‚Deadly Strangers'
von Mahmood Falaki

New release in May 2018

Organized by the Literature Center in the Literaturhaus Hamburg
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Suspenseful and sophisticated, Mahmood Falaki uses his new novel "Deadly Strangers" to address current "stranger" issues and explore universal interpersonal complications surrounding love and death.

"Where in Hamburg do you get rid of a corpse?” That is just one of many questions occupying the protagonist Nima, a 43-year-old Hamburg teacher. Everyone around him doesn't seem quite sane anymore. His buddy Heiko wants him to sleep with his wife. His friend Bardia, a penniless Iranian poet who has fled, becomes involved in drug stories and a murder case.

To escape this madness, he sets off on a journey to his country of origin, Iran. Nima has not set foot in the country since his parents fled for political reasons 33 years ago. It wasn't until spring 2017 that he decided to explore his roots, to trace his own identity. In Iran, he not only experiences a culture shock, but also corruption, oppression and the arbitrariness of the authorities. Through Nima's eyes, the reader also sees the true face of an authoritarian religious system that forces people to find strange ways to circumvent Islamic laws and avoid repression.

Against the background of the permanent integration process of a person with a migration background, the confrontation with German culture and the growing tendency in society towards right-wing populism since the year of the "refugee crisis" in 2015, Mahmood Falaki raises questions about cultural identity, friendship and the impassable in his new novel pursuit of personal happiness. With his lively, authentic descriptions, Falaki draws the reader into a world that often comes dangerously close to madness, while never losing his cool sense of humor despite his seriousness.