The Dinner

An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives - all over the course of one meal.

"The Dinner has been wishfully compared to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (and enthusiastically endorsed by Ms Flynn) for its blackhearted deviltry... Her sneaky spouses were delectable in their evil genius. The Lohmans are indigestible."  -  Janet Maslin, The New York Times Book Review

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse - the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. 

But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

"Herman Koch's The Dinner is a riveting, compelling and deliciously uncomfortable read. Like all great satire, it is both lacerating and so very funny. The Dinner got under my skin and punctured all my safe liberal smugness and pieties. Intelligent and complex, this novel is both a punch to the guts and also a tonic. It clears the air. A wonderful book."  -  Christos Tsiolkas

Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.