Intriguing and original central character, but I thought the ending a bit rushed. I plan to read the next book in the series before making a decision on how much I like Eberhard Mock. ( )

Hmm. Interesting setting: Breslau in the 1930s as the Nazis are moving in and taking over. An utterly corrupt, corrosive, decadent city. One morose, scheming, devious middle-aged policeman and one young naive, alcoholic, floundering policeman, joining forces to investigate the really nasty double rape and murder of two women connected to one of Breslau's socially prominent noblemen. You want dark, you will get dark. You want bloody, sadistic, deliberate brutality, yep, lots of that, plus scorpions. You want mindless, sweaty, heartless, depressingly commercial sex... that too. Adds up to a pretty high yuck factor... not soothing bedtime reading. The writing is sharp, vivid; the plot is complex with all those Nazis and Freemasons and politicking and assorted thuggery. But I don't think I will be revisiting Breslau in Inspector Mock's company again. Not my thing. Your mileage may vary. ( )

The Mock series goes beyond noir into crime-gothic. Europe of old was good for that. Kinky aristocrats. Dinky servants. Hinky women. Ancient curses. ( )

This book was a trip off the beaten track, to a world that no longer exists. I found the plot to be engaging, especially the progressive revelation of the dark side of Criminal Counsellor Mock. The heart of the plot was barely plausible, but that was compensated for by the rich word portrait of 1930s Breslau. ( )

I will start off my review by stating that I only very rarely dip into crime Noir novels so please do not accept my thoughts as being those of a seasoned reader of the genre. This is a very dark, brooding type of read. On a presentation/emotional level, it is kind of a strange read. The emotions of the characters - and their actions - are very emphatic in expression. There is a lot of brute force, angry shouting and exaggerated gesturing going on in this story. The very unstable political time period is pronounced here, as is the sweltering hot summer the story take place in. For me, this story had more of a pulp crime feel to it, given that the police - and the Gestapo - were prone to doing their own things and resorting to rather interesting interrogation strategies that really had me squirming uncomfortably in my chair. Looking at the mystery/crime aspect of the story, I do have to say that Krajewski did a fine job with the details and the reveal, but I still cannot get past the rather stilted impression I have of the characters and the story as a whole. This could be due, in part, to the translation.... it just had an overall jarring feeling to it that made it difficult for me to become absorbed in the story. From a purely psychological perspective, one could analyze this story for years and still only scratch the surface of all the possible meanings embedded in it. Maybe that is part of the problem for me: too much all jumbled up in this story, making it difficult for me to extract the substance from the garble.

Overall, definitely a different read for me and intriguing enough that I will consider reading the second book in the Inspector Eberhard Mock Investigation series. ( )