Oneiros - Tödlicher Fluch

What shall I say?
The good thing about this book is that you can read it very quickly. And there are some interesting ideas in there.

But...

(If you either intend to read the book yourself or are a fan of Markus Heitz, you might want to stop reading now.)

But:
The main character, Konstantin Korff, is just too much of a cool and exceptional hero. Lives on a house boat, does martial arts and parcours as a hobby, aside from mixing drinks, and, of course, has a dark secret. He was a supernatural assassin because he can kill people by sleeping near them but now has been repentent for two years. And in that short period he became the leading mortician and thanatologist of Europe - the guy the Russians call when Lenin needs to be "treated". (And I'm not saying this as an exaggeration - it's in the book.) Also he dramatically falls in love with the woman of his dreams and wants to break his curse (killing people around him when he sleeps) just for her because she makes his coeliac plexus glow when his past catches up with him. He is betrayed by his former friend and/or rival, the worst cliche of a British guy I've read about in a long time, betrays his love of a lifetime with a chance acquaintance while she is abducted by said British guy. There is a showdown with a hostage exchange, and then the love of his life leaves him because he ran out on her and she found another man. Which, of course, makes his betrayal with chance aquaintance all fine because she also makes his coeliac plexus glow.

Also there is the problem of cliches in the book. There are so many national cliches running rampant in this text that it's really hard not to bite into it now and again, the British guy only being the most recurring and worst-executed.

Then there are the fairytales Korff turns to to research on ways to get rid of his curse (you know, the thing with killing people in his sleep which is why he can't fall asleep next to all those women who make his coeliac plexus glow). They don't serve any purpose but to show that there are fairytales which include death as a personification. And to suggest that Korff really does know quite little in the field of death in a cultural and historical sense, which is a pity, bearing in mind that he is this great mortician.

And then there are the tediously lengthy action scenes. They mostly don't do much for the story but create bloodshed and make Korff look cool and though.
But on the last 50 pages I found something even worse than the action scenes: the passionate lovemaking of Korff and chance acquaintance. This one is really so horrible, it's almost hilarious. Also, it is quite pointless - as is the whole lovelife of Korff. It didn't need to be in there at all.

To sum up: I suspect that Markus Heitz just isn't for me. There are just too many points which annoy me in his books, and they are recurring.
His werewolf books worked great for me but seem to have been an anomaly, a one-off.

And now I need a drink. But not one of those actually given as a recipe in the book. I'd recommend "Corpse Reviver No. 2".