Their methods are agile, they are proactive and present lasting and scalable solutions – top managers live in a different sphere. Up where the air is thin, and a single faux pas can mean tumbling into the abyss. But now women are finding their way into the tie-wearers’ habitat, and remote work, so beloved among employees, is making leadership appear to be all mouth and no trousers. The challenges are becoming ever more diverse. Who can still be trusted, and who can’t? The top squad is losing its grip.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, the hero of the 2014 World Cup Final in Rio, is also the hero of Martin Suter’s latest novel. The author weaves in true (and almost true) details about the life of a man who achieved everything it is possible to achieve as a footballer. Yet Schweinsteiger also knows what it’s like to fail, and he’s no stranger to the dark side of success. This is the moving story of an extraordinary career – and a touching love story.

While private investigator Johann Friedrich von Allmen and his assistant Carlos are still celebrating the successful recovery of the valuable Dahlia picture, Carlos’ life partner Maria Moreno disappears. Not a lovers’ tiff, as Allmen’s factotum assumes at first, but the brutal revenge of those who feel they were robbed. Maria in exchange for the Dahlia picture – that is the kidnappers’ demand. But they did not reckon with old Dalia Gutbauer. For she is unwilling to hand over the picture, and has her own ideas about what she wants to do with it. This, of course, puts Allmen, Carlos and Maria in an extremely precarious situation. They need to act fast, and they all give their best in a dramatic race against time.