I am particularly grateful to Thomas Wippenbeck and his great team at Restaurant Fonda in Südstadt, Köln, where I spent so much time that in the end I risked being mistaken for part of the furniture and stacked up with the chairs at night. I was also well looked after in the Spitz, whose friendly staff defended my regular table with knife and fork against all other guests. I was always given a welcome by the Sterns in the Vintage and Romain Wack in Wackes. Sometimes I simply had to get out of Köln and headed for the island of Sylt, where I received perfect treatment both from Johannes King and his team at the Söl’ring Hof and from Herbert Seckler, Ivo Köster and their team at the Sansibar.
I would like to thank the brilliant, committed staff at my publishing house, and quite particularly you, Helge, for your friendship and invaluable confidence.
But my ultimate thanks is for you, Sabina. However much I may have enjoyed travelling to the Moon in my mind – the best thing was always looking back at the Earth. Because that’s where you are.
Copyright
First published in the German language as Limit by Frank Schätzing
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Jo Fletcher Books
An imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd.
55 Baker Street
7th Floor, South Block
London
W1U 8EW
Copyright © 2009, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne Germany Copyright © 2009, Frank Schätzing
‘Space Oddity’ Words and Music by David Bowie © 1969, Reproduced by permission of Onward Music Publishing Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd, London W1F 9LD
‘New York, New York’ Words and Music by John Kander and Fred Ebb © 1977, Reproduced by permission of EMI Unart Catalog Inc, London W1F 9LD
The moral right of Frank Schätzing to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84916 515 0 (HB)
ISBN 978 1 84916 516 7 (TPB)
ISBN 978 0 85738 540 6 (EBOOK)
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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