<p>Heavily influenced by Dostoyevsky&#39;s Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov,The agents&#39; boss later arrives and holds a mini-tribunal in the room of K.&#39;s neighbor, Fr&auml;ulein B&uuml;rstner. K. is not taken away, however, but left 'free' and told to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs. He goes to work, and that night apologizes to Fr&auml;ulein B&uuml;rstner for the intrusion into her room. At the end of the conversation he suddenly kisses her.</p><p>In 1999, the book was listed in&nbsp;<em>Le Monde</em>&#39;s&nbsp;100 Books of the Century&nbsp;and as No.&nbsp;2 of the&nbsp;Best German Novels of the Twentieth Century.</p>