It is hard to sum this novel up into a sentence when so much is packed in, but I'll give it a try. Young's crime thriller follows Karin Muller, a detective, solving a murder case where a boy was drowned, then following this one of her colleagues' son goes missing under similar circumstances. There is an inextricable web of components to this story that kept me turning the pages desperate to reach the end.
The novel is based in East Berlin during the 1970's, meaning the reader is granted an insight into the conditions and differences endured during the Cold War period. I found this particularly interesting because it isn't a context I have read much about, however it did mean that certain terms and names were unfamiliar to me and this caused the flow of the novel to suffer.
This was my first novel by David Young, and it definitely reminded me of novels by the likes of Jo Nesbo. So, as I read it as a stand alone I would argue that it is still an enjoyable novel that doesn't require the entire backstory, although it did mean that there were aspects of the novel that weren't fleshed out and fully explained, such as the long standing rivalry and corruption of the Stasi.
What I highly credit this novel for is its interesting and intriguing string of crimes that take place, and how the characters were well developed, but Young still left room for me to doubt every single one of them. The themes of homosexuality and family in this novel were well explored and overall, I'd highly recommend.
The novel is based in East Berlin during the 1970's, meaning the reader is granted an insight into the conditions and differences endured during the Cold War period. I found this particularly interesting because it isn't a context I have read much about, however it did mean that certain terms and names were unfamiliar to me and this caused the flow of the novel to suffer.
This was my first novel by David Young, and it definitely reminded me of novels by the likes of Jo Nesbo. So, as I read it as a stand alone I would argue that it is still an enjoyable novel that doesn't require the entire backstory, although it did mean that there were aspects of the novel that weren't fleshed out and fully explained, such as the long standing rivalry and corruption of the Stasi.
What I highly credit this novel for is its interesting and intriguing string of crimes that take place, and how the characters were well developed, but Young still left room for me to doubt every single one of them. The themes of homosexuality and family in this novel were well explored and overall, I'd highly recommend.