I am very dissatisfied with this book, especially as it had a good premise and opening. In this opening, we read a report and narrative of the execution of Kalteis, a violent criminal in late 1930s Berlin. As such, it showed technical skill in flicking between two different voices, a skill showcased in the rest of the book, which contains many passages of police reports, interrogations, witness statements, straight narrative etc. These were woven together very neatly and skillfully, but after a while the constant flicking from one voice to another is trying, and emphasises that this book is style over substance, as the different accounts never really lead us anywhere.



SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW

I use 'spoilers' in the loosest sense, as what did we learn from this book. In the end, Kalteis confesses to the crimes we have seen him commit and which are the reason for his execution at the start of the book. The crimes described are quite horrible, but, again, to what end? I was expecting this to be some sort of parallel to the rise of the Nazis, but they are barely mentioned. By the end of the book, we just know that Kalteis is violent, as we already knew, but nothing of the causes or background to his crimes. Plot was almost none existent- even Kathy's story seemed irrelevant in the end, because she was sidelined so often by the other victims' stories. What was the point? It all seemed rather gratuitous.