me feel like I was working on the story, instead of reading an already planned one. I also really enjoyed how it develops: things happen as they happen, not as they should in a good novel, which made it all more interesting, because while you could foresee how a normal writer would have developed the plot, you can never foresee how Dürrenmatt does it.
The writing and the style are simple and precise, so I would say you can read this book in german even if your german is not perfect.

I would recommend this story to anyone who is looking for a different kind of mystery, because this book will not only fascinate you with its weird plot, but it will also make you think how the creepy world you are reading about is actually just our world.