THE TUNNEL

»It was May, it was a Saturday, and everything was as usual. I arrived at Basel Train Station in the afternoon, went to the platform from which the Intercity to Lugano was scheduled to depart. The journey takes you through the Gotthard Tunnel for 35 miles, the longest tunnel in the world. In the evening, we were meant to return to Basel.

That was the plan. I never saw Basel Train Station, my family, nor my apartment  again.«

In his debut novel, Hans Leister creates a powerful scenario distinguished by his technical refinement andan outstanding sense for his protagonists: 300 passengers in a train, who ,locked inside the tunnel system of the Saint-Gotthard Massif and cut off from the outside world, fight for their survival while an apocalyptic catastro- phe causes havoc on the outside.