Snow White Must Die

By: Nele Neuhaus

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

On a rainy November day, police detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein are summoned to a mysterious traffic accident: a woman has fallen from a pedestrian bridge onto a car driving underneath. According to a witness, the woman may have been pushed. The investigation leads Pia and Oliver to a small village, and the home of the victim, Rita Cramer.

On a September evening eleven years earlier, two seventeen-year-old girls vanished from the village without a trace. In a trial based only on circumstantial evidence, twenty-year-old Tobias Sartorius, Rita Cramer's son, was sentenced to ten years in prison. Bodenstein and Kirchhoff discover that Tobias, after serving his sentence, has now returned to his home town. Did the attack on his mother have something to do with his return? In the village, Pia and Oliver encounter a wall of silence. When another young girl disappears, the events of the past seem to be repeating themselves in a disastrous manner. The investigation turns into a race against time, because for the villagers it is soon clear who the perpetrator is - and this time they are determined to take matters into their own hands.

©2010 Nele Neuhaus (P)2012 AudioGO, Ltd.

Just OK

I was unaware that this was a book in a series until writing the review, but lacking that knowledge and the previous stories did not distract from the main story of the book, although now I understand why some of the details of the main characters seemed to be missing.

The story is slow to start and it isn't until more than half way through the book that it becomes compelling. The quantity of characters also made the story hard to follow, remember who was who, how they were connected, etc.

All in all, it was ok, but I wasn't blown away as other reviewers have been. I probably won't pick up the rest of the series.

Very entertaining book!

I very much enjoyed my first Nele Neuhaus book and I hope to soon find more of her novels available in english. In the begining I was tempted by the name of the book but once I started listening I found myself deeply entertained and I wound up sitting and listening much longer than I had expected. It is a little different than my usual reads but it is probably even more entertaining (there's that word again!). I refuse to talk much about the story because I will probably destroy some of the beautifully woven pieces, so I will only say that, for me, it would be worth twice the credits that it cost. I say that because I think Nele must of spent a great amount of time weaving this novel and I don't mind paying more to experience it's beauty.
Thank's for reading my thoughts on "Snow White Must Die". P.S.: For those that want to know, there is not much bad language or graphic violence to be found. Sure there are murders and such but Nele included them just how this father of two kids prefers, with taste and respect. "Snow White Must Die" is a bit of a throw back to the older mystery writer days that produced so many great writers, less junk and more quality! Good job Nele, I would let my older teen read it, and that's not too easy to say these days.

I enjoyed my first German crime writer

First time author, Nele Neuhaus, a German crime writer. I read somewhere that Stieg Larsson with his "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" series started the Scandnavian rush of crime writers that are becming so popular in the US. That might be the case as I'm reading authors from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and now Germany and I've enjoyed them all. I would include Britain in this group except that, in my opinion, the British invasion of all aspects of our American lives started over 200 years ago so they don't count. But, it seems American publishers are rushing to Europe to discover the best authors, finding good translators for them, and in the case of we that listen to them finding good narrators as well. I didn't really know what to expect with this author. The book was set around Frankfurt so somewhat familiar. In the beginning when the story began to unfold seemed pretty obvious what had happened and who had done it and that's was the case. But then the author begins peeling back the layers of the crime, time after time, where in the end she wrote a really engrossing story that kept my interest, kept me thinking about it when I wasn't reading wondering what was going to happen. The title was pretty catchy as well. I enjoyed it and will look forward to the next one in the series.

really great book, cant wait for more

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

i would definitely recommend this book, great suspense and story line, what more can a girl ask for?

What other book might you compare Snow White Must Die to and why?

this book reminds me a little of Gregg Hurwitz the crime writer

Have you listened to any of Robert Fass’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

this is my first listening by this author but looking forward to more

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I dont want to give anything away, don't want to spoil it for others but every chapter has a suprise.

Any additional comments?

you will not regret this book

Mystery reader's dream.

What made the experience of listening to Snow White Must Die the most enjoyable?

I could listen to it from my Kindle. This was a very long book (15 hours) so I didn't listen to it in one sitting. At first, there seemed to be so many characters that I thought I would never get my mind wrapped around them. I was soon so engrossed in the story that I felt like I was there and knew them personally.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Snow White Must Die?

When the water was raising on two of the characters and hope was running out. The suspense was switching back and forth between several of the characters. If this had been paper, I would have peeked to the end to see who lived and who died.

Which scene was your favorite?

There was quite a bit of description - even of the restaurants - that helped me create a picture of a small German town.

Any additional comments?

I have excellent hearing for volume but sometimes have difficulty with accents. I had problems understanding the German accent. Not sure if the reader was German or the accent was to enhance the experience of the story that takes place in Germany. I loved the book in spite of this.

Great Translation of German Crime Mystery

Nele Neuhaus's thriller is translated from German to English and Narated by Robert Fass. A crime novel set in 2008 tells the story of a small village in Germany where a man has just been released from prison after serving 10 years for the death of two 17 year old girls. In the ten years since he was convicted his parents have broken up, his father has closed the family restruant, and the majority of their land holdings have been sold off. 

There were never any bodies found and Tobis Sartorius was convicted on circumstantial evidence alone. After his release he comes home and soon after his mother is pushed over a bridge into the path of a moving car. Police Detectives look into the case of his mother being pushed over the bridge and begin seeing inconsistencies in the stories told by the villagers.

Then another young girl disappears and Tobis is the first person questioned. The facts about Tobis, the village people and  the untold stories that have been hidden for ten years start to unravel. What is really going on in this small village. 

The story unfolds and the mysteries of the past being forth a great mystery. What could keep a town silent and send a man to prison? Will it happen again?

Snow White Must Die is a great listen and is an excelent mystery.

Captivating

Any additional comments?

Enjoyed the roller coaster of "who did it", you think you have it figured out and then a new twist appears. I struggled with trying to keep the characters separated, but this was due to not being familiar with German names. I would have to pause to think, "okay, which character is this". Was a slow start, but the story picked up speed and then I wanted to keep listening so I could find out the newest twist. Robert Fass was a great narrator and did well with keeping the characters separated. I found him very easy to listen to, he transitioned from one character to the other seamlessly.

Amazingly well written

This is one of the best books I’ve ever listen to . It held my interest all the way through and has great plot twists with very strong characters

A so-so mystery

I found it a struggle to listen to this audiobook. It was hard to get into, and the characters took a long time to develop. But by the sixth hour in, because I can not give up on a book, the story came together. It's a bit of a far fetched murder, but by the end I couldn't put it down, I needed to know.

Whole village covers up crimes.

This is not at all what I expected. At first it seems like many other stories. However, as the layers of crime, corruption, deceit, coercion, and cover up unfold it becomes much more.
I am left astounded and still processing what I "read."

Neuhaus crafts a tale that covers several generations, forces a whole village into a mob mentality, and it would not be exposed nor stopped if outside forces did not intervene.
Some outcomes are predictable and some surprising. Some are justified, others sad, and several are too late for the characters to appreciate. I find that this is an above average murder mystery.

I rarely take exception to a narrator. I feel that it is a luxury to have someone read to me. However, this narrator is below average. His attempts to vary characters, personalities, and emotions ofton comes across as slow paced and flat affect. It does not change my recommendation of the book, but I know that some listeners place a lot of weight on the narration.