This scholarship in Berlin is his opportunity: he has three months to write his book, manage his anxieties, and confront the sense of inadequacy that torments him. Then he will return to New York, mature, settled, a responsible father and husband.

But instead of getting down to work, he wastes time on the internet and watches crime series. One of them, Blue Lives, captivates him: the only truth is power; the essence of the world is violence; and the only real dilemma is whether you will be with the lambs or with the wolves. A chance encounter with the creator of the series will push him down the rabbit hole.

From the German lyric poets of the 19th century to the punks of East Berlin, and from the society of supervised "transparency" to the internet dens of the alternative Right, Meat for the Wolves, beyond being a novel of ideas, existential adventure, and political critique, is primarily the intellectual history of a defeat.