I have read few novels in the past five years where every page is gripping, where something essential happens in every paragraph—that is, where there is no idle running, no self-indulgent linguistic acrobatics, or forced plot development. For me, Gergely Péterfy already proved in Kitömött barbár how excellently he handles the narrator, the illusion of a narrative unfolding before me, and story-driven prose whose language often becomes poetic. His sentences are fluid and effortless, which gives the writing a 19th-century quality. century quality.