The Silent Death

Volker Kutscher

Sandstone Press, £8.99

Review: Alastair Mabbott

IN the autumn, Sky TV will begin showing Babylon Berlin, a new crime drama based on the novel of the same name by Volker Kutscher. The Silent Death is the first of its sequels to be translated into English, and boasts all the usual elements of the genre, most prominently a troubled, maverick cop at odds with his bosses because he refuses to play by the rules. What distinguishes this detective series is its setting, as Kutscher’s books are set in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s, taking the darkness and moral ambiguity of noir to a new level. Film noir was heavily influenced by German Expressionism in the first place, and the atmosphere of Weimar Berlin suits the genre down to the ground. Vague, generalised paranoia is no substitute for the sure and certain knowledge that the seeds of evil lurking under the surface are indeed about to bloom.

Kutscher’s protagonist, Inspector Gereon Rath, is, thankfully, an unlikely candidate to be swept away on the tide of Nazism, judging by his taste for American jazz records. But he’s a man who can live with the inconvenience of acquiring a slightly tarnished reputation in the course of his work. The 5000 marks left in his mailbox by a grateful gangster, and Rath’s relocation to Berlin from Cologne after a fatal shooting was splashed all over the papers, attest to that.

The story revolves around the tensions in the film industry brought about by the rise of the talkies. Film studios which have prospered in the silent era are claiming that it’s a gimmick, and that only silent movies are pure examples of the form. What’s more, upgrading the technology is very expensive, and complicated by licensing and compatibility issues. Tempers are hot, but would anyone actually turn to murder to protect the silent film? It looks like it. Actress Betty Winter is killed by a falling floodlight, and it’s no accident. When another missing actress turns up dead, her vocal cords symbolically sliced out, there’s no room left for doubt.

Rath is determined to find the culprit, but quickly finds himself in knots, investigating several cases at once, mostly in secret. His boss has sidelined him, so his work on Betty Winter’s death is largely on the quiet. A studio boss also wants him to find a missing person, but unofficially. Meanwhile, Rath’s father, a prominent policeman, has asked him to look discreetly into a blackmail plot against the mayor.

At this stage in the Gereon Rath series, the growing Nazi threat is being held in reserve, with a sub-plot about the death of SA martyr Horst Wessel confined to the periphery; but its presence helps incubate a sense of dread that will doubtless get stronger still in future instalments. The book’s length works against it: it isn’t really outstanding or unique enough to merit a 500-plus page count. But the way Kutscher evokes a specific place and time through its fashions, cars, customs and attitudes makes The Silent Death a particularly atmospheric and immersive thriller.

Volker Kutscher, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Mon Aug 21.