His friend Totò from the Italian frontier police had warned him. But Tschonnie Tschenett is in a deep crisis and is prepared to accept the next lorry-driving job that comes along if only it takes him far away. This happens all too quickly, for on his very first job he finds himself in trouble with the police and is forced to cross the border illegally. Tschenett''s employer is a dubious Swiss firm which has hired him to drive to Berlin, and to Herzsprung near Wittstock where he meets an old pal who is now working for the same firm and wants Tschenett to join him in earning some easy money. Tschenett, who sees himself in the role of an amateur detective, only realises how very dirty the affair is when he sees a photo of a dead Vietnamese - with whom he has recently done business - on television. A socially critical thriller and a breath-taking ''road movie''.

Kurt Lanthaler, geboren 1960 in Bozen, lebt als Schriftsteller in Berlin. Schreibt Romane, Erzählungen, Drehbücher und Theaterstücke. 1996 Staatsstipendium für Literatur der Republik Österreich. 1998 Alfred-Döblin-Stipendium der Akademie der Künste, Berlin. 1999 Deutscher Krimipreis als drittbester Roman für seinen vierten Tschonnie-Tschenett-Roman ''Azzurro''.