The Berlin Gambit
Berlin, 1942. Police Chief Investigator Rolf Schneider takes no interest in politics. All he cares about is catching criminals – until he is tasked with reinvestigating the assassination of his superior, Reinhard Heydrich. It’s clear to Schneider that Himmler expects him simply to confirm the findings of the original investigation, but Schneider is too conscientious a policeman not to follow every lead, even if it means having his eyes opened to the evils being perpetrated in the name of all Germans and finding evidence that could imperil his life and that of the one person he holds dear.
This atmospheric novel, based on real events, captures well the troubled times under the Nazi regime: the almost nightly air raids, the shortage of food, the general air of paranoia when anyone could become a target if they are denounced for saying or doing the wrong thing. There is, however, a tendency to head-hop from one character to another within individual scenes. This is effective at the beginning of the book, by providing the reader with information that the characters lack, but ultimately diminishes the shock value of the denouement when Schneider trusts the wrong person with potentially deadly consequences.
Similarly, the love interest Anna starts out promisingly, but her character isn’t developed as fully as it could have been because instead of letting her speak for herself, she is largely silenced during key scenes, and we are told her thoughts and feelings by the omniscient narrator rather than being allowed to experience them.
These minor quibbles aside, it’s clear a lot of thought and research went into crafting this novel. The result is a promising and assured debut.
