Publishers Weekly
06/10/2019
At the start of Young’s exceptional third novel set in mid-1970s East Germany (after Stasi Wolf), Colonel Reininger of the People’s Police offers detective Karin Müller, who has recently returned from maternity leave, a deal. In return for her agreeing to lead a sensitive homicide investigation, Reininger will give Müller a big promotion and ensure she gets a larger apartment in East Berlin. Müller accepts, despite her worries about leaving her infant twins at home and having to work with Colonel Jäger, “a man to fear” who works in the Ministry of State Security, or Stasi. The politically related case involves the murder of a teenage boy found in an East Berlin lake. The stakes rise when the son of Karin’s forensic investigator goes missing. Meanwhile, fights with her children’s father explode Karin’s personal world as she, an uneasy believer in socialism, struggles to save victims of brutality, preserve her self-respect, and discern honest friends from Stasi foes. Spy fiction fans will savor Young’s meticulous look at East Germany’s heart of darkness. Agent: Adam Gauntlett, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop (U.K.). (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"Outstanding. . . . Fans of Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko will welcome Müller." ―Publishers Weekly starred review of Stasi Child
"Deft, assured storytelling, a compelling new detective and a fascinating setting―I was up late to finish it!" ―Gilly Macmillan, author, What She Knew, on Stasi Child
"Young has recreated excellently the fear and paranoia that permeated East German society . . . I really liked this novel and strongly recommend it." ―The Crime Warp on Stasi Child
"If, like me, you have enjoyed the Soviet-based crime fiction of authors such as Martin Cruz Smith, William Ryan, Tom Rob Smith or Sam Eastland, this will prove itself an absolute must-read . . . Young has more than proved that his name will be one to watch in the future with this powerful, well-researched and intriguing thriller. A highly recommended debut." ―Raven Crime Reads on Stasi Child
"David Young is excellent at describing terrible injustice, mass and personal, by way of a strong plot and a sympathetic woman." —Times
"A self-confessed obsessive, Young's period detail—what kind of tire tracks Stasi official's cars left—is impressive." —New Zealand Herald on Stasi Child
"Crime fiction has a new heroine in the form of Karin Müller, a major in the People's Police, as created by David Young in his award-winning historical mystery Stasi Child." —Shots Magazine
"Young portrays the paranoid landscape of East Germany's surveillance state with such breathtaking detail and authenticity that we can almost taste the fear, feel the chill, and see the grandeur of Berlin's ostentatious Karl-Marx-Allee jostling with the crumbling, soulless apartment blocks that litter the city. But the beating heart of this multi-layered story is the plucky, determined Karin, and an enthralling police procedural, a murder mystery which takes in aspects of real history and weaves them into an intriguing case that involves a terrifying web of deception, obstruction and corruption. Powerful, fast-paced and exciting, the Karin Müller series just gets better and better." —Lancashire Evening Post
