The Successor

This is a powerful political novel based on the sudden, mysterious death of the man who had been handpicked to succeed the hated Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha - by an author, the "Wall Street Journal" called ''one of the most compelling novelists now writing in any language''. Did he commit suicide or was he murdered? That is the burning question. For the man who died by his own hand, or another''s, was in real life Mehmet Shehu, the presumed heir to the ailing dictator. So sure was the world that he was next in line, he was known as The Successor. And then, shortly before he was to assume power, he was found dead. The Successor is simultaneously a mystery novel, an historical novel and a psychological novel. Vintage Kadare, the novel seamlessly blends dream and reality, legendary past and contemporary history.