Perhaps author Faye Kellerman, herself, summarizes this book best: "Straight into Darkness" is... "a novel born of my passionate desire to connect to a hidden part of my father's life. Set between the two world wars, it is the tale of a serial killer in the city (Munich) that nurtured the ultimate serial killer (Adolph Hitler)." (Parentheses added. See back cover of the 2005 hardback edition. Note: All citations refer to this edition.) She strongly implies that part of her story is based on her family history.
Homicide inspector Axel Berg heads an investigative unit of the Munich police charged with finding a serial killer who begins his killing spree attacking beautiful young women and then expands rapidly into other types of victims. Berg has to contend with Nazi Brownshirt hooligans, the distraction of violent political rallies, superiors who want someone--anyone (although a Jew would be best)--charged, and his own, imperfect nature as he tries to bring what unbiased investigative attention he can to a case that rapidly becomes too political. Hitler, himself, ferments further unrest by adding anti-Semitism, paranoia, and threats. Others, as well, use the killings to further their own agendas in this volatile mix.
Kellerman presents Berg as a flawed man, subject to the customs and prejudices of the times. A man who beats his Jewish mistress and takes bribes, still he struggles to do the right thing. The investigation eventually becomes a welcome haven for him, as solving the baffling murders seems eminently more doable than allowing himself to look at what he can do, or even more frightening, what he cannot do, to save his family, his city, and his country from the slide "Straight into Darkness" that he sees all too clearly is to come.
Kellerman is relentless in not letting Berg off from responsiblilty, nor does she allow the other groups she chronicles to escape their share of the blame for this slide. She is particularly harsh with the prevailing attitudes. Examples: "I don't agree with everything he (Hitler) says, but not all of his rhetoric is drivel," and "I certainly don't agree with Herr Hitler's taste in art. Nor do I like the thugs and hoodlums that give the Nazis a bad name, but I do like what he has to say about honor and loyalty..." (See pages 55 and 215-216.)
Kellerman does a beautiful job of telling her tale and, for the most part, her writing enhances her narrative. She does write more believable dialogue for women than she does for men, who tend to sound alike, although her men's speech patterns may more realistically reflect the formalism and the German language patterns of the times. Kellerman's metaphors flow admiringly true: Example: "The air had been crisp and cool at that turning point when the bite of winter started sinking its fangs into the bone marrow." (See page 80.) She describes well the tribalisms (Example: Bavarians vs. Prussians.), rationalizations (Examples: Germany was betrayed, not defeated. Germany was treated unfairly. The Jews are to blame for economic setbacks.), and hardships Germany faced that gave Hitler his chance.
As one reads Kellerman's book, one cannot but wonder why the United States was better able to unite as a free nation, in spite of its disagreements, Civil War, and ethnic divisions. As its frontiers and ocean barriers contract, which formerly gave time and space to develop a national consensus or to run from one, and as divisions among its groups and peoples become more fixed and permanent, will we become more like the Germans of the 1920s? Kellerman gives us material for discussion.
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Brandon
Arrived early and couldn't beat the price
Reviewed in Canada on May 4, 2021
