The Air Raid Killer

Max Heller, Dresden Detective, Book 1

By: Frank Goldammer, Steve Anderson - translator

Narrated by: Alexander Cendese

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

As the Third Reich ends, a killer’s game begins.

In the final days of the Third Reich, with the historic city of Dresden on the brink of destruction, terrifying rumors spread about the Fright Man, a demonic killer who exploited the cover of a nighttime air raid siren to mutilate and kill a young nurse. Just as seasoned detective Max Heller begins investigating, the Fright Man kills again...

The investigation seems hopeless. Desperate refugees flood the streets, all of Heller’s resources are depleted, and his new boss is a ruthless SS officer. And like so many others, Heller and his wife, Karin, survive on meager rations while fearing for the lives of their sons at the front. But as tensions mount and enemy firebombs decimate the city, dangerous new clues come to light - and the determined Heller pursues a violent and twisting path to unmask a monster.

©2016 Frank Goldammer & dtv Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Munich. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2018 by Steve Anderson.

war story

Sad review of the German common man during world war II it was revealing and raw.

Horrible narrator

This was a mixed bag. I enjoyed the historical aspects of this book. The murder mystery was so-so. The narration of the audiobook was so annoying that I know that played into my appraisal of the book. I’m not sure I want to continue with this narrator.

Good narrator

The narrator was very good. The story dragged on for a while but gave good insite how difficult life was during the war.

It’s a German book, why couldn’t the performer use a German accent?

The book and story was good. But done in a NY cop style. Except the Russian accent he did!??

Riveting thriller!

Great story start to finish! Fast paced thriller that kept me guessing & never slowed down. The narrator is superb & does accents very well to distinguish characters. I highly recommend it!

different

the story was interesting with the setting. narrator horrible. sounded like an old time tough American cop.

Brilliant, or close to it. An* historical visit to Dresden

Great fictional detective story, with some Germans who tried their best to keep their humanity. Nicely done twists & turns, & surprises. Love the protagonist Detective Heller. Love the narration by Alexander Cendese, especially for the voice of Harold (no spoilers given). Could be interesting sequel from an historical perspective. The unwritten memories of people born before 1935 are quickly being lost. Review by Rick, Sept 2,2018.
* “an” is a proper English usage before “historical.” HA!

Engaging, captivating and a truly great read!

Will keep you guessing till the very end! Truly spellbinding! Don't miss reading this book you won't be disappointed!

Not what I expected

I was looking for something more historically accurate. Story was interesting but a bit over the top.

Terrible book but great narration..

I’ll admit I went from 52% all the way to the end of the book just to find out who the killer was. This story was depressing and disgusting and sad all at the same time. AND how anyone could call this “riveting” or “brilliant” or “captivating” is beyond me. I did not know when I chose this book that I would spend so much time reading about people starving or how emaciated they were or how they were starving to death or the constant bombings that went on or how cruel the Germans were to everyone who wasn’t PURE German.

I simply can’t finish this. The only person that was likable was Karin, Max Heller’s wife.

I can read war stories but I can’t read about the misery these people went through page after page. The biggest part of the book was written about what these poor people went through instead of the murders. There was too much other crap going on and not enough mystery until after I zipped over to the last 10 or 20 pages. I felt this wasn’t as much a mystery as it was a history lesson. This definitely wasn’t for me.

No romance and the F-bomb was used 2 times.

As to the narration: Alexander Cendese did a wonderful job on the voices, both male and female, as well as the emotions when he read.