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thestoryowl's review against another edition
4.0
Very well written, I breezed through it in one sitting.
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
I found this to be a very good historical mystery. The early 1930's setting in Berlin was well described and very atmospheric and the plot, while a bit over the top, was very compelling. There were a few info-dumps that were a bit awkwardly inserted into the narrative but, other than that, a very good debut.
marlynb's review against another edition
5.0
Hannah Vogel is a single 32-year-old woman in a Germany where Nazi-ism is becoming rampant. A crime reporter for the Berliner Tageblatt, she considers herself fairly tough and unshakeable. But when, on a regular visit to the police station she sees a photo of her younger brother Ernst in the photos of the unnamed dead, the unidentified bodies discovered over the past week, she is (understandably) upset.
Hannah's friend Fritz Waldheim is the policeman on duty, though, so she tries not to show it. She doesn't want anyone to find out that she and Ernst loaned their identity papers to a Jewish friend so she and her son could leave the country. Once Sarah and Tobias arrive in America, the papers will be returned, but until then, Hannah and Ernst must be virtually invisible.
Hannah succeeds in distracting Fritz before he sees the photograph of Ernst, but she determines that she will discover what happened to her brother and try to avenge his death. She still has to do her job as a crime reporter, but because of it, she knows some investigative tricks.
Ernst was a performer in a gay bar, and had some very important benefactors. Hannah knows little about his life besides where he lived and worked, and that's where she begins.
Meanwhile, a 5-year-old boy appears on her doorstep, claiming to be Ernst's son, and Hannah has another puzzle to solve.
I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction, but I was totally taken with this story. This is one of the books which had me torn between gobbling it up and slowly savoring. I guess I managed a happy medium, but it was a gripping read.
Another Hannah Vogel story, A Night of Long Knives, is due out in June, but that seems a very long time to wait.
Hannah's friend Fritz Waldheim is the policeman on duty, though, so she tries not to show it. She doesn't want anyone to find out that she and Ernst loaned their identity papers to a Jewish friend so she and her son could leave the country. Once Sarah and Tobias arrive in America, the papers will be returned, but until then, Hannah and Ernst must be virtually invisible.
Hannah succeeds in distracting Fritz before he sees the photograph of Ernst, but she determines that she will discover what happened to her brother and try to avenge his death. She still has to do her job as a crime reporter, but because of it, she knows some investigative tricks.
Ernst was a performer in a gay bar, and had some very important benefactors. Hannah knows little about his life besides where he lived and worked, and that's where she begins.
Meanwhile, a 5-year-old boy appears on her doorstep, claiming to be Ernst's son, and Hannah has another puzzle to solve.
I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction, but I was totally taken with this story. This is one of the books which had me torn between gobbling it up and slowly savoring. I guess I managed a happy medium, but it was a gripping read.
Another Hannah Vogel story, A Night of Long Knives, is due out in June, but that seems a very long time to wait.
thereclamationproject's review against another edition
3.0
I haven't read a book that was set in the inter-war years in Germany in a long while. This book made me think of W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Christopher Isherwood and their cabaret adventures in the 20's and 30's. I think someone should begin a new series featuring them as amateur sleuths.
After reading Cantrell's novel, I may have to begin reading Alan Furst and Philip Kerr again. In the meantime, I am going to finally start Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts that's been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long.
After reading Cantrell's novel, I may have to begin reading Alan Furst and Philip Kerr again. In the meantime, I am going to finally start Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts that's been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long.
kiwikazz's review against another edition
4.0
Really 4 1/2 stars - I really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down.
cdbaker's review against another edition
4.0
A good mystery set in Weimar Germany just before the Nazis took over. I quite liked the main character.
sunnyaz4me's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it despite having to put it down and pick it back up so much due to life's little interferences! Can't wait to get my hands in the next one!!!
ellamarieedel's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting and engaging, but parts seemed unfinished and unclear and the writing was pretty meh. At times the story seemed unbelievable/unrealistic.
appalonia's review against another edition
2.0
Set in 1931 Berlin, this story follows newspaper journalist Hannah Vogel after she finds out her brother has been murdered. Hannah decides she can’t approach the police to investigate, since she had recently loaned her identity papers to a friend who wanted to immigrate to America (a fairly transparent plot device.) The plot was a little confusing at times, simply because there is a whole lot going on. It also bothers me that Hannah didn’t bother searching Ernst’s apartment for clues to his murder. She obviously had access, and that would be the first place I’d look. I also had some problems with the resolution to the mystery (see spoilers below). All in all a good historical mystery, but one too convoluted to thoroughly enjoy. I probably won’t read subsequent books in the series.
WARNING: This next section of the review contains spoilers for the end of the story.
The reason for Ernst mailing Hannah the love letters from the Nazi officer never made sense to me. The act insinuated that he was feeling threatened by the man, but that never panned out. Also, although I’m sure people will disagree, I felt uncomfortable with the fact that Hannah felt entitled to steal a child that she knew wasn’t hers. I understand the motivation, but I think that story thread could have been resolved a bit better without outright kidnapping.
WARNING: This next section of the review contains spoilers for the end of the story.
The reason for Ernst mailing Hannah the love letters from the Nazi officer never made sense to me. The act insinuated that he was feeling threatened by the man, but that never panned out. Also, although I’m sure people will disagree, I felt uncomfortable with the fact that Hannah felt entitled to steal a child that she knew wasn’t hers. I understand the motivation, but I think that story thread could have been resolved a bit better without outright kidnapping.
majkia's review against another edition
5.0
First of the Hannah Vogel series, the story begins with a 30 year old single woman on her own in 1931 Berlin, The Nazis are just beginning to step up their persecution of Jews and homosexuals.
Hannah’s young brother is a gay man who sings and dances at a gay club in the city. She writes a column for the newspaper and goes to the police station to gather information for a column and finds her brother’s picture on the wall of the unknown dead newly discovered in the city. He’d been stabbed and thrown into the river, naked. She admits to no one her brother is dead and determines to discover who has killed him – someone he knows? Or some roaming bad of Nazi soldiers?
The story takes many twists and turns and the discovery of the killer is complicated by secrets and lies her brother told and kept and the need to hide her interest from the authorities for fear she herself might be killed by learning too much about very powerful men.
I appreciated this view of Germany after the Great War and as Hitler was just beginning to create his fascist state. Hannah as believable and her actions obviously those of someone who navigated dangerous waters just barely ahead of people out to keep her brother’s secrets secret.
I hope to continue this series soon.
A ROOT (from 2012), a 2014Category Challenge (Category 8 Spies and Lies), a TIOLI and a RandomCAT.