Some people have the gall to die at inopportune times, or so one might conclude from Stockholm, Noa Yedlin's diabolically entertaining novel, published in Israel in 2016.
Nearing 70, Avishay is an economist in Tel Aviv and a leading Nobel candidate. Roughly 10 days before the prize announcement, however, he dies. To receive the Nobel, he has to be alive. His death complicates a scheme by rival Yehuda, who, despite making millions by inventing a device that quickly opens bags, feels overshadowed by Avishay. He's trying to publish a book, and thinks sales would benefit from a foreword by a Nobel winner. So he and others in their cohort decide to keep Avishay's death secret until after the prize announcement.
Yedlin has fun exploring the effect of Avishay's death on that cohort. Among them are Zohara, who has had an affair with Avishay; Nili, a retired pediatrician; and Amos, a fellow economist who was as celebrated as Avishay until "Avishay suddenly left Amos in the dust." Add to the mix a younger woman whom Avishay may have impregnated, and a bicyclist who fears he killed Avishay when he ran into him as the friends moved his body from his apartment (don't ask), and the result is a madcap adventure. Yedlin even slips in philosophical insights: Yehuda "sensed something unacknowledged about the nature of truth itself: no one wants it, no friendship can withstand it." Cynical? Sure, but not out of place in this zany book. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer