Dark Humor Satire

The newsreader took a breath and began: “And here we have the remarkable tale of local man George Pimpton, who sadly died last week at the grand old age of 96. It’s only since his passing that locals have realized they had a reclusive celebrity in their midst." The only problem was, this was all an accidental lie. George Pimpton was no celebrity. His well-intentioned—though often misguided—neighbors simply wanted to jazz up his obituary to make his life sound a little more interesting, a well-meant gesture that quickly got out of hand due to the perils of social media.

Let's be real: customer service sucks. Being sandwiched between needy customers and incompetent leadership at a greedy corporation sets an impossible expectation. It's Tony's job to "reset the customer experience" with no tools other than his customer-oriented attitude and expression of the company's hip and trendy culture.

Als Maike und Alex vollkommen unverhofft ein etwas baufälliges Haus in Tübingen erben ahnen sie noch nicht, dass ihnen die Renovierung der »Villa Mimmi« alles abverlangen wird. Erneut stürzen sich die beiden mit Leib und Seele in ein neues Abenteuer und lassen sich weder von motorradfahrenden Biker-Omis noch von paragrafentreuen Bauamtsinspektoren von ihrem Ziel abbringen. Morsche Terrassen, irre Handwerker und tierische Untermieter sorgen auf dem Weg ins eigene Traumhaus ebenso für Überraschungen wie unfreiwillige Volksfestbesuche und Kletterpartien auf regennassen Dächern.

The Consultant is very good at his job. He creates simple, elegant, effective solutions for…restructuring. Nothing obvious or messy. Certainly nothing anyone would ever suspect as murder. The ‘natural deaths’ he plans have always gone well: a medicine replaced here, a mechanism jammed there. His performance reviews are excellent. And it’s not as though he knows these people. Until his next ‘customer’ turns out to be someone he not only knows but cares about, and for the first time, he begins to question the role he plays in the vast, anonymous Company.

Canciones de rock & roll, una afición antigua por los cómics, una avalancha de juguete, Bruce Springsteen y una instructora de baile son algunos de los objetos y personajes que conforman las viñetas, los relatos, y las estampas a través de los cuales Sergio Zurita se narra a sí mismo, a sus afectos y sus recuerdos. Esta compilación de textos breves, que atraviesa la frontera de la ficción y se interna en la realidad va desde la autobiografía hasta el testimonio, construye un retrato íntimo donde se reúnen los anhelos infantiles, la curiosidad adolescente y la cruda madurez de la vida.

Briony Paget, globetrotting luxury travel writer, emulates the rich - though homeless and penniless herself - as she hops from gig to all-expenses-paid gig. The passengers encounter a great number of cataclysms at sea, but no matter the catastrophe, the great ship always sails on. On her own personal voyage, Briony encounters Mrs. Moore, an enigmatic old woman clandestinely fomenting a mutiny on this bountiful ship. With the captain overthrown, roles quickly reverse.

Who’s the real dupe? Is it the power-hungry schemer whose delusions of grandeur allow him to believe he can rule the world, only to destroy himself and all else in the process, or the gullible masses which gave him that power in the first place? The Dupe is a satirical yet timely and immensely enjoyable novel which explores what drives a charismatic leader to seek total control, and what compels devoted followers to obey without question. But whichever you are, watch your step; it may not be leading just where you expect.

Skurril, witzig und ironisch: nach dem erfolgreichen ersten Teil "VOLL BEHÄMMERT – Jobchaoten" kommt nun die Fortsetzung "VOLL VEREIST – Skichaoten". Alexander Humbolt hat es endlich geschafft, seine Traumfrau Maike für sich zu gewinnen. Nun steht Weihnachten vor der Tür: Das Fest der Liebe! Kurzerhand geht es in einen spontanen Skiurlaub. Und damit fangen die Probleme für Alex an, denn wer hätte gedacht, dass einige freie Tage so viele Tücken und Fallstricke bereithalten?

Anna is a young Hollywood film executive with a gift for picking box office winners. When she is passed over at work and in love, she begins to question herself. And when an escaped psychiatric patient crosses her path, she is intrigued by his insight. Anna finds herself surrounded by brilliantly vibrant and outrageously eccentric characters who, like many of us, are shaped by our pasts.

Sir Harry Panter’s political career is ascending - the top job is in his sights - but he can’t take another scandal. He doesn’t know that his wife, Lady Verity, has started the day impaled on a late, married vicar, or that Lucy, his beautiful new intern, thinks of herself as a Trojan Horse with scandalous intentions. But a rival has emerged, who has secrets of his own. Will Sir Harry be able to unseat him before he succumbs to his burning desire for Lucy? Or will Lady Verity, who is having a crisis of passion, be able to find it with her husband?

Follow a man barely deserving of the title as he flails through a turgid cesspit of human depravity, only to discover that he’s the one bunging up its U-bend. Wrongly Writing has even more psychiatrists, anaphylaxis, and cringing social ineptitude than the first Wrong Book, and proves that while editors exist for a reason, the author clearly doesn’t.

Jaakko ist 37, als sein Arzt ihm eröffnet, dass er bald sterben wird: Jemand hat ihn vergiftet. Das an sich ist schon genug, um einem Mann so richtig den Tag zu verderben. Leider wird Jaakko zu Hause auch noch Zeuge, wie ihn seine Frau mit Petri betrügt, dem jungen knackigen Angestellten der gemeinsamen Firma. Der Firma, die jüngst gefährliche Konkurrenz bekommen hat. Jaakko beschließt herauszufinden, wer ihn um die Ecke bringen will. Und er wird sein Unternehmen für die Zeit nach seinem Tod fit machen.

When headhunter Fabrice Valantine faces a smoking ban at work, he decides to undertake a course of hypnotherapy to rid himself of the habit. At first the treatment works, but his stress levels begin to rise when he is passed over for an important promotion and he finds himself lighting up again - but with none of his previous enjoyment. Then he discovers something terrible: he accidentally causes a man's death, and needing a cigarette to calm his nerves, he enjoys it more than any other previous smoke.

Holly Banks could not have made a worse first impression on the seemingly perfect moms in her new affluent community, the Village of Primm. Turns out wearing pink piggy pajama bottoms while dropping off her kindergartener late to the first day of school wasn’t her best look.

Charlie Roebuck knows all about ''showbiz''. He's spent his adult life in front of the camera, an expert in the art of the condescending smile, a genius at appearing to give a damn. Be it grilling bent politicians or dissecting the personal lives of the great and good, it's all the same to Charlie, all grist to the mill. But when he is forced to front the last series of Pinches of Salt he fears the worst. For the past 30 years the show has been following five lacklustre individuals through their tiresome lives and every five years the TV company descend to pick over their bones.

President Andrew MacIntyre was having a pretty good first year in the Oval Office. Suddenly, during what should have been a peaceful Christmas season, he's facing one of the worst national security crises in American history. And, it's being masterminded out of a sleazy New Mexico strip joint? What the hell?

Mystical. Weird. Hilarious. It's a tale of idiots. It's a tale of life. A dumb cast of characters you have to see to believe. The surgeon on an acid trip. The lazy Uncle who fuses with his favorite chair. The boy who comes back from the dead for revenge. Bootsy Collins. What do these people have in common? About as much as you have with Kevin Bacon.

In this hilarious novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet, a honeymooning couple makes friends with a marine biologist who discovers genuine mermaids in a coral reef - and who, the next night, apparently drowns in her hotel bathtub. As a resort chain swoops in to corner the market on mermaids, the newlyweds (opinionated, skeptical narrator Deb and handsome online gamer Chip, the world's friendliest man) join forces with other vacationers.

When Henry First enters his restaurant in a competition that he cannot win, only a miracle - or a chance discovery - can save him. Henry First is a darkly funny and multi-layered novel; a fast-paced story where people do despicable things to one another - all in the service of a jolly good meal.

Joel Huhta ist Dorfpfarrer in Hurmevaara, einem beschaulichen finnischen Dorf. Ein nachdenklicher, warmherziger Mann, dessen Glauben an das Gute im Menschen auf eine harte Probe gestellt wird, als zunächst seine geliebte Ehefrau auf Abwege zu geraten scheint. Vor allem aber, als der Rennwagen des Rallye-Fahrers Tarvainen während einer besonders waghalsigen Fahrt durch den verschneiten Wald von einem Meteoriten getroffen wird. Der Meteorit kommt auf Tarvainens Beifahrersitz zur Ruhe, die Dorfgemeinschaft dagegen gerät gewaltig in Aufregung.