Alexander Hartung

To be honest I am surprised I persisted with Alexander Hartung's Broken Glass beyond the first couple of pages. Broken Glass introduces Munich detective Nik Pohl who is without doubt the least appealing lead character that I've ever come across. He's unkempt, dirty, drunk and breaks all the rules- which are common tropes in detective fiction- he has no redeeming features at all. If you can't have any sympathy for the main character in a book, what is the incentive to follow the story.
In show more Broken Glass Pohl is blackmailed into taking on a cold case involving the disappearance of a young woman, Viola, who apparently left home and cut off her family without warning to start a new life elsewhere. The blackmailer turns out to be a multimillionaire computer whizz who, conveniently, can hack into pretty much any system and turns out to be one of the good guys. Pohl very soon finds himself caught up in a dark conspiracy, which sees him attacked and almost killed by a close colleague, and investigating cases similar to Viola's.
Not my thing this one, and Detective Pohl can pound his Munich beat without me in future. show less

Translated from the original German, UNTIL THE DEBT IS PAID is a combination police procedural and energiser bunny styled action thriller which starts out running when Detective Jan Tommen wakes up beside his beloved girlfriend one morning to find himself as the chief suspect in a vicious murder. Unfortunately the killing occurred during a time period that he has no recollection of, and the evidence linking him to the crime scene is as strong as his alleged motive. Escaping from his own show more police station, he goes on the run with the support of a good friend, a medical examiner, and a reclusive computer expert. Everything the well-equipped fugitive needs to conduct their own investigation.

Because of his band of supporters, Tommen bounces a bit between his lone wolf character, and somebody that has to rely heavily on the kindness of friends. He's also a man who can absorb a lot of physical and emotional damage in the pursuit of the truth. There's a good cast of baddies and, just for a slight change, there's an unsupportive police colleague (and Tommen's preferred suspect) rather than superior.

Lots of pace, lots of action, and a strong story arc with a twist at the end, the interactions between Tommen and his supporters are the real highlight in this book. Less a character study though, this is about building relationships between an ensemble cast, whilst also ensuring that Tommen remains front and centre of the investigation, and on the run. The individual eccentricities of the others is, in some ways expected, yet believable and engaging and the interactions between them often dryly funny. The twist is well delivered, and reasonably unexpected. The only minor quibble is that sometimes the dialogue seems a little formal, stylised if you like. But that's a very minor point as UNTIL THE DEBT IS PAID is an entertaining thriller with a all-round good guy done bad central protagonist.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-until-debt-paid-alexander-hartung show less

Mitten auf der belebten Friedrichstraße wird eine Studentin von einem Scharfschützen in den Kopf geschossen. Angesichts des Ortes und der ungewöhnlichen Art der Tötung (Berlin ist nicht die USA, und Waffen wie ein Scharfschützengewehr sind nicht an jeder Straßenecke zu finden), beginnen die Ermittlungen unter der Leitung von Jan Tommen sofort und mit Hochdruck. Leider scheint es trotz der von den Touristen aufgenommenen Videos zunächst keine Übereinstimmungen zu geben, aber nach und show more nach gelingt es Tommens seltsamem Team, zunächst einem komplexen, auf Computersicherheitsprogrammen basierenden Schema auf den Grund zu gehen, dann einer Schießerei, die ein Jahr zuvor stattgefunden hat, und schließlich den schändlichen Folgen der Vorhersage kriminellen Verhaltens. Trotz einiger loser Fäden - das Buch ist Teil einer Serie - sind die Ermittlungen gut strukturiert und die Charaktere sympathisch und glaubwürdig, so dass es ein Vergnügen ist, diesen Roman zu lesen. show less

We jump right into to a lot of action. Well before I know or care about the characters, which is problematic. There is a distinct lack of atmosphere. Nothing but the occasional neighborhood name indicates this is taking place in Berlin; it could be any city anywhere. That was especially disappointing. This is probably my least favorite plot type, and it's very weird to start a series with it. However by the end it reads a little better, the characters are slowly growing on me, the story show more isn't terribly done, still no atmosphere... I'll probably try another and see if they get better. show less