During the final weeks of the Weimar Republic, a young woman washes up in the Havel River in picture-perfect Old Spandau. Bodies in rivers are hardly news in the chaos of 1932 Berlin, maddened by years of war, defeat, revolution, inflation, depravity, and now the Great Depression. But this one is different.
Excellent narration by Mr. Contreras.
I thoroughly enjoyed Christian Contreras' narration for this novel.
The story was well done, especially given that it is the author's debut. Th..Show More »e beginning of the book, a very lavish introduction, is set in pre-world war II Germany... I loved this part of the book, brought alive by Contreras' gripping reading and authentic German accentuation.
The middle of the book might be rated 'R' if it were in theaters (for language, sexuality, and nudity). I thought much of this content was unnecessary, and overly indulgent, but the story steadied itself after a few chapters.
All in all I would recommend this to adults who are not easily disturbed by some explicit content. In my opinion, it is an entertaining mystery thriller.
On the same day that the stock market crashes in New York in 1929, the dark underside of Berlin flushes to the surface in the form of a burlap sack spewed by floodwaters from the city sewer system. What it contains calls Jewish Detective Willi Kraus to investigate perhaps the most vicious criminal heretofore known.