Category: Reading Challenges

#BlogTour #BookReview #Ad Dead of Night by Simon Scarrow

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Dead of Night final bannerWelcome to the final stop on the blog tour for wartime thriller, Dead of Night by Simon Scarrow. My thanks to Jess at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Headline for my review copy. If you’ve been keeping up with the posts by the other bloggers taking part in the tour, you’ll be aware of the praise heaped on the book so far: ‘A gripping page turning thriller‘, ‘An absolute must-read for fans of historical crime fiction‘ and ‘a story full of intrigue, tension and danger‘

Dead of NightAbout the Book

BERLIN. JANUARY 1941. After Germany’s invasion of Poland, the world is holding its breath and hoping for peace. At home, the Nazi Party’s grip on power is absolute.

One freezing night, an SS doctor and his wife return from an evening mingling with their fellow Nazis at the concert hall. By the time the sun rises, the doctor will be lying lifeless in a pool of blood.

Was it murder or suicide? Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke is told that under no circumstances should he conduct an investigation. The doctor’s widow, however, is convinced her husband was the target of a brutal hit. But why would anyone murder an apparently obscure doctor? Compelled to dig deeper, Schenke learns of the mysterious death of a child. The cases seem unconnected, but chilling links soon begin to emerge that point to a terrifying secret.

Even in times of war, under a ruthless regime, there are places in hell no man should ever enter. And Schenke fears he may not return alive . . .

Format: Hardback (432 pages)           Publisher: Headline
Publication date: 2nd February 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller

Find Dead of Night on Goodreads

Purchase links
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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

Being an avid reader of wartime thrillers I’m not quite sure how I managed to miss Blackout, the first book in the series, when it was published in 2020. I shall certainly be snapping up a copy at some point as, although Dead of Night can definitely be read as a standalone, there are lots of things I’d love to know more about, especially the book’s protagonist, Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke. For example, how Schenke’s relationship with Karin Canaris came about and his involvement with Ruth, a young Jewish woman, who seemingly played a pivotal role in events in the previous book.

Most of us, I imagine, are aware of the vile actions of the Nazi regime towards Jewish people but perhaps less so about the atrocities committed against other sections of the population in pursuit of Hitler’s warped and perverted ideology. (As the author notes, sometimes fiction can do a better job of shedding a light on such things than ‘dry tomes of history’.) It’s just such an atrocity that Schenke uncovers in the course of his investigation. But is it an act of personal revenge or something more sinister?

I thought Schenke was a brilliant character. He has a strong sense of justice and isn’t afraid to bend the rules if he believes it is right. It places him in all sorts of risky situations, even threatening the safety of those close to him, something that is never far from his mind. Bringing criminals to justice and forcing them to face the consequences of their actions is what he believes in, it’s what drives him but sometimes, perhaps, even he has to face the possibility he hasn’t the power to do so – at least not yet.  He tries to comfort himself with the thought, ‘There will be a reckoning for the evil that is being done, but I fear that won’t come for some time. Months . . . years . . . who can say? In which case, it is our duty to survive and bear witness.’

Writing about the inspiration for Dead of Night, Simon Scarrow describes it as being the story of how ‘an extreme ideology prepares the ground for unthinkable and unconscionable actions’. I expect we can all think of contemporary parallels. Navigating such a situation while keeping his integrity intact is the dilemma Schenke faces. He’s a patriot but one who has become ashamed of what his country is doing. It’s these difficult choices that make the book so powerful, exposing as it does some of the darkest deeds of the 20th century. 

Dead of Night is a skilfully crafted, completely engrossing historical thriller that will delight fans of the genre. I really hope there will be more books in the series.

In three words: Compelling, assured, chilling

Try something similar: The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr

Simon ScarrowAbout the Author

Simon Scarrow is a Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author with several million copies of his books sold worldwide. After a childhood spent travelling the world, he pursued his great love of history as a teacher, before becoming a full-time writer. Best known for his Roman adventure stories, Simon took to writing WW2 thrillers, and last year Blackout set in WW2 Berlin, was chosen as a Richard and Judy Book Blub pick.

His Roman soldier heroes Cato and Macro made their debut in 2000 in Under the Eagle and have subsequently appeared in many bestsellers in the Eagles of the Empire series, including Centurion, Invictus and Day of the Caesars. Many of the series have been Sunday Times bestsellers. (Photo: Twitter profile)

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#BookReview Where Roses Never Die by Gunnar Staalesen, trans. by Don Bartlett @OrendaBooks

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Where Roses Never DieAbout the Book

September 1977. Mette Misvær, a three-year-old girl disappears without trace from the sandpit outside her home. Her tiny, close middle-class community in the tranquil suburb of Nordas is devastated, but their enquiries and the police produce nothing. Curtains twitch, suspicions are raised, but Mette is never found.

Almost 25 years later, as the expiry date for the statute of limitations draws near, Mette’s mother approaches PI Varg Veum, in a last, desperate attempt to find out what happened to her daughter. As Veum starts to dig, he uncovers an intricate web of secrets, lies and shocking events that have been methodically concealed. When another brutal incident takes place, a pattern begins to emerge…

Format: Paperback (272 pages)  Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication date: 1st June 2016 Genre: Crime, Thriller

Find Where Roses Never Die on Goodreads

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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

Where Roses Never Die is the eighteenth in the author’s crime series featuring private investigator, Varg Veum. It precedes the only other book in the series I’ve read, Wolves in the Dark. (Not all the books in the series have been translated into English.) But don’t worry if you haven’t read all, or even any, of the previous books in the series because Where Roses Never Die works perfectly well as a standalone.

The book finds Varg in a state that will be familiar to those who’ve read earlier books in the series. He’s recovering from a tragic event in his personal life and the three years since then have disappeared in a haze of booze. He feels he’s ‘wandering restlessly through life’s back streets’. His bank account is all but empty, the new cases have dried up and it’s a struggle to keep off the bottle. Recalling when he was at his worst, he observes, ‘I was the emperor of the empties, and I had hundreds of vassals, empty, silent and glassy-eyed’.

He needs something to rescue him from his ‘daily demons’ and what has become ‘the longest and darkest marathon’ of his life. The unsolved case of Mette Misvær, a three-year-old girl who disappeared without trace nearly 25 years ago, may be just that. It might even give him the willpower, and an excuse, to remain sober.

Varg sets about investigating the case with his customary dogged determination, even going so far as to pick the brains of an old adversary, the now retired Inspector Dankert Muus who handled the case originally. He interviews the residents and former residents of Solstølen Co-Op, a community of five houses. Some of them are extremely reluctant to talk to him. What is it they have to hide? Varg discovers a complex web of connections but one which for a long time seems just to confuse the situation not make it clearer.  It’s a seemingly random, unconnected event that brings about a breakthrough but not before Varg has found himself in a series of sticky situations and uncovered some pretty dark stuff.

Is Mette still alive? If so, who was responsible for her disappearance and how has she remained undiscovered all these years? You’ll have to read the book to discover the answers to those questions and I’ll be very surprised if you find them before Varg.

Varg Veum
Life-sized statue of Varg Veum in the centre of Bergen

Varg Veum is a wonderful character. He’s quick-witted and not easily dissuaded from a course of action. Yes, he’s flawed, a little world-weary and often consumed by dark thoughts but he always remains likeable because of his strong sense of justice, wry sense of humour and the fact he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I was pleased that the end of the book holds out the possibility of a little light coming into Varg’s life once again.

Where Roses Never Die is a skilfully-crafted, compelling crime mystery with plenty of twists and turns.

In three words: Gripping, intriguing, unsettling

Try something similar: End of Summer by Anders de la Motte

Gunnar Staalesen

About the Author

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen. (Photo/bio: Publisher website)

About the Translator

Don Bartlett lives with his family in a village in Norfolk. He completed an MA in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in 2000 and has since worked with a wide variety of Danish and Norwegian authors, including Jo Nesbø and Karl Ove Knausgaard.