Repent by Lisa Fink

When Munich businessman Ben Biller receives a mysterious note on his thirty-eighth birthday demanding that he repent for his sins by committing suicide, he dismisses it as a cruel joke. But when his life begins to unravel—he loses his dog, his girlfriend, his job, and his house in quick succession—he suspects that it’s more than a joke: someone is attempting to systematically destroy him.

Desperate and alienated, he turns to Annelie, his old flame. In the midst of his despair, he realizes that with her, he could rebuild his life again. But just as he sees the light at the end of the tunnel, he discovers that his tormenter isn’t done with him yet. Will he discover who is behind the plot before the psychopath’s suggestion of suicide turns to murder?

Ben Biller is a driven and unemotional Chief Exec when his life starts to take a series of dramatic wrong turns.Alienated from his family and in a relationship with no enduring love, he finds himself alone and in deep trouble.

He receives an anonymous note warning him to repent and a series of events following from this seem to be pushing him relentlessly to realise that his life has been ruined and the only thing left for him is to take his own life.

The police are deeply suspicious of his actions and seem to think he is responsible for his own downfall and it is only the hope of redeeming an old relationship that keeps him from destroying himself.

I didn’t enjoy this book, I’m afraid. For one thing, the translation seemed very heavy handed and the writing just didn’t flow for me. The plot was also very prosaic. There was no real tension; it was pretty clear who was responsible, why and what was going to happen.

There were religious overtones that I found quite heavy handed. Overall, sorry – but this is a one star read for me.