David Young – Grab This Book

Unrest – Jesper Stein

When the bound, hooded corpse of an unidentified man is found propped up against a gravestone in the central cemetery, Axel Steen is assigned the case.

Rogue camera footage soon suggests police involvement and links to the demolition of the nearby Youth House, teeming with militant far-left radicals. But Axel soon discovers that many people, both inside and out of the force, have an unusual interest in the case and in preventing its resolution.

With a rapidly worsening heart condition, an estranged ex-wife and beloved five-year-old daughter to contend with, Axel will not stop until the killer is caught, whatever the consequences. But the consequences turn out to be greater than expected – especially for Axel himself.

My thanks to Mel at Mirror books for my review copy and the opportunity to join the Unrest blog tour.

Although I have been reading crime fiction for more years than I care to count I will confess to being a newcomer to what has become dubbed “Scandi Crime”. I am something of a convert to these Northern crime stories though and I enjoy that the have a very different feel to the UK or American crime fiction tales I have been reading for years.

I cannot recall reading any Danish police procedurals prior to picking up Unrest so this was virgin territory – by the time I reached the climax (as it were) I was more than satisfied and would certainly like to repeat the experience.

Our main focus is Detective Superintendent Axel Steen. He is in the majority of scenes throughout the book so we get a good look at the lead character and the author spends time building up his background to good effect. He has a troubling medical condition, an ex-wife he misses terribly and a young daughter who he sees quite frequently but takes into crime scenes and the mortuary so perhaps fathering is not a strength. I liked Steen and his rogue/unorthodox investigative approach so spending much of the book in his company was no chore.

Steen is investigating a murder. The body of a man, bound and hooded, has been found in a public location – left virtually under the noses of the police. There is a suggestion there has been police involvement as the murder appears to have been secretly caught on film, though the evidence has vanished so cannot be easily validated. Tensions in Copenhagen are running high as militant factions are protesting and attacking police near where the body was found – was this a police retaliation?

The investigation the reader follows is methodical and, as the author is developing a life for Steen away from his job, this means the pacing of the story is not relentless and action packed. This is not to be taken as a criticism, I thoroughly enjoyed the detail and the thoroughness which the author brought to Unrest. For readers hoping for fist fights or car chases every second chapter, there are other books out there for you. Unrest is for the reader looking for a good story, well told, and with a nasty murder waiting to be solved.

I enjoyed Unrest and I hope Axel Steen returns soon.

Unrest is published by Mirror Books and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unrest-Action-packed-Nordic-hooked-Detective-ebook/dp/B07FDK1PXJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532556709&sr=8-1&keywords=unrest+jesper+stein

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February 23

A Darker State – David Young

For the Stasi, it’s not just the truth that gets buried . . .

The body of a teenage boy is found weighted down in a lake. Karin Müller, newly appointed Major of the People’s Police, is called to investigate. But her power will only stretch so far, when every move she makes is under the watchful eye of the Stasi.

Then, when the son of Müller’s team member goes missing, it quickly becomes clear that there is a terrifying conspiracy at the heart of this case, one that could fast lead Müller and her young family into real danger.

Can she navigate this complex political web and find the missing boy, before it’s too late?

My thanks to Emily at Zaffre for my review copy and the chance to join the blogtour.

A new Karin Müller novel is met with great excitement here at Grab This Book. The series which started with Stasi Child (and continued into Stasi Wolf and now A Darker State) are quite unlike anything else I read and each new book is a very welcome addition to my library!

David Young sets his fabulous police thrillers in 1970’s East Berlin. His lead character Karin Müller works for the police and in A Darker State is newly promoted to the position of Major. Müller faces challenges at every step of her investigations, she not only has to catch the bad guys but as a woman in a male dominated environment she is facing the usual prejudices. She has to prove she is worthy of her promoted post as promotion brings extra rewards from the State. But most significantly she understands that all her actions are monitored and that the State will be playing their own game and Müller has no idea what their ultimate goal will be.

While all the books thus far have shown the political influence that the Stasi (Secret Police) wield over the entire country it really comes into play during A Darker State. Karin is going to investigate areas which have been very clearly closed off to her – the consequences may be far more severe than she may imagine.

Müller is required to investigate the murder of a teenage boy, his body is found weighted down in a lake. Her investigations will bring her into contact with the male dominated circles of football (soccer) and motorcycle gangs. The soccer element of the story gave a fascinating insight into the social side of life in 70’s Berlin. A scandal in a club which was hushed up and almost overlooked due to the state interference in team selection and squad building. The additional detail which David Young brings to his story, these insights into East German society, give the books the depth and character which draw the reader deeper into the story and make them feel part of events.

The murder investigation takes a nasty turn for one of Karin’s colleagues when his family become too closely embroiled in the events surrounding her investigation. Readers are periodically taken back a few months from when Karin is conducting her investigations and we get to see how a sequence of events slowly build and combine to culminate in the shocking discovery which led to a young man’s brutal death.

All three novels can be read and enjoyed as stand-alone thrillers. But the books chart Karin’s life and her career and returning readers will be rewarded with the latest twists in her story. Despite our perceptions of how life may have been in East Berlin 40 years ago, Karin seems to accept most of what the state expect of her as a citizen. A Darker State seems to push her acceptance at times and I cannot wait to see if her compliance will perhaps start to waiver – particularly in light of some information she receives in the latest book! (no spoilers)

The increased political interventions, the personal dramas which Müller has to face and the wonderful continued insights into Berlin culture all combine to make A Darker State my favourite of the series thus far. David Young goes from strength to strength. You should be reading these books.

A Darker State is published by Zaffre and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darker-State-gripping-thriller-Oberleutnant-ebook/dp/B0718X1S12/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

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February 24

Stasi Wolf – David Young

How do you solve a murder when you can’t ask any questions?

East Germany, 1975. Karin Müller, sidelined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing.

But Müller soon finds her problems have followed her. Halle-Neustadt is a new town – the pride of the communist state – and she and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town’s flawless image.

Meanwhile, in the eerily nameless streets and tower blocks, a child snatcher lurks, and the clock is ticking to rescue the twins alive . . .

My thanks to Emily at Zaffre for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

Karin Müller returns and I couldn’t be happier. Last year I had the opportunity to read David Young’s debut novel Stasi Child and I loved it. The story was set in 1970’s East Berlin and was a refreshingly different spin on a police procedural story.

Now Müller returns in Stasi Wolf and we find that the events in Stasi Child have resulted in her being sidelined by her department. She is frustrated by the lack of opportunities she is given to rebuild her career and finds herself interviewing petty criminals (necessary work for the State but a task well beneath her skill level). NB I should highlight that Stasi Wolf can be read as a stand-alone novel and it is not necessary to have read Stasi Child first…though I would absolutely recommend that you read both.

The disappearance of twin babies in the new town of Halle-Neustadt gives Karin a chance to head up a new investigation team and start to rebuild her career – not that she will have much option in turning down the request she investigates, that’s not how it works in East Berlin! Karin heads to Halle-Neustadt but she will find the experience rather challenging; the geography of the new town is somewhat unique (with just a single street in the whole town having a street name). There is also a tricky problem to overcome, keeping the good name of the town intact means she cannot publicise the fact that she is investigating a double kidnapping – so how can she be expected to make any enquiries?

There are a number of flashback moments in the story which take us back some 10 years prior to Müller’s investigation. While it is not immediately clear why this jump is being made (obviously it will become clear) the ‘quirky’ characters that we follow made me want to keep reading to discover their relevance.

Once again David Young has crafted an engaging story which I found utterly compelling and wholly absorbing. I know nothing of 1970’s Germany but the world was expertly woven around me as I read Stasi Wolf. The constant awareness that Karin’s every move could be under scrutiny by the State gives a detective thriller the additional feel of reading a spy novel.

Müller is a great lead character and we get to see her really developed in this novel. Her private life is explored to give her life beyond her job and we get to learn something of her childhood and see some events which may have shaped her into the woman she has become.

David Young can tell a cracking story, Stasi Wolf should be on your reading list.

Stasi Wolf is published by Zaffre and is available now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stasi-Wolf-Oberleutnant-Karin-M%C3%BCller/dp/1785760688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487894341&sr=1-1&keywords=stasi+wolf

David has provided some fascinating insights into some of the background and actual events which made their way into Stasi Wolf. If you follow back through the tour dates you will be richly rewarded

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December 11

Book Chains – Rod Reynolds (Second Link)

Book Chains – my author Q&A with a twist.

A few weeks back I asked Stasi Child author, David Young to join me and I asked him a few questions. You can see how that turned out here.

David’s Q&A ended with me asking him to nominate my next guest (and to provide a question I should ask)…which is why I call this Book Chains. David nominated “My fellow City University Crime Thriller MA graduate Rod Reynolds” and fortunately (for this feature) Rod kindly agreed to keep my chain going. This is what happened…

First Question is not actually a question. This is where I ask you to introduce yourself and give you the chance to plug your books.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog. I’m a 36 year old Londoner who writes books set in the USA – predominantly the south (so far). My debut, The Dark Inside, was published by Faber in September 2015, and is based on the real life serial killings known as The Texarkana Moonlight Murders. The novel follows washed-up New York reporter Charlie Yates as he’s sent to Texarkana, on the Texas-Arkansas border, to cover a pair of brutal attacks on young couples. The gig is a punishment and Charlie is a mess professionally and personally – but he finds worse horrors waiting for him there than he ever imagined, and before long, he sees his last chance at redemption is finding the killer before it’s too late.

The sequel, Black Night Falling, is published in August 2016 and sees Charlie reluctantly compelled to return to Arkansas, to a town called Hot Springs, when an old acquaintance begs for his help. Charlie knows he has to do the right thing before it’s too late, but he finds himself in a town rife with violence, corruption and lies – and realises that the past he’s been trying to outrun is catching up with him again…

Why did you choose post World War 2 USA for your setting? Does it give you a degree of artistic leeway which you would not get with a story set in the present day?

The Dark Inside is based on a real life case, so although my book is a work of fiction, I wanted to ground it in reality as much as possible – hence setting it in the time and place where the real murders occurred. In terms of artistic leeway, it’s a blessing as much as a curse; at times it’s helpful not to have technology like mobile phones or computers to worry about, but it can make things harder – such as having to be able to credibly get your character to a payphone at any time. A 1940s USA setting also presents its own challenges; the details have to be just right in order to evoke the period and place, but it’s obviously harder to get those details right than if you’re setting your story in the present day. I’ve always been fascinated by America and Americana, though, as well as history, so the research was part of the fun for me.

It is almost a year since The Dark Inside was published, how have the last 12 months been?

Amazing. Publication day was incredibly exhilarating, and just the start of the rollercoaster. I’ve been lucky enough to do a number of events and panels, which I really enjoy, and had great feedback to the book, which is humbling and gratifying. Best of all was the opportunity to meet so many amazing authors, bloggers and readers – the crime community is genuinely packed with lovely and interesting people. I even managed to squeeze in a bit of writing, too…

Both The Dark Inside and Black Night Falling feature Charlie Yates in the lead role. Was it the plan from the outset to write an ongoing series and have Charlie returning?

No. My original plan for book two was two have different characters who were grappling with the aftermath and fallout from the events of The Dark Inside. However, my publisher was keen on a series, and once I gave it some thought, I really warmed to the idea, as I enjoy writing Charlie and feel like he’s got a lot of mileage left in him. It’s worked out well as the reader response to Charlie has been overwhelmingly positive.

Like David Young, who started this Chain, you were spotted burning the midnight oil at Crimefest. Was it as insane an experience as the pictures made it seem?

David was tucked up in bed by about 7pm every night! (Just kidding, DY)

In a word, yes. It was my first time at CrimeFest (or any writing festival) so I was determined to enjoy every minute of it – and I had an amazing time. At times it felt like a cross between a jolly and a stag-do. I did promise a certain well-known blogger beforehand – who shall go nameless – that we wouldn’t go to bed for four days while we were there, and that was pretty much the case. I got to meet a lot of people I’d only ever spoken to on social media, which was great, and also went to loads of fascinating panels, where I heard about a whole bunch of books that I subsequently added to my TBR. It’s great to hear about a book that piques your interest, and then be able to go chat to the author half an hour later.

But it was definitely the people that made it so cool and insane – so a special shout out to all my partners in crime that incredible weekend, not least: Crime Thriller Girl, Liz Barnsley, Vicki Goldman, Christine (@Northernlass), Karen Sullivan, Mick Herron, Michael Grothaus, Tim Baker Alex Caan, David Young, Anna Mazzola, the City Uni crew and, of course, the Indian-wine-wielding Lisa Hall!

What does Rod Reynolds do when he is not writing? What’s a typical day and how do you spend “you” time?

I’m lucky enough to be a full time writer, but I also have two very young children who I look after full time too. So my average day involves nursery runs, playgrounds, Topsy-Turvy World, nappy changes and more episodes of Paw Patrol than I could have thought possible. I have to be quite disciplined as I mainly get to write in nap times and evenings.

If I’m not doing any of the above, I’m normally reading – I’ve always got a book on the go, but also read a lot of non-fiction and current affairs. I also like to run, although I’ve not had much time for that of late. So, as you can see, I’m really boring.

Some Quick Fire Questions:

o What was the last book you read? The Constant Soldier by William Ryan

o Which one book (not your own) would you recommend? LA Confidential by James Ellroy. My all time favourite.

o Favourite film? Heat.

o Drink of choice? Mojito or caipirinha.

o You can put one holiday on your Bucket List. Where do you go? Texarkana. No, just kidding (and I’ve been there already). I’d love to walk the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, through California, Washington and Oregon.

o Star Trek or Star Wars? Star Wars

o Who was the best Doctor Who? No idea – never watched it.

o If you had to appear on one reality tv show which would it be? I couldn’t name any reality shows apart from Big Brother, but maybe something set on a tropical island paradise?

Finally, as you know it was David Young that nominated you to keep my Q&A chain going. I asked David to set you a question and this how that unfolded:

Can you suggest an author I should ask to join me next to keep my Q&A Chain going? Once you have nominated someone I also need a question to ask them on your behalf.

My fellow City University Crime Thriller MA graduate Rod Reynolds, who’s with Faber. His 1940s set series features a journalist. So often, in my view, crime writers get journalists completely wrong – making them caricatures of vile human beings. Yet – having spent most of my career as a journalist – I felt Rod got his main character, Charlie Yates, spot on. How did he manage that, never having worked as journo himself?

That’s very kind of David to say so, and I appreciate the compliment. I’ve always been interested in newspapers, and I spent many years in advertising, working with the commercial departments of all the big national press titles; that gave me some understanding of how the business works, as did chatting to the various journalists I met over the years (David and some of my other City University course mates included). In addition to that, I’ve obviously consumed a lot of fiction over the years – books, films, TV – that show journalistic characters, so you build a picture of what you think works (or doesn’t).

And I guess the rest is just imagination at work. Just like all writers, sometimes you just have to make stuff up!

Rod, thank you for agreeing to join me and to keep this chain progressing. Now I put myself at your mercy and ask you to nominate the next person I should approach to keep this chain running. I also need you to come up with a question that I will ask them on your behalf.

It’s absolutely my pleasure, and thanks again for having me! For my nomination, I’d like to keep it in the City University family and nominate my fellow graduate and author and blogger extraordinaire, Steph Broadribb (also known as Crime Thirller Girl). My question for Steph is ***REDACTED***

My thanks to Rod. I am always a tad worried about what question I am to ask my next guest as I don’t want to land myself in trouble. Rod is a star and has kept me safe, if anyone gets into hot water next time out it is likely to be Steph 🙂

You can read my review of The Dark Inside here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=1711

and in August I shall have a review to share of Black Night Falling (my bookmark is currently around page 150 at the moment).

The Amazon Rod Reynolds page is easily reached by this link and you can pick up his excellent books in a matter of clicks. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rod-Reynolds/e/B01BHZGQ5E/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

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June 12

Book Chains – David Young (1st Link)

Today I am kicking off a new feature which, for reasons I hope will become apparent, I am calling Book Chains.

I love when I have the chance to welcome a guest to Grab This Book and I really enjoy reading (and planning) author Q&A posts. I decided I wanted to try to have more guests come and visit my blog – but I am never sure who to invite and sometimes asking good questions is tricky. So I have decided to put my new feature into the hands of my guests.

Book Chains will be a series of author Q&A’s – with a twist.

I am starting my ‘chain’ today and I am joined Stasi Child author David Young. David kindly agreed to join me for a chat and I drew up a series of questions for him. My last question to David will be to ask him to nominate who I should approach to interview next. David was also asked to provide me with one question that I should ask the person he nominated.

My challenge will be to contact the nominated person and ask if they would also be willing to join me for a chat – this will keep my chain going.

With no idea where I will end up, I start with a question for David Young:

First, for those that have yet to read Stasi Child, do you want to do a sales pitch?

I hope the book has reasonably broad appeal and it’s had some modest success – reaching the top 20 official paperback chart and being longlisted for two major book awards, the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger. It’s part police procedural, part thriller and part historical novel with two strong female protagonists. One is my main detective character, Oberleutnant Karin Müller, who’s the youngest and only female head of a murder squad in communist East Germany, where the novel is set in the mid-1970s. She’s tasked with investigating the gruesome murder of a teenage girl – found by the Berlin Wall, apparently having attempted to escape into the East, while many others were risking their lives trying to get out. But throughout the book she has to work with – and against – rival factions of the notorious secret police, the Stasi. A second, parallel, narrative features a teenage girl incarcerated in a brutal reform school. Eventually the two stories converge on the slopes of northern Germany’s highest mountain, the legendary Brocken – where witches danced on the summit in Goethe’s Faust.

What should we know about David Young (other than he has written a book that we should all buy)?

My only other claim to fame is having our single played (once) by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music when I was in an indiepop band (first The Candy Twins, and later Tender Objects). I was the singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist (it was just a side project to distract me from a dull day job) but I gave it up and turned to writing novels when I finally accepted what people had been telling me for years – that I couldn’t sing. If you want a laugh, here’s the official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHuG06lhwd0

One of my favourite elements of Stasi Child was the setting, both location and the time, why did you choose to write about 1970’s Berlin?

About eight years ago, I managed to blag The Candy Twins a short tour of Germany, mainly on the back of a helpful quote from Edwyn Collins (of Orange Juice and A Girl Like You etc). Most of the venues were in the east – and I was amazed about how much of the DDR was still evident (and it still is, though fast disappearing). I read Anna Funder’s Stasiland during the tour. So when I had to write an exercise on setting for my MA in Creative Writing at City University, I chose East Berlin in the DDR period. And then my tutor, Northern Irish crime writer Claire McGowan, encouraged me to turn it into a novel. I opted for the 1970s simply to give me enough years before the fall of the Wall to write a series!

Will there be a follow-up to Stasi Child?

Yes! Bonnier Zaffre have two more books under contract. Book 2 is due in February 2017. It’s set a few months after Stasi Child, in one of East Germany’s ‘model’ socialist cities – Halle-Neustadt – where there were no street names (actually, four roads did have names) and addresses were just a row of digits. My plan is to write a book per year up to the fall of the Wall, but it depends how well the first three sell (and when I mentioned this idea to my publishers they looked aghast!)

Through the wonders of technology I was able to see you chatting with some of my blogger friends at Crimefest. Was that a fun weekend? Are there any highlights you could share?

It was interesting, though I’m far from a natural networker and can’t hold my drink – so I passed on the bar sessions that lasted through the night till 6.30am. So probably the highlight was talking to the bloggers, many of whom have been very supportive of Stasi Child. It was great to meet some I hadn’t met before but had Twitter-messaged: for example Raven Crime Reads and Christine from Northern Crime.

I’ve seen you pictured in a Hull City shirt so let’s talk football. Has it been a good footy year as a Hull fan?

We’ve been promoted back into the Premier League and I got to see us at Wembley for the fourth time in nine years, a pretty impressive record for a club that’s spent most of its history in the second and third tiers of the English league. So, from that point of view, yes. Unfortunately – despite promotion – there’s a poisonous atmosphere surrounding Hull City at the moment, a hangover from the owner’s ludicrous (IMHO) attempt to rebrand us Hull Tigers, which made us the laughing stock of football. The owners lost that battle but have now split the fanbase again by abolishing season tickets, and introducing a membership scheme which offers no concessions to juniors or senior citizens, much to many fans’ anger. So Wembley was a strange affair. We sold out for the FA Cup final and our first play-off final. This time, understandably, there were swathes of empty seats.

Some quick fire questions:

What was the last book you read?

Fellow Bonnier Zaffre author Simon Booker’s Without Trace.

Which one book (not your own) would you recommend?

Alone in Berlin (aka Every Man Dies Alone) by Hans Fallada

Favourite film?

Hmm. Can’t think of one (I prefer crime series on TV – eg Spiral/Engrenages), but did really enjoy Bridge of Spies.

Which one concert/show do you wish you had been able to attend?

Any featuring the original Orange Juice line-up

Drink of choice?

Cheap French Rosé – we stock up on Pays d’Hérault from Carrefour Calais at less than £1.50 a pop.

Sandy Beaches/City Break or Great Outdoors holiday?

Sandy Beaches – especially the Greek islands.

And finally the Book Chain question to send me on my next adventure…

Can you suggest an author I should ask to join me next to keep my Q&A Chain going?

Once you have nominated someone I also need a question to ask them on your behalf.

My fellow City University Crime Thriller MA graduate Rod Reynolds.
David’s question is currently redacted. Mr Reynolds you can expect a DM….

My most sincere thanks goes to David Young. I read (and loved) Stasi Child and you can read my review here.

Stasi Child is published by Twenty 7 and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stasi-Child-Chilling-Thriller-Oberleutnant/dp/1785770063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465765962&sr=8-1&keywords=stasi+child

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May 6

Guest Post – David Young: Serial Heroes

Welcome to Day 5 of Serial Heroes. To quickly recap what has gone already there have been contributions from Steven Dunne, Caroline Mitchell, Alan Jones and Michael Wood and they brought Hannibal Lecter, Stephen King, Ian Fleming’s James Bond and the wonderful Andy Dalziell. You can click on the names of my guests to catch up with their featured posts.

Today I am thrilled to be able to welcome David Young to Grab This Book. David’s novel Stasi Child stands out amongst the books I have read this year as its 1970’s East Berlin setting was refreshingly different and I loved the additional political elements which his lead character, Karen Müller, had to face.

I asked David if he had a favourite crime series he would like to discuss…

When I started work on Stasi Child on the first-ever City University Crime Thriller MA late in 2012 I got some fantastic help from tutors on the course – all of whom were published authors. Initially it was Claire McGowan who encouraged the germ of the idea, and Roger (RN) Morris who inadvertently led me to a possible structure – via an introduction to Peter May’s excellent Lewis trilogy (the flip-flopping of two narratives in The Lewis Man is something I ‘borrowed’ for Stasi Child). Then Laura Wilson worked with me on the nuts and bolts over the course of about a year.

But the tutor I missed out on, who ironically was closest in genre to what I was planning, was William Ryan. He started teaching first years just as I started my second year!

One of my fellow students (Debut Dagger winner Jody Sabral) was nevertheless assigned Bill as her personal tutor, started singing his praises, and was the first to give me the heads up about his wonderful Captain Korolev series – of which there have been three novels so far. I soon realised that here – in another country, in another time period – was a series with a very similar concept to mine: police detective trying to fight for the truth in a totalitarian communist state, while all the time being at the very least constrained by a secret police apparatus for which the truth was often best kept hidden.

The Korolev series (The Holy Thief, The Bloody Meadow and The Twelfth Department) starts as Stalin’s Great Terror of the mid- to late- thirties is about to fully get into gear. It’s a period I know something about (my undergraduate final thesis was a study of British attitudes to the Stalinist purges) so that piqued my interest even more. And it’s a frightening backdrop, where paranoia and state snooping rules.

First up is The Holy Thief (2010), and what a tremendous start to the series it is, garnering multiple award shortlistings (including one for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, for which Stasi Child has been longlisted).

Captain Alexei Dmitriyevich Korolev, who works for the criminal investigation division of the Moscow Militia is called in to investigate the body of a young woman found mutilated in a deconsecrated church.

When it turns out the woman was an American citizen, the Soviet secret police – the NKVD – become involved. With enemies of the state being carted off to labour camps in Siberia every few minutes, or worse, Korolev is caught between fighting for the truth, and not falling foul of the Chekists.

Although on the surface loyal to the party, Korolev keeps a Bible under the floorboards – something which, if found, could be his own ticket to a frozen death camp.

Throughout these three exciting novels – for the most part traditional mysteries set against a background of intrigue, but with occasional thriller elements thrown into the mix – fear, suspicion and crackling tension keep the pages turning. Korolev, with his stubborn individualism, is someone you really root for.

Book 2, The Bloody Meadow (published in the US as The Darkening Field) continues the theme, but this time Korolev is despatched to Ukraine to investigate the apparent suicide of a model citizen during the shooting of a film. Once again, the NKVD has its tentacles firmly gripping every part of the story.

For me, it is the weaker novel of the three – but I still thoroughly enjoyed it, which says a lot for the overall quality of the series.

The pick of the bunch, in my view, is the third tale, The Twelfth Department. Here Korolev is about to enjoy a well-earned break, and a visit to Moscow from the young son of his broken marriage, Yuri. But when a top scientist is murdered, Korolev’s holiday plans are in ruins, and he’s thrown into another investigation in which he even begins to suspect the loyalty of his own son – and vice versa.

It’s perhaps the most terrifying of the three, and the ante is upped further when Yuri goes missing. Now, instead of the truth being Korolev’s prime goal, it’s the safety of his own progeny – and that leads to potential compromises of his integrity.

So, three cracking books. Ryan’s fourth is a stand-alone, a novel set in 1945 Germany, post WW2 and inspired by photographs collected by an SS officer. More details and the first two chapters here: http://www.william-ryan.com/uncategorized/the-new-novel-first-two-chapters/

But from Twitter conversations, Ryan has revealed he is also working on a fourth Korolev tale – and that’s something I very much look forward to, as to end the series after just three would be almost as heinous a crime as ones the good Captain investigates in Stalin’s evil empire.

I can exclusively reveal it’s set on a polar icebreaker: left in the ice pack over winter for propaganda purposes. But when some of the crew are murdered, Korolev – who’s in political trouble after uncovering an NKVD mass grave – is flown in to deal with the situation. It soon emerges that the danger doesn’t come just from within the ship – but also from out on the ice.

Sounds delicious. I can’t wait.

David Young’s Amazon page is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Young/e/B016CEFPIE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1462485256&sr=8-2-ent

You can order Stasi Child through this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stasi-Child-Chilling-Thriller-Oberleutnant-ebook/dp/B010MENI9S?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

David is on Twitter as: @djy_writer You can also visit him at stasichild.com

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January 20

Stasi Child – David Young

East Berlin, 1975 When Oberleutnant Karin Müller is called to investigate a teenage girl’s body at the foot of the Wall, she imagines she’s seen it all before. But when she arrives she realises this is a death like no other. It seems the girl was trying to escape – but from the West.

Müller is a member of the People’s Police, but in East Germany her power only stretches so far. The Stasi want her to discover the identity of the girl, but assure her the case is otherwise closed – and strongly discourage her from asking questions. The evidence doesn’t add up, and it soon becomes clear the crime scene has been staged. But this is not a regime that tolerates a curious mind, and Müller doesn’t realise that the trail she’s following will lead her dangerously close to home . . . Stasi Child is David Young’s brilliant and page-turning debut novel.

My thanks to Julia at Midas PR for my review copy

I am still catching up on the overdue reviews – books I read during the Christmas holidays but just didn’t get a chance to capture my thoughts at the time.

Tonight I turn my attention to Stasi Child a wonderful and very distinctive thriller from debut author David Young. Stasi Child is set in 1970’s East Berlin, the lead character Karin Müller is an Oberleutnant in the People’s Police. Müller is called in to investigate the death of a girl who was found at the foot of the Wall – not an uncommon occurrence, however, this girl appears to have been trying to escape from the West back into the East!

From the first page I was drawn into the story. Müller is a great character to drive the story, strong yet vulnerable, powerful through her Oberleutnant rank yet powerless when the Stasi becomes involved in ‘guiding’ her investigations. Müller clearly has been a rising star within the People’s Police, however, her every step is watched and it is apparent that there are powerful forces keen to ensure her murder investigation is not too successful. As I read I was reminded of so many Cold War thrillers where spying was rife and everyone had a secret agenda.

Müller’s investigation takes her on an official visit into West Germany and it was fascinating to see how the trip to the other side of the Wall was handled. On returning back to the East there is a shock in store for Müller when attempts to curtail her investigation come too close to home.

As we keep track of the murder investigation there is a side story being developed, young children taken into care of the state and put to work in conditions I found comparable to a Dickensian Workhouse. We follow a teenage girl who is desperate to escape this Hell of a life. She has no-one she can trust but is determined to find a new life for herself. Is this girl destined to end up dead at the foot of the Wall? I had to know, I had to keep reading and the more I read of her plight the more I feared for her life. Top marks to David Young for this, it is rare I get this concerned about a character – if it DOES happen it is usually after the character has appeared in half a dozen books and they are considered part of the recurring cast!

Stasi Child ticked so many boxes for me. There is a murder story, the prospect of political intervention constantly casts a shadow over the characters, the social dynamics of 70’s East Berlin are explored and there are very real and frightening examples of how the State could intervene should there be suspicion of improper behaviour. From chapter to chapter there are so many compelling elements brought into play by David Young that you just have to keep those pages turning. The fact the book is described on Amazon as being part of the Karen Müller Series is such a thrill as it is a pretty clear indication that there will be the chance to return to Berlin and I cannot wait!

Stasi Child is published by Twenty7 and is currently available in digital format. It will be available in paperback from 11 February and (at time of writing) can be pre-ordered.

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