THE TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Winner of the August Prize for Fiction Dazzlinglyinventive, witty and mysterious: a writer pieces together the story of a young mans death in an exhilarating narrative puzzle reminiscent of the hit podcastSerial. A young man dies in a car crash - accident or suicide? An unnamed writer with an agenda of his own sets out to piece together Samuels story. From friends, relatives and neighbours, a portrait emerges of aloving son, reluctant bureaucrat, contrived poser, loyal friend.But who was Samuel really, and what happened to him? In filling out the contours of his existence, the writer grasps at a fundamental question: how do we account for the substance of a life?My books of the year [include] Jonas Hassen Khemiris enigmatic novel Joyce Carol Oates Heartbreakingly sad and laugh-out-loud funny . . . Its chorus of drifters, romantics and cynics stick in the memory, each competing to tell their own truth' Hari Kunzru ?Unforgettable. In this non-putdownable puzzle of a story, Khemiri manages to both thrill and break your heart Gary Shteyngart Khemiris audacious and richly drawn novel pushes the boundaries of literary fiction . . . Beneath the structural pyrotechnics lies a broader story of imposition, appropriation and lack of individual agency: that of the immigrant experience Lucy Scholes,The National