The Sleepwalkers

The premise of Paul Grossman’s first novel, The Sleepwalkers, is intriguing – a Jewish Berlin homicide detective discovers, during the final days before Hitler’s takeover, horrifying information which could turn the country against the Nazis. All he has to do is find a way to prove and publicize what he knows to be true. Grossman’s description of time and place is excellent – it’s the most interesting description I’ve read about Berlin in the early 1930’s. The plot is good too, though it kept nagging in my brain as I read that I know how this comes out – Hitler does take over, so our detective protagonist is going to fail. It doesn’t have the pacing to call it a page-turning thriller, but there is tension at times. show more The main characters are fleshed out fairly well, though few have any complexity. One annoyance is Grossman succumbing to the temptation that faces writers of historical fiction. He trots out every famous person who was in Berlin in 1932 -- Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich, Leni Riefenstahl and von Hindenburg, among many, has them say a few words and then disappear. Most of it is just padding, and a distraction. In general, though, this is a good read. I do rate it a hard R for sex and torture passages. show less

"The Sleepwalkers" appropriates and makes literal Herman Broch's central metaphor about German life and applies it to a slightly later period, the eve of the assumption of control by Hitler. This version of "The Sleepwalkers" is a detective novel set in Berlin on the eve of the time Hitler gains control of Germany. Our hero is a famous Jewish head of one of Berlin's divisions of homicide detectives, charged with solving the mysteries of a woman found dead in the river, her legs having been hideously operated on, and of a missing Bulgarian princess. Quickly the dead woman is linked to other missing women seen sleepwalking through Berlin, and indeed to the missing Bulgarian. There are schemes and political machinations behind the scenes, show more and the Nazi threat is omnipresent.

I think I had Alan Furst in my head as I approached Grossman's book. This is not that kind of book. I apologize for bringing the wrong expectations to the book, but I was disappointed. I found "The Sleepwalkers" to be formulaic, and while it was clear that there was significant research behind the novel, much of that research was applied with a heavy hand. The good guys too good, and the bad guys monochrome as well. It may not be clear that Our Hero will succeed in his mission, but it is clear that each of his perceptions is fully to be trusted.

The smattering of famous figures walking through the book I found particularly hard to take: Our Hero walks into a bar, and Einstein warns him to leave Germany. If he is talking to a woman with nice legs, it is Marlene Dietrich. If a person tells a prescient bit of political analysis about what will happen next, it is an energetic young physicist named Oppenheimer. It is symptomatic of the heavy hand with which the whole novel proceeds: None of these figures is more than caricature, and none are even slightly negative unless they are a Nazi. They aren't characters, they are boxes on a checklist of '30s Berlin.

I just kept thinking how much more interesting the book would be if the detective was a Nazi. Something to complicate the perspective a bit.

The book is readable -- I don't mean to suggest it is horrible. The prose was servicable. The plot, though thoroughly familiar in shape, will also keep people involved. In the interest of not spoiling things, I won't characterize the end, but think in reaching to keep the focus on the bigger historical picture, the author somewhat stinted on the traditional climax to the mystery. show less

The author has attempted to plough the same ground as authors like Jonathan Rabb, Alan Furst, and the inimitable Philip Kerr in his Bernie Gunther novels. Unfortunately, Grossman hasn't turned over anything new. His detective hero -- hero in the war and the most highly regarded detective in the post-war Weimar period -- seems unable to detect, from the events that surround him daily, just what the Nazis' agenda is. Even though, as a Jew himself, he encounters various slurs that are directed to Jews in general by the Brownshirts and other thugs roaming the streets of Berlin, he, much like the rest of the Berliners he portrays, can't seem to accept what is plainly happening. I don't wish to give anything away, but while the case he is show more tasked with solving seems to involve sleepwalkers, it is the German population that appears to be "sleepwalking" through current events. Perhaps that is what the author really intended to convey; what a shame he managed to convey it in ways both trite and wooden. show less

I had hoped to receive this book through the Early Reviewer Program. Alas, this was not to be. I found the premise of the book was so enticing to this lover of both WWII history and mysteries to purchase on my own. I was not disappointed by this debut effort by Paul Grossman. Others have done an excellent job outlining the basic story line. As a historical novel, I felt the book captured perfectly the sense of chaos, panic and lack of control of the late Weimar Republic that extended to the highest echelons. The book reminds us of the 'horse trading' taking place within the Nazi ranks and between them and Hindenburg and the Communists.

"The Sleepwalkers" is also a very satisfactory police procedural mystery. Usually well paced, the show more novel had a nice twist with the intriguing use of hypnotism (and a reminder of the spiritual charlatans of the era.) Placing mysteries in a historical context is fraught with danger as the reader has the benefit of many decades of hindsight. Grossman used this to his advantage to heighten the sense of foreboding and danger for his Jewish protagonist. Not only are we concerned with whether Willi Krause will catch the criminals, but whether doing so will place him and his family in the very real danger of capture or worse. Of course, the characters in Grossman's book have no knowledge of the Camps, but we do. At times I was as much concerned with the fate of his two sons as with the resolution of the underlying murder mystery. I finished the book in an afternoon. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon it was. show less

Paul Grossman’s The Sleepwalkers mesmerizes the reader with its accurate depiction of Berlin in 1932. From Marlene Dietrich and the rise to the Nazis to the decadent caberet culture, Grossman places his protagonist, Willi Kraus, right in the middle of the action.
Willi Kraus captivates the reader. He is an Inspektor-Detekiv with the Berlin police and a Jew. His superiors assign him to two prominent cases. One, the disappearance of a Bulgarian princess, has von Hindenburg’s attention. Willi knows that his job (and perhaps his life) is on the line if he can’t solve the mystery of the missing princess. Yet, the mutilated corpse of a young woman found floating the river consumes his attention at the expense of the political show more case.
Calling this book a page-turner is an understatement. The Sleepwalkers propels the reader through the novel at break-neck speed, but not at the expense of characterization. Willi, his girlfriend Paula, his friends and colleagues and even some Nazi names we know only too well leap from the pages to engage or terrify. The atmosphere is both revolting and intriguing. The plot is intricate and has as many twists, turns and drops as a roller coaster. Run out and buy this one—hang on tight for an exhilarating ride! show less

The Sleepwalkers is a mystery set in Berlin right at the time that the Nazis come to power. It is this setting and the knowledge of how the rise of the Nazis will turn out for Germany that adds a lot of the tension to the book.

The protagonist, Kraus, is a Jewish detective assigned to investigate a mutilation/death. Kraus quickly uncovers a large number of missing people who he fears are linked to the death. As Kraus pursues his investigation he becomes increasingly tied into the political conflict being waged for power in pre-WWII Germany. The conflict concludes amidst the chaos of the Night of the Long Knives.

The actual mystery (the who dunnit and why) was not nearly as interesting as the atmospherics. I particularly enjoyed the pieces show more showing the Jewish citizens trying to make the agonizing choice to abandon their homes and flee. Grossman did a very good job of showing the very human belief that things just couldn't get worse or that the Nazis would be stopped before a precipice had been crossed. The drama of Kraus navigating these questions about whether the situation is really going to get worse while being confronted with a gradual understanding that his own, once privileged status, is failing gives The Sleepwalkers a real feeling of suspense.

While the book could have benefited from a more puzzling mystery at its core, The Sleepwalkers was an enjoyable read. show less

This book was a pleasure to read. You can really tell a difference between a book that is well written vs. other books. Even though I was not sure I wanted to read about the rise of the Nazi party, I found myself enthralled by the story of Willi Kraus, a Jewish detective trying to solve a murder amidst the growing anti-Jewish sentiment. The central mystery was intriguing, and we got to meet an eccentric cast of characters including a hypnotist, street children, prostitutes and aristocrats. All of the characters were well written and drew me into their stories.

As I read, I felt an increasing sense of sorrow and anxiety. Willi and his Jewish friends grow more worried about the Nazi agenda, while at the same time not believing that it show more could really be carried out. As a reader, I know how the story will turn out for millions of Jewish people, but Willi does not, and I wanted to scream at him to leave Germany before it is too late. The ending was very stressful for me to read, and I could not put it down until I was finished.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it to my friends.

I received this book for free through the goodreads first reads program. show less