Set in 1930s Munich based on the real events of a series of rapes and murder.
A story told via various characters, documents interrogation logs and witness statements. Well written and researched, dark harsh a powerful story. A quirky short unusual book of only 185 pages but gripping from first to last page. At times grim gruesome and sad at others charming and sweet but always engaging.
Recommended. ( )

There may be a gripping story here but I found the multiple POV, the large cast of characters, and the lack of a narrative thread to be tiresome and I didn't finish.

I received a review copy of "Ice Cold" by Andrea Maria Schenkel (Quercus) through NetGalley.com. ( )

Whilst ICE COLD is the second book from German writer Andrea Maria Schenkel, it's the first book - THE MURDER FARM - that I have to start out mentioning. I still remember my reaction to that book - mesmerised, enthralled, vaguely stunned. Needless to say, trying not to set expectations for ICE COLD was a tricky undertaking.

Set in 1930's Munich, ICE COLD is the progression of a rapist serial killer. Various viewpoints are told chapter by chapter, each voice eerily intimate, and personal, distinguished by a change in font to give the reader a visual queue, as well as a clear change in voice. The killer moves aimlessly, passively through a life punctuated suddenly by extreme violence and depravity. ICE COLD tells a story that is brutal, hopeless, stark, bleak and extremely discomforting. It's dark, intense and extremely uncomfortable reading. It's also jarringly different in that there is no discernible plot, heading for a resolution or at the least, an explanation. This is a series of short, sharp punches to the readers sensibility, finalising in no resolution, no closure, no analysis, no neat ends and no explanations.

There are a lot of similarities to THE MURDER FARM, in the style, the structure and the tone of ICE COLD. But there's something much bleaker and more confrontational about ICE COLD. Just in case it sounds like this is a book that I hated, exactly the opposite is true. It's short, sharp, tight as hell, uncomfortable, strange, brutal, and extremely memorable. ( )

It's the darkest and disturbing novel I've read in a long time. Different and original but I think that the crimes descriptions are very cold and too much detailed and forensic for my taste. ( )

It's the darkest and disturbing novel I've read in a long time. Different and original but I think that the crimes descriptions are very cold and too much detailed and forensic for my taste. ( )