Two years ago I read "A Darker State" (since renamed "Stasi State"), the third book in this Karin Müller series, enjoying it enough to give it a 4* rating and to reflect that I was tempted to catch up on the two earlier books. However, that ambition was thwarted by the ever-constant dilemma of ‘too many books, too little time’ and other books demanding my attention! So, when #5 was offered in a Readers First draw, I had no hesitation in trying to win a copy so that I could catch up with what had been happening in Karin’s life. However, for various reasons, I didn’t find this story either as satisfying or engrossing to read.
A major irritation for me was that it quickly became clear that not only did Karin recognise the murder victim as someone from her past, but she also had an historical relationship with Irma, a central character in this story who also had a significant history with the victim. With the story being told alternately from Karin’s perspective in the third-person narrative, and from Irma’s in first-person accounts, the reader is gradually enabled to discover the back-history of their relationship and the consequential links with the victim. However, for me this part of the story-telling relied far too heavily on constant references back to events which had happened years earlier and, rather than adding something essential to the story, there were times when it was distracting because, paradoxically, I found myself wanting to know even more details about their back-story, adding to my irritation that I wasn’t able to simply lose myself in the story I should have been focusing on!
In spite of these irritations there were some aspects of the author’s story-telling which reminded me of why I’d enjoyed the earlier book. It was good to be reacquainted with Karin, a strong, ambitious young woman who was clearly continuing to struggle to reconcile the often-conflicting aspects of her personal and professional life and her political ideals. I find her a likeable, convincingly flawed, complex character; she is determined, resourceful, prepared to challenge authority, often to her own detriment, but also prepared to be pragmatic when necessary and yet she has an underlying sensitivity which, whilst most often focused on her family, also shows itself when she seeks justice for victims.
I also enjoyed the many ways in which the author used his considerable knowledge of the country and its history to create a convincing picture of what life was like in the DDR during the 1970s. He very powerfully evoked the ever-present tensions created by the absolute power wielded by the oppressive Stasi regime, with the constant surveillance generating fear and paranoia in the country’s residents. He used this to provide a credible background against which the reader could more readily understand the motivations underlying some of the actions, and reactions, of his various characters.
Much of the action in this story is set against a background of extreme winter-weather conditions, with deep snow and ice creating hazardous conditions which made even the simplest of trips outside perilous. The attempts of some of the characters to escape to the West across the frozen Ostsee (Baltic) were death-defyingly dangerous, providing much of the dramatic, nail-biting tension in the story. There were times when the author’s descriptions of snow drifts, blizzard conditions and rapidly falling temperatures were so evocative that they made me want to put on several extra layers of clothing … I think it’s no exaggeration to say that the weather was a central character in the development of the tension-filled plot! I think this is one aspect of the storytelling which deserves 5* in its own right, and there are enough interesting themes for it to be a 4* read for book groups. However, my overall disappointment was such that, sadly, I feel able to give it an overall rating of only 3*.
With thanks to Readers First for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A major irritation for me was that it quickly became clear that not only did Karin recognise the murder victim as someone from her past, but she also had an historical relationship with Irma, a central character in this story who also had a significant history with the victim. With the story being told alternately from Karin’s perspective in the third-person narrative, and from Irma’s in first-person accounts, the reader is gradually enabled to discover the back-history of their relationship and the consequential links with the victim. However, for me this part of the story-telling relied far too heavily on constant references back to events which had happened years earlier and, rather than adding something essential to the story, there were times when it was distracting because, paradoxically, I found myself wanting to know even more details about their back-story, adding to my irritation that I wasn’t able to simply lose myself in the story I should have been focusing on!
In spite of these irritations there were some aspects of the author’s story-telling which reminded me of why I’d enjoyed the earlier book. It was good to be reacquainted with Karin, a strong, ambitious young woman who was clearly continuing to struggle to reconcile the often-conflicting aspects of her personal and professional life and her political ideals. I find her a likeable, convincingly flawed, complex character; she is determined, resourceful, prepared to challenge authority, often to her own detriment, but also prepared to be pragmatic when necessary and yet she has an underlying sensitivity which, whilst most often focused on her family, also shows itself when she seeks justice for victims.
I also enjoyed the many ways in which the author used his considerable knowledge of the country and its history to create a convincing picture of what life was like in the DDR during the 1970s. He very powerfully evoked the ever-present tensions created by the absolute power wielded by the oppressive Stasi regime, with the constant surveillance generating fear and paranoia in the country’s residents. He used this to provide a credible background against which the reader could more readily understand the motivations underlying some of the actions, and reactions, of his various characters.
Much of the action in this story is set against a background of extreme winter-weather conditions, with deep snow and ice creating hazardous conditions which made even the simplest of trips outside perilous. The attempts of some of the characters to escape to the West across the frozen Ostsee (Baltic) were death-defyingly dangerous, providing much of the dramatic, nail-biting tension in the story. There were times when the author’s descriptions of snow drifts, blizzard conditions and rapidly falling temperatures were so evocative that they made me want to put on several extra layers of clothing … I think it’s no exaggeration to say that the weather was a central character in the development of the tension-filled plot! I think this is one aspect of the storytelling which deserves 5* in its own right, and there are enough interesting themes for it to be a 4* read for book groups. However, my overall disappointment was such that, sadly, I feel able to give it an overall rating of only 3*.
With thanks to Readers First for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.