Decompression

"An explosive thriller about two couples who are caught in a web of conflicting passions while deep-sea diving off the beautiful Canary Islands; Sven Fiedler is a young lawyer in Germany who decides he's had enough. No more competing with coworkers for his boss's attention, no more flaunting this or that new purchase to keep his friends impressed, no more endless workweeks under fluourescent lights. So he withdraws from the bustle of modern life to the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, where he and his girlfriend, Antje, establish a simpler routine. Sven sets up a business as a deep-sea diving instructor while Antje has her own real estate agency, and the two happily cater to tourists who come to bask in the warm sunshine and explore the silent, gleaming marine paradise that makes this island such a remarkable retreat. In November of 2011, two German tourists, Jola von der Pahlen and Theo Hast, engage Sven for an expensive two-week intensive diving experience. They stay in a guest house on Sven and Antje's property, and the two couples quickly become entangled in a mess of jealousies and suspicions. Sven is struck by Jola's beauty and her evident wealth.

• International Dublin Literary Award

  2016

  Longlist