Hole

A compelling debut novel about a young hooligan - thrilling and captivating from cover to cover

Heiko Kolbe has two families. The antisocial one in which he was born to his great regret, and the one he chooses. In Hool, Philipp Winkler tells the story of a tough guy who fights through everything to protect what is sacred to him: his football club. One by one, all of Heiko's certainties disappear: his mother, who abandons him at a very young age; his father, who escapes into drink; his girlfriend, who escapes into drugs, and finally his mates. Heiko certainly finds no support with his prissy sister Manuela, nor with his shady uncle - who uses a gym as a cover for drug deals with motorcycle gangs -, nor with his shady landlord, who organises animal fights to earn a living.
Heiko's life becomes increasingly empty and the adrenaline rush of fighting is ultimately the only thing that keeps him going. Winkler convincingly gets into Heiko's skin, subtly expresses his anger and pain in a staccato of short sentences, and places himself with Hool in a great literary tradition: giving a voice to those who have no voice.