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“Altun offers us three delights for the price of one: a brilliantly edgy, witty thriller that rivals Highsmith; a metaphysical puzzle that Borges would be proud to call his own; and a tale of two assassins that conveys, better than any other novel I have read, the way that money talks in Istanbul.”—Maureen Freely "A deft, zinging whodunnit which is also a metaphysical puzzle worthy of the Oulipo group. Altun’s prose has a dreamlike urgency; his novel is a major achievement."—John Ashbery After the death of his overbearing mother, the privileged Arda reclines in his wealth, reflecting on his young life and on the life of his father, the famous mathematician Mürsel Ergenekon, who was murdered on Arda’s fourteenth birthday. While on the other side of the city, “your humble servant” Bedirhan has decided to pack in his ten-year career as an assassin. Their two lives become intrinsically bound in this remarkable thriller that takes us through the streets of Istanbul. We learn that Bedirhan in fact killed Arda’s father, and that they share more in common than he or we could imagine. Meanwhile, Selçuk Altun, a former family friend, is playing a deadly game, providing Arda with clues to track down his father’s killer. **Selçuk Altun** was born in Artvin, Turkey, in 1950. He lives in Istanbul, and *Songs My Mother Never Taught Me* is his fourth novel to be published in Turkish. He is a retired banking executive and a bibliophile. ** ### From Publishers Weekly This intelligent thriller from Altun, his first to be published in the U.S., nicely evokes modern Istanbul. After Arda Ergenekon's domineering mother dies of cancer, the well-to-do 27-year-old seeks to learn more about his illustrious mathematician father, Mürsel, who was murdered when he was 14. In a postmodernist touch, a character named Selçuk Altun assists Ergenekon in his inquiries into the past. Meanwhile, Bedirhan Öztürk, whose backstory is more compelling than Ergenekon's, is considering retiring from his career as an assassin. What Ergenekon discovers leads him to devote himself to tracking down Mürsel's killer, who, unsurprisingly, turns out to be Öztürk. While some readers may be disappointed by what happens when the two main characters finally meet, the lean prose and deft pacing make this more than a routine revenge tale. *(Apr.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist This latest Turkish import, set in Istanbul, is written entirely in the first person, from the points of view of the two main characters, Arda, a child of privilege and a smothering mother, and Bedirhan, an orphan turned assassin. The reader is rapidly drawn into the innermost thoughts and feelings of both characters, as Arda decides how to live his life after the death of his mother, and Bedirhan vows to get out of the assassin business. The tension is gradually ratcheted up as Arda discovers his father was assassinated and sets out to hunt for the killer, even as the reader learns of the strangely intertwined lives of Arda and Bedirhan. The seamless translation captures the author’s remarkable lyricism. Highly recommended for readers of literary mysteries and for followers of international crime fiction. Altun’s love and knowledge of Istanbul shine through on every page.