Dark Humor Satire

At the turn of the 20th century, as he composes a treatise on melancholy, Jacov Reinhardt sets off from his small Croatian village in search of his hero and unwitting mentor, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, who is rumored to have disappeared into the South American jungle - "not lost, mind you, but retired." Jacov's narcissistic preoccupation with melancholy consumes him, and as he desperately recounts the myth of his journey to his trusted but ailing scribe, hope for an encounter with the lost philosopher who holds the key to Jacov's obsession seems increasingly unlikely.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of On the Bright Side by Hendrik Groen, read by Patrick Ryecart. Everyone's favourite octogenarian is back and - together with the Old-But-Not-Dead Club - is more determined than ever to wreak havoc. After a year mourning the death of his beloved friend Eefje, Hendrik picks up his pen once again to chronicle the goings on both inside his care home and in the increasingly confusing world outside.

Sometimes Treasure Wants to Remain Hidden, Especially if It's Cursed As the mysterious death of a treasure hunter is hastily deemed an accident, Ivy and Everett are summoned to delve deeper into the enigmatic circumstances surrounding his demise. Was the victim's fate sealed by a cursed treasure he was never meant to uncover? Could someone have deliberately concealed the accursed treasure, aware of the peril it posed? Or, perhaps, was the man ensnared in a more familiar trap, betrayed by someone he once trusted? In a captivating tale of intrigue, deception, and the allure of hidden riches, ...

On November 9, 1989, Bernd Zeiger, a Stasi officer in the twilight of his career, is deteriorating from a mysterious illness. Alarmed by the disappearance of Lara, a young waitress at his regular café with whom he is obsessed, he chases a series of clues throughout Berlin. The details of Lara’s vanishing trigger flashbacks to his entanglement with Johannes Held, a physicist who, 25 years earlier, infiltrated an American research institute dedicated to weaponizing the paranormal.

Alison Hart, a medium by trade, tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital ring road with her flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, passing on messages from beloved dead ancestors. But behind her plump, smiling persona hides a desperate woman: she knows the terrors the next life holds but must conceal them from her wide-eyed clients. At the same time she is plagued by spirits from her own past, who infiltrate her body and home, becoming stronger and nastier the more she resists....

"Il Maestro e Margherita" è il romanzo più conosciuto di Michail Bulgakov e capolavoro della letteratura del XX secolo. Dopo svariate stesure viene ultimato dalla moglie dello scrittore un anno dopo la sua prematura morte. Oggetto di censura da parte dell'autorità dell'Unione Sovietica, vede la pubblicazione nella sua integrità solo venti anni più tardi. A rendere il romanzo tanto scabroso è l'impietoso e satirico ritratto della Russia stalinista che l'autore fa emergere attraverso le caratterizzazioni dei numerosi personaggi che prendono parte alla storia: individui meschini e gretti, la cui infima statura morale viene svelata dall'arrivo, inatteso e incredibile, di Satana in persona, incarnato nell'esperto di magia nera Woland, e del suo losco e bizzarro entourage.

Shelf Death by Mit Namzo Dive into the darkly whimsical world of Shelf Death, a gripping and imaginative eBook that transforms an ordinary supermarket into an epic battleground of sentient groceries. In the fluorescent-lit aisles of Grimley’s Supermarket, where the doors lock and the lights dim, a hidden war rages. Canned goods, fresh produce, frozen foods, and processed snacks—each faction fights for dominance, driven by survival, pride, and the cold gaze of the Algorithm, a profit-obsessed AI that tallies every move. At the heart of this chaos is Tommy the Tomato, a pacifist dreamer ...

When a woman’s fed up there’s hell to pay. When a female demon is fed up? You’d better get the f-ck out the way. Wassup? I’m Xenia, and I’m sick and tired of my mate. And no, he didn’t cheat on me, that’s human crap to get mad at. No, the f-cktard can’t get over the thought of his baby brother one-upping him; and has been neglecting me as a result. Well, an idle mind is a dangerous place, especially when it belongs to an intelligent, female demon. When my father-in-law, the devil himself, gives me a task to wipe out an entire country, I jump on it. Especially when I see just...

With each passing day, Ivy's health deteriorates, yet her unwavering resolve to assist Everett in his latest case remains unshaken. A man, convinced he's being poisoned, seeks their help. With a litany of enemies in his wake, identifying the true culprit proves a daunting task. Is he merely a victim of his own paranoia, or has he unwittingly invoked the wrath of the dead, who now seek retribution? Meanwhile, Harmon races against time to return home, driven by the urgency of Ivy's precarious condition. Will he make it back in time to be by her side, or will fate deal a cruel hand? In a ...

The centre of the world: 1990s Manhattan. Victor Ward, a model with perfect abs and all the right friends, is seen and photographed everywhere, even in places he hasn’t been and with people he doesn’t know. On the eve of opening the trendiest nightclub in New York history, he’s living with one beautiful model and having an affair with another. Now it’s time to move to the next stage. But the future he gets is not the one he had in mind.

To satisfy a public that longs for a savior, Vidal’s eponymous hero of Kalki, born and bred in America’s Midwest, establishes himself in Nepal, puts out the word that he is the last incarnation of the god Vishnu, and predicts an imminent apocalypse meant to cleanse the planet.

Rachel Klein is sacked from her job at the White House after she sends an email criticizing Donald Trump. As she is escorted off the premises, she is hit by a speeding car, driven by what the press will discreetly call "a personal friend of the president". Does that explain the flowers, the get-well wishes at a press briefing, the hush money offered by a lawyer at her hospital bedside? Rachel’s recovery is soothed by comically doting parents, matchmaking roommates, a new job as aide to a journalist whose books aim to defame the president, and unexpected love at the local wine store.

Rachel Klein never meant to kiss her creative writing professor, but with his long eyelashes, his silky hair, and the sad, beautiful life he laid bare on Twitter, she does, and the kiss is very nice. Zahid Azzam never planned to become a houseguest in his student's sprawling Connecticut home, but with the sparkling swimming pool, the endless supply of Whole Foods strawberries, and Rachel's beautiful mother, he does, and the home is very nice.

Can Mary Fight the Soul Brokers or Will She Lose Something Precious? Mary, psychic detective, is on the case of a murdered homeless man, which means her brother is part of the case as well. Will he help or hinder? I think we know the answer to that. The victim has a giant bite hole where his liver had been. Are we talking land shark? Stranger things have happened. The Paranormal Task Force is helping Mary track down the Angle Man and the Soul Brokers. Will they bite off more than they can chew? And what news does Ugly have that may help crack the case? And will Grammy Epi ever get to watch ...

In the land of Lapvona, the lord of the land Villiam is cheating the local villagers of their food, their water, their livelihoods. Grotesque and ridiculous, he marries the pregnant and tongueless ex-nun Agata, whom he believes will make him God, and his son will be the second Christ.

Good intentions backfire again in this humorous, sometimes outrageous, potpourri of episodes featuring dancers, dogs, a Hostess with the Mostess, elves, fairy godmothers, a dragon, a human tractor, lovers, real mothers, daughters, feminists, a mystical choreographer, courtroom pandemonium, retreats to Paradise and a Zen Meditation Center. A memorable collection, guaranteed to: Tread the fine line between fact and fiction Show what’s beyond appearances And make you laugh at what you seeLet the fun begin; click on “Buy Now” now. Amazon Best Seller. Good discussion material for book groups.

When headhunter Fabrice Valantine faces a smoking ban at work, he decides to undertake a course of hypnotherapy to rid himself of the habit. At first the treatment works, but his stress levels begin to rise when he is passed over for an important promotion and he finds himself lighting up again - but with none of his previous enjoyment. Then he discovers something terrible: he accidentally causes a man's death, and needing a cigarette to calm his nerves, he enjoys it more than any other previous smoke.

Berry Barry and his companions are back after their battle with the Flesh-Cursed creatures that lurked within the southern border wall mists. Barry, Fogwarth, and Ak-Lok, along with their newest tag-along, Goomba, must now return to the Mothric Kingdom and report what they have found back to the king.

In this hilarious novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet, a honeymooning couple makes friends with a marine biologist who discovers genuine mermaids in a coral reef - and who, the next night, apparently drowns in her hotel bathtub. As a resort chain swoops in to corner the market on mermaids, the newlyweds (opinionated, skeptical narrator Deb and handsome online gamer Chip, the world's friendliest man) join forces with other vacationers.

Nobody's supposed to see the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee before her Silver, yet Ben and Georgie do exactly that. Who in their right mind would agree to move into a mansion with their narcissistic ex-boss after stealing his job? Ben, apparently. When he joins Isaac’s Dungeons and Dragons party, the adventures begin in the cellar, but get disturbingly real when the players find a space-age capsule in the attic filled with vintage clothes and artefacts. The gang's first foray into the hermetically-sealed space ends in a mad scramble to escape before the computer initiates evacuation protocols...