Reading Broken Glass by German author Alexander Hartung is like reading a Jason Bourne thriller while simultaneously watching the movie version with Matt Damon.
The first of the Nik Pohl detective series, Broken Glass tells the story of Pohl, a detective inspector with the Munich police department, an officer who seems more on suspension than not, with a knack for attracting criminals, violence, and the ire of his more political supervisors. Pohl is contacted by “Jon,” a mysterious individual who wants to employ Pohl to find a missing woman. Pohl resists the offer, until he finds out how much Jon knows about his life, his police work, and a woman the detective cares deeply for. Essentially, Jon blackmails Pohl into undertaking the case.
As he quietly, and not-so-quietly, pokes into the case, he discovers an investigation that was slipshod at bet and quickly shelved. That tells Pol that someone in the police department quashed it. And slowly his investigation leads him into a shadowing night club, sex trafficking, a health spa purporting to help recovering alcoholics, and several opportunities to get himself tortured and killed.
Alexander Hartung
The second novel in the Pohl series is Blood Ties. Hartung is also the author of two books in the Jan Tommen series, Until the Debt is Paid and Grave Intent, set in Berlin. Hartung says he discovered his love of thrillers and historical fiction while studying economics. He and his family live in Mannheim, Germany.
Broken Glass, translated by Fiona Beaton, is a fast-paced, nail-biting, and reading-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of book. Its hero is often just as violent as the criminals he encounters, and he encounters at all socio-economic levels. He’s resourceful at getting himself out of situations where his death seems imminent. And underneath that hard shell is a man who will sacrifice much for the people he cares about.
1 comment:
Ooh. Now that's an interesting description of the book. This will keep me on the edge of my seat and I'd love that.
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