A work of rapture jolting hilarious and incredibly racy Martin Amis The Times Self satisfied delighting in the many fascinating quirks of his own personality Hermann Hermann is perhaps not to be taken too seriously. But then a chance meeting with Felix a man he believes to be his double reveals a frightening split in Hermanns nature. Convinced that he has found his doppelganger Hermann uses this discovery to weave a money making plan that leads to disguise betrayal and eventually murder. Filled with impudent startling humour and dominated by the egotistical and scornful figure of a killer who thinks himself an artist Despair takes us into a deranged world of doubles and illusions where nothing is quite as it seem