"Tatort" and "Polizeiruf" attract millions of viewers to the TV screens every Sunday. Apart from the soccer World Cup or European Championships, nothing else comes close to the crime rate. The stories are no longer clumsy, 0815 police catch murderer games. Instead, the plots go into depth, are partly psychological character drawings, are becoming more and more of a thriller - sometimes hard, sometimes sensitive, sometimes funny. However, repeats run in the summer. Crime and thriller fans have to get their "stuff" elsewhere. ntv.de provides assistance.
"Write or Die" by Micky Beisenherz and Sebastian Fitzek
Are there any funny psychological thrillers? Germany's thriller pope Sebastian Fitzek and comedy author and TV presenter Micky Beisenherz are trying to do just that. Here the bestselling author, for whom no human abyss seems too deep or too dark. There the man of puns, of biting dialogues. Can this work? Yes absolutely! "Write or die" is the title of the duo's work, for which Fitzek's foreword already shows the way: the author shows humor, can laugh at himself, and makes fun of himself - and also the German publishing industry.
A literary agent is the focus. Successful, with connections in all social classes: from the filthy rich tax consultant to the ex-mafioso who writes romance novels. He is supposed to write the book of a man in a psychiatric ward and secure him a deal for one million - otherwise a little girl who the man wants to have kidnapped and hidden somewhere will die. Variant a: The literary agent named David Dollar does it, the girl is saved, the psychopath is filthy rich. But that wouldn't be Fitzek: one twist follows the next, a book seller with an obscure past is thrown into an artificial coma with the help of a hammer. Her father, a shoe magnate, wants to cut the life support systems. A "widow shaker" mobilizes. It goes to the Pampa, to the Müggelsee, the Scharmutzelsee and to a junkyard for dollars.
Is there a happy ending at the end? Does the girl survive? What role does the son of the shoe magnate play? Is Dollar writing the book? One thing is certain: Fitzek and Beisenherz did it. "Write or Die" is a psychological thriller. With violence. With dark corners. With abysses. But one that makes the reader laugh more often than he or she would probably like.
"Kellergrab" von Paul Cleave
The perfect crime? Author couple Lisa and Cameron claim they could do it. But the statement, which was said carelessly in interviews, falls on the couple's toes when their seven-year-old son Zack disappears without a trace one night. A burglar? A kidnapping? Or is the couple behind it? Because Zack was not a sociable boy: stubborn, loud, demanding. Cameron only felt it firsthand the day before the boy's disappearance when he was at a carnival with Zack and the seven-year-old suddenly disappeared from the bouncy castle there.
Cameron, who only briefly texted Lisa, no longer understood the world, looked for the little one, spoke to other children and almost lost his nerve: Two other parents accused him of touching their children. When Zack reappears at the entrance line and is not aware of any guilt, Cameron has no idea that he will soon become the target of a manhunt. Because not only the police are investigating the case of the missing child, but also a tabloid journalist of the worst kind, whom Lisa and Cameron once exposed.
With "Kellergrab" Paul Cleave delivers another psychological thriller that gets under your skin, raises questions, provokes and polarizes. Did the parents make the boy disappear for more publicity? Was a child molester at work? Or did Zack just run away? He had previously announced it several times in tantrums. How quickly one goes from Paul to Saul and that everything is never as it appears at first glance - "Kellergrab" is the perfect example of this. Exciting from the first to the last page.
"The Loft" by Linus Geschke
The famous second look is also worthwhile for readers of Linus Geschke's "The Loft". Marc, Henning and Sarah have been living together in a loft in Hamburg for several years. Marc and Sarah are a couple, a dream couple - and the main suspects when Henning disappeared one night, but the police found liters of blood in the loft kitchen and the right blood-splattered knife in the garbage can in the basement for a 100 percent Security crimes are found. Marc and Henning were best buddies, but when Marc met Sarah, the friendship crumbled: Sarah and Henning didn't like each other.
Inspector Bianca Rakow investigates, a motive is quickly found, but there is no trace of the corpse. Marc and Sarah now begin to examine their shared past in different narrative strands, conveying their respective innocence to the reading public. It turns out that Henning was dealing with ecstasy on a large scale in Hamburg, that Marc knew that they were partners and that Marc now wanted to get out. Connections to another dealer appear, whom Marc and Henning had tricked into running the business; and to a rocker gang that Henning also seems to have tricked.
And the facade is already crumbling: Was it Marc? Did Sarah stab Henning? Was it both? Or none - after all, there is no corpse. And where there is no corpse, there is no murder. Did Henning fake a murder in order to disappear and start a new life elsewhere? And what role does the three of them travel to Nicaragua play in all of this? What happened there? Commissioner Rakow has a lot to do to bring light into the darkness - and in the end bring the real culprits to justice, whatever that may look like. "The Loft" sounds like a high-gloss thriller - and Linus Geschke's new bestseller ("Tannenstein") delivers exactly that, with a surprise twist at the end.
"Cold Heart" by Henri Faber
When their own child is born, parents fear losing it again. Suddenly dangers are seen where there aren't any. The forest seems darker, the street full of traffic hooligans and later the way home from kindergarten or school is riddled with sinister characters whose only goal is, of course, to kidnap, abuse and kill the child. Admittedly, opinions differ on such thrillers. When it comes to physical violence against children, the oven is off for many readers. The book goes in the trash or in the attic.
It's different with "Kaltherz" by Henri Faber. Admittedly, child abduction is also the focus here. But the main role is not played by the little kidnapped Marie, whose mother had left her out of sight for only five minutes. No, the author's main focus is on the character of Commissioner Kim Lansky. She grew up in a Munich hotspot area, but managed to get the hang of it. At least that's how it looks at first glance. Her brother, on the other hand, is on the way to leaving petty crime behind in the other direction.
Lansky is confronted with mentally broken people, has to deal with questionable investigative methods and looks deep into her past in order to solve the case of the missing girl. In the process, she seems to be on to a conspiracy. Or is Lansky going crazy?
"Kaltherz" has everything that characterizes a good thriller: main protagonists with rough edges that arouse sympathy, but can also cost money. There are narrative twists that not only keep the reader engaged, but make him even more excited about the plot. And the end of this German bestseller is also different than expected.
"The Mysterious Mr. Hyde" by Craig Russell
Craig Russell, who is best known in this country for his "Jan Fabel" series, also plays with the unexpected. But Russell has a lot more on the box, as his latest work "The Mysterious Mr. Hyde" shows. The book takes you back to the Edinburgh of bygone times, to the 19th century, where disease, murder and manslaughter lurk on the corners of houses at all times of the day and especially at night. Edward Hyde, superintendent at the police, knows the dangers, is respected and feared in equal measure: he suffers from epileptic seizures, but tries to keep them secret in order to be able to continue his job. The problem with this: If he had a seizure, he can no longer remember anything.
After such a fit, he wakes up near a murder scene. From then on, the question plagues him: Am I the murderer? He hopes for help from his psychiatrist, who only looks after one other patient besides Hyde. As more murders occur that are also connected to each other, the pressure on Hyde to find out increases. Neither politicians nor the police can afford a serial killer on the loose. Especially not when a cult seems to be pulling the strings in the background. But who is Hyde really? What role does he play in all of this? Is his name program?
Of course, the readers only find out about this at the very end of the suspenseful and energetic Russell book. It also provides a historical insight into life in Edinburgh at the time. But it also shows that national efforts have been going on for centuries. A free Scotland detached from Britain is not a product of the present day. In his book, Russell skilfully interweaves historical aspects of the emergence of Scottish national consciousness with an extravagant thriller - funny and dark at the same time.
"1979" by Val McDermid
Scotland's best-known crime writer Val McDermid sets her new book "1979" in Glasgow, not in Edinburgh. It is the start of a four-part series about journalist Allie Burns. In "1979" she starts out as a reporter for the tabloid "Daily Clarion" and has to deal with the odds and ends, although - like all journalists - she would rather land the big scoop. But for a young woman in the newspaper business landscape, which was then completely dominated by old men, "Me too" and equal treatment are still a long way off. In 1979, blizzards, power cuts, lots of strikes and unexplained deaths are the order of the day. But political intrigues and corruption are also topics that Burns would like to try. So when a co-worker asks her to help with a lengthy story, Burns is happy to get involved.
She earns her first spurs and instead of boulevard, it's all about big politics, Scotland's quest for independence, central government. She proceeds secretly, informs her colleagues and tracks down a group of men who apparently want to use violence and connections to the IRA to lead Scotland to freedom. But then she finds her colleague dead in his apartment. Does it have to do with her story? Or has the past caught up with him? After all, he had previously stepped on the toes of powerful men in a tax fraud case. And Burns helped him with that. Is her life now in danger? Burns investigates.
While the investigation ends in "1979," Burns' story continues in "1989." The start definitely leaves you wanting more. On the one hand, the book is a homage to the journalism of the time when printer ink and typewriters with throughput paper were the order of the day. On the other hand, it also provides a social insight into a time that - from today's perspective - was more edgy, direct, uncouth, cooler: We went to the pub for lunch, pint included. Instead of falling asleep in front of the television, people often read books. And instead of salad or veggie, canned haggis was served. Not to mention that the investigation was carried out without cell phones and the Internet. Splendid! Who needs a "crime scene" or "police call"?
