Is it murder or suicide if you pay a hit man to kill you? Can the one death be both suicide and murder? Just how many crimes have been committed if the hit man succeeds? Has each committed a crime, and if suicide is not an actual crime, was the hit man's killing of you at your own request really a crime?
The main character in Andrei Kurkov's “A Matter of Death and Life” is fed up with life and sees no future for himself, certainly not a future worth hanging around for. So he pays a contract killer to shoot him, using an intermediary to conceal his identity from the would-be killer.
It gets even more complicated when the would-be suicide changes his mind after handing over the money and resorts to subterfuge to avoid being forced into committing suicide.
The quirky plot and the dilemmas of a very likeable but extremely lonely man are played out in the cafes, bars and back streets of Kiev amid heavy falls of snow, a failed marriage and the uncertainty of friendships.
needless to say, people who successfully commit the crime of committing suicide are rarely charged with any crime. :p