Babylon Berlin
Ratings7
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings7
Average rating3.3
THE BASIS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TV SENSATION BABYLON BERLIN "Cabaret on cocaine...captures the dark glamour of a briefly exhilarating time between the wars." --NPR Babylon Berlin is the first book in the international-bestselling series from Volker Kutscher that centers on Detective Gereon Rath caught up in a web of drugs, sex, political intrigue, and murder in Berlin as Germany teeters on the edge of Nazism. It’s 1929 and Berlin is the vibrating metropolis of post-war Germany—full of bars and brothels and dissatisfied workers at the point of revolt. Gereon Rath is new in town and new to the police department. When a dead man without an identity, bearing traces of atrocious torture, is discovered, Rath sees a chance to find his way back into the homicide division. He discovers a connection with a circle of oppositional exiled Russians who try to purchase arms with smuggled gold in order to prepare a coup d’état. But there are other people trying to get hold of the gold and the guns, too. Raths finds himself up against paramilitaries and organized criminals. He falls in love with Charlotte, a typist in the homicide squad, and misuses her insider’s knowledge for his personal investigations. And as he gets further entangled with the case, he never imagined becoming a suspect himself. “The first in a series that’s been wildly popular in Germany is an excellent police procedural that cleverly captures the dark and dangerous period of the Weimer Republic before it slides into the ultimate evil of Nazism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Conjures up the dangerous decadence of the Weimar years, with blood on the Berlin streets and the Nazis lurking menacingly in the wings.”—The Sunday Times (London) “James Ellroy fans will welcome Kutscher’s first novel and series launch, a fast-paced blend of murder and corruption sent in 1929 Berlin.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Featured Series
9 primary books10 released booksGereon Rath is a 10-book series with 9 primary works first released in 2007 with contributions by Volker Kutscher and Niall Sellar.
Reviews with the most likes.
It took me a while to get in to this but I enjoyed it enough to want to seek out the next in the series.
Babylon Berlin by Volger Kutscher (Rath Number 1)
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I came to this after watching two seasons of the German series. Normally, I find the book superior to the film version, but this is an odd case where the video is better.
Nonetheless, this is a fine book. This book introduces Gereon Rath. Rath has arrived in Berlin because he was involved in the killing of an influential publisher's son in his hometown of Cologne. Rath is assigned to the Vice squad where he introduces us to Berlin, his colleagues, and the underside of Berlin. From a chance meeting, he has an insight into a murder that he hopes will promote him to Gennat's homicide squad. (I just learned from a Wondrium lecture on German serial killers that Gennat was a historical figure who was prominent as the Berlin murder captain.) As in the series, Rath gets wind of Russian gold and rightwing arms dealing, all of which leads up to a thrilling conclusion.
It is a good story. The characters are well drawn, albeit different from the video. Rath is not a shell-shocked drug addict and Charlotte Ritter is not a hooker. Sometimes I wonder why these kinds of changes are introduced into dramatizations of books.
On the other hand, I think the video is stronger in giving us the feel of Berlin in late-stage Weimar. Putting Charlotte into the vice dens lets us see that world in a way that the book's depiction of Rath going to sex clubs doesn't. Perhaps that is why I preferred the show.
Obviously, I should not judge the book by the show. The book stands up on its own and is quite entertaining.
