Title: Böser Wolf
Author: Nele Neuhaus
Publisher: Ullstein
Read: March 24-28, 2013
Synopsis (Goodreads):
An einem heißen Tag im Juli wird die Leiche einer 16-Jährigen aus dem Main bei Eddersheim geborgen. Sie wurde misshandelt und ermordet, und niemand vermisst sie. Auch nach Wochen hat das K 11 keinen Hinweis auf ihre Identität. Die Spuren führen zu einem Kinderdorf im Taunus und zu einer Fernsehmoderatorin, die bei ihren Recherchen den falschen Leuten zu nahe gekommen ist. Pia Kirchhoff und Oliver von Bodenstein graben tiefer und stoßen inmitten gepflegter Bürgerlichkeit auf einen Abgrund an Bösartigkeit und Brutalität. Und dann wird der Fall persönlich.
My thoughts:
In her latest novel “Böser Wolf”, Nele Neuhaus goes one step
further than in her five previous novels and lets her main characters
investigate a crime which transcends local boundaries and uncovers a large
conspiracy so evil that it will sicken and disturb most readers when thinking
about these crimes happening to real people, in real life.
Several threads start in the first part of the book:
Pia Kirchhoff has settled into a comfortable life with her
new partner Christoph, trying to get used to looking after a small child when
his granddaughter Lilly comes for an extended visit from Australia. With Oliver
von Bodenstein away on a trip, she is the first person on call when the
mutilated body of a teenage girl is found floating in the Main. Despite extensive
investigations into the identity of the girl, the team are unable to make real
progress in the case, as nobody even seems to be missing the teenager. An
autopsy reveals a horrific history of old injuries pointing to years of
unspeakable abuse and captivity.
In the meantime Hanna Herrmann, a famous TV talkshow host,
is about to contact a person who could potentially provide her with the biggest
story of her career. After recent complaints about her and her show, which
centres around heartbreak and personal disaster, often at the expense of the
victims themselves, Hanna really needs this break to keep her show on air. But
Hanna may have underestimated the lengths other people may go to to keep her
from finding out the truth – brutally attacked, raped and left for dead she
barely escapes with her life with no memory of how she got into this situation.
Emma, eight months pregnant with her second child, is
worried about her five year old daughter, whose violent outbursts and strange
behaviour seem too extreme to be the normal temper tantrums and mood swings of
a child her age. On top of that, her husband has been acting cold and remote
and Emma is sure that he is having an affair. At a school reunion Emma bumps
into her old friend Pia Kirchhoff, and the two women reconnect again after many
years.
In Neuhaus’ typical style, all these separate threads
ultimately connect and culminate in a terrifying finale involving all
characters, this time becoming very close and personal to Pia Kirchhoff’s own
life.
Again I was totally captivated by the plot and found it hard
to put the book down until all was revealed. Personally, I love the way Neuhaus
introduces many separate storylines and characters, which make reading the
novel an exciting journey and introduce many different interesting elements and
angles. However, by centring the novel around a topic which elicits very strong
emotions in most people, the violent and sexual crimes against children, I feel
that Neuhaus paid the price of making the story a bit too black and white. In
previous novels there were always several sides to the contemporary topic
explored, with the varying emotional responses of supporting characters lending
the story depth and credibility. A difficult topic such as explored in Böser
Wolf creates many “no-go” zones, often at the expense of character development.
I found that this led to several unanswered questions as to the motives and
means of the main perpetrators in the novel, as well as a conspiracy almost too
large to be believable for the setting.
However, Neuhaus’ passion about exposing the subject to the
wider public is evident, and she certainly manages to elicit strong emotions
through uncovering the horrible-beyond-words aspects of the crimes. I shudder
to think of the emotional toll researching such a topic must take, and take my
hat off to the author for being brave enough to tackle such a horrific task.
Living quite a sheltered life in our quiet corner of the world here, I was
sickened to think about organised crime against children – an unspeakable
horror. In that regard Neuhaus’ latest thriller serves two purposes: the
entertainment value of an intelligent, well-written murder-mystery combined
with raising awareness of horrific crimes committed in our own environment.
Since awareness is the first step to change, and packaging it in an
approachable format is a great way to get the message out, I hope that the
awareness Neuhaus raises with her novel will indeed work towards making a
difference.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and found it hard to
put down. Kirchhoff and von Bodenstein have become so familiar over the course
of the series that I am eager to find out what the future holds for them, and
look forward to Neuhaus’ next book in the series!
I'm glad you are still enjoying this series Heidi!
ReplyDeleteYes, it has been a great journey - thanks to you, who put me on to "Snow White" in the first place. :) Very happy!
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