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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
Ice Cold by Andrea Maria Schenkel
4.0
3.5
Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley
Andrea Maria Schenkel is Germany’s answer to Britain’s Ruth Rendell.
Can I end the review now, I mean what more do you need to know?
Schenkel’s novel deals with a sexual murderer during the late Weimer period. (If you have read Maria Tatar’s Lustmord, you should check this book out). Told in a variety of voices, the book is as compelling as Rendell at her best.
At one level the book is a psychological study of a killer, at another level it is a study of a girl wanting more, and at a third level it is a look at those who are either killed or those who are left behind. The reader is placed in the position of listening investigator. While at the beginning, it almost seems too multi-perspective but as the reader gets use to the format, as the format evens out, whichever it is becomes the only way to tell this story.
And it is grippingly told.
Schenkel aptly deals with the differing perspectives without making any one character too much of a dislikable idiot or too much an unbelievable stellar of perfection. The only change to the pattern is the reader’s interaction with the murderer. With that character Schenkel walks the fine line of presenting the character while not justifying his behavior. She walks this line very well, and the passages of the book involving this character work.
It’s not your average murder mystery that’s for show.
Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley
Andrea Maria Schenkel is Germany’s answer to Britain’s Ruth Rendell.
Can I end the review now, I mean what more do you need to know?
Schenkel’s novel deals with a sexual murderer during the late Weimer period. (If you have read Maria Tatar’s Lustmord, you should check this book out). Told in a variety of voices, the book is as compelling as Rendell at her best.
At one level the book is a psychological study of a killer, at another level it is a study of a girl wanting more, and at a third level it is a look at those who are either killed or those who are left behind. The reader is placed in the position of listening investigator. While at the beginning, it almost seems too multi-perspective but as the reader gets use to the format, as the format evens out, whichever it is becomes the only way to tell this story.
And it is grippingly told.
Schenkel aptly deals with the differing perspectives without making any one character too much of a dislikable idiot or too much an unbelievable stellar of perfection. The only change to the pattern is the reader’s interaction with the murderer. With that character Schenkel walks the fine line of presenting the character while not justifying his behavior. She walks this line very well, and the passages of the book involving this character work.
It’s not your average murder mystery that’s for show.