Babylon Berlin
by Volker Kutscher
Germany, Spring,
1929. Inspector Gereon Rath was a homicide detective in his home town
of Cologne, but a shooting in the line of duty led to a newspaper
scandal his career couldn’t survive. Thanks to his father’s heavy
political and police connections, Rath transferred to Berlin and took
up a position in E Section – the Vice squad in the city police HQ
on Alexanderplatz. Under the avuncular guidance of Chief Inspector
Wolter, Rath begins to find his feet in the vibrant and dangerous
city. He also falls in love with ambitious police stenographer
Charlotte Ritter.
When a dead Russian
dissident somehow crashes a stolen car into the Landwehr Canal, the
troubled Rath spies a chance to resume a career in homicide as a
member of the crack A Section – but this is Berlin and nothing’s
as it appears. Somewhere there’s a hidden fortune in Russian gold. A
radical group of Russian exiles, a Berlin crime king, and corrupt
cops at the heart of Alexanderplatz all conspire to be the first to
find it. Rath must pursue a dangerous course through the illegal
nightclubs and Communist neighborhoods of the city if he’s to win
the case and get the girl – but a shocking encounter on the streets
of Berlin throws everything into doubt.
In
Babylon Berlin, Noir detective fiction merges
seamlessly into the complex and hedonistic world of pre-Nazi Berlin.
Kutscher’s period research, descriptions and realistic, sympathetic
characters drive a narrative that’s hard to put down.
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