Shadow and Light

In 1927 the German capital Berlin is a city filled with chaos and corruption in spite of its reputation of a place with no reason to ever leave. Within the craziness of a collapsing city and country, perhaps the only oasis of a functioning government agency is the Kriminalpolizei led by highly principled Herr Kriminal-Oberkommissar "Chief Inspector" Nikolai Hoffner. At Ufa Movie Studios, executive Herr Thyssen is found dead in his tub in what looks like a suicide. Leading the investigation, Hoffner decides the victim could not have killed himself as he finds evidence that a clever homicide was perpetuated to fool the "incompetent" cops. It might have worked if anyone but Hoffner was making the inquiry. To his surprise the investigator with a tendency to lose partners also finds his younger son working at the studio having quietly dropped out of school. Meanwhile on the case he looks at the deceased's personal and business lives with a fine tooth comb, This scrutiny leads to the convergence of politics with industrial espionage, but not a killer and to Hoffner considering a tryst with visiting American MGM official Helen Coyle. At the same time the Brownshirted thugs of Goebbels who includes Hoffner's oldest son as a loyal supporter beats up Jews, Communists and homosexuals for pleasure. This strong German historical police procedural provides a profound sense of time and place as the audience will feel the beginning of a new darker more intense era. The story line grips readers with its fascinating look at Berlin as the Brownshirts are just starting to flex muscle and the Great Depression is in full swing here with many locals believing the unfair armistice being the cause. Hoffner is a quirky lead character as his wry comments and retorts provide further insight into the period while also working the case. SHADOW AND LIGHT is a terific 1920s Weimer Republic murder mystery. Harriet Klausner

Klaus Mann's "Mephisto" meets Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep. " Shadow and Light is the story of an unsolved murder with a cast of characters that includes Chief Inspector Nicolai Hoffner, the iconic German film director Fritz Lang, a notorious crime boss, high-ranking members of Hitler's budding movement, and a decadent Weimar Berlin. The investigation uncovers corporate espionage involving movie film technology, American investors, organized crime, the sex and drug trades, and political extremists. Rabb's description of the atmosphere and psyche of late 20s Berlin conjured images from Bob Fosse's "Cabaret" and George Grosz paintings. The hero often feels as hopeless fighting the lawlessness of the city as he is in attempting to repair the rift that exists between he and his sons. He understands he lives in a world consisting of realms where he has little or no authority and where others enforce laws of their own. Nevertheless, he struggles on so some justice will prevail and for hope for better days to come.

Shadow and Light is Jonathan Rabb's second Nikolai Hoffner novel. The first, Rosa, was marvelous--fresh and novel--and the question is whether readers will find this a worthy sequel. The answer is definitely yes, although certain of the author's mannerisms have become more pronounced. Once again real life celebrities make appearances, this time playing more than cameo roles. Once again Hoffner's encounters are obliquely confrontational--even those with his sons--cat and mouse games in which people unwittingly reveal what they wish to conceal. The scene is still Berlin, but everything has changed. The year is 1927, Hoffner is now 53, his younger son Georg, 16, has dropped out of school and gone to work for the Ufa film studios and his older son Sascha, 24, estranged over the circumstances of his mother's death, has joined the Nazi Party. Hoffner's miserable personal life and battered ego are central to the plot--he seems unable to get along with anyone and his detection skills have declined. Hoffner is called to investigate an apparent suicide at Ufa on the outskirts of Berlin. It carries him into the decadent milieu of the time and the development of sound for film. Along the way he encounters the celebrated director Fritz Lang, his wife, Thea von Harbou, one of three inventors of the Tri Ergon sound process, Hans Vogt, a young and not yet famous Peter Lorre, and Joseph Goebbels. Once again Rabb neatly folds authentic historical movements and details into his story along with innumerable minutiae that ring true--a few so arcane you suppose he made them up. Any you can check are correct: the word 'electronics' came into use in 1910 and Marlboro cigarettes were marketed in 1924. Rabb is so adept at description that the dismal grunge of Berlin in the Weimar era becomes depressing. He also has a talent for disconcertingly gruesome physical details. Numerous twists and turns make the complex plot occasionally run down a blind alley. The McGuffin--the device which propels the plot and motivates the characters--is an essential component of the Tri Ergon process. As in many film thrillers, it is never quite clear at any given time who has it, who wants it, or why, but all comes out in the end--just not happily.

I have a number of interests that intersect in this novel. Early 20th Century history, from the turn of the century to the start of World War II. Especially the time of the Weimar Republic in Germany, and Berlin in particular. Movies, especially early movies, especially early German cinema, and especially the films of Fritz Lang. And, of course, a good mystery. Jonathan Rabb brings all these elements together very skilfully in "Shadow and Light". This is a picture of a world that is similar to ours, but removed far enough in time, technology and culture to be very different. This isn't just a novel just happens to be set in 1927 to be different and exotic, but where everyone speaks contemporary English. This is full immersion in another time. The way the characters think, speak, and act is appropriate to the period. The historical and political setting is accurate. From the first chapter of this book, you know you're somewhere else. Rabb also doesn't fall into the trap that some authors of historical fiction do, where they bring in every notable person who lived at the time for a cameo appearance. There are a few important people who make brief appearances. But they are appropriate to the story line. The most notable historical figure in the novel, of course, is the great movie director Fritz Lang. I would have loved to see him play a bigger part in the story, but ultimately I'm glad the author kept him in a role that made more sense in the context of the novel. (I might have been tempted to go overboard and cast him as a "Doctor Watson" to Inspector Hoffner. It's probably a good thing I'm a reader, not an author!) It was fascinating to see a glimpse of the early German movie industry. If you're interested in this time period and in movies, check out Howard Blum's "American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century". This is a fascinating historical account of a "true crime", and it also demonstrates how famous people really do run into each other under strange circumstances. But back to Berlin. All the historical trappings are backdrops, and they don't help much if the story being played out in front of them isn't good. Fortunately, "Shadow and Light" is an excellent story. The mystery is complex, taking many twists and turns through the dark streets of Berlin. The plot is edgy, the characters are real, and the dialog is sharp. I loved this book. I've ordered Rabb's earlier novel about Inspector Hoffner, "Rosa", on my Kindle; and tracked down his two earlier books, "The Overseer" and "The Book of Q" in used copies. I look forward to reading them. Jonathan Rabb has moved to my "must read" list.

In 1927, post-Versailles Berlin suffers under the burden of war reparations while figures like Joseph Goebbels and the German Workers Party organize. Kriminalpolizei chief inspector Nikolai Hoffner arrives at the UFA film studio to investigate the apparent suicide of film executive Thyssen. Hoffner's investigation takes him into the darker sides of Berlin's sex and drug trade as Hoffner relies on the insights of an unexpected ally Alby Pimm, leader of Berlin's crime syndicate as well as director Fritz Lang. Chief Inspector Hoffner's investigation comes close to home when his activities bring to light family entanglements. His son Georg works for UFA and his new love interest, Leni Coyle, is an American talent agent for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a rival of UFA in the film industry. Alienated from his son Sascha over the earlier death of his wife during an investigation, Hoffner discovers that his own son has become aligned with the growing right wing movement, becoming an aide to Joseph Goebbles. Jonathan Rabb's SHADOW AND LIGHT gives a haunting, dark portrait of Berlin society in the Weimar Republic between WWI and WWII, a murky area often glossed over or seen only through the perspective of one of the World Wars. In SHADOW AND LIGHT, the reader feels the uncertainty of the times as poverty and hardships caused by war reparations create a dangerous undercurrent of political fervor and corruption. Against this backdrop, Jonathan Rabb positions UFA film studio as the center of the crime investigation. The reader sees the technical innovations within the film world, the creative activity and sometimes uncertain position of aspiring starlets, the larger business competition between Germany and America, and the shadowy birth of an ominous political movement. Jonathan Rabb does not gloss over the rising anti-semitism of Berlin society but rather shines a light on its shadowy underlying presence not only in society but in Hoffner's own son. Chief Inspector Nikolai Hoffner is a most intriguing central character. Able to feel the pulse of the city through a crime map, an association with criminal Alby Pimm or high-powered film executives, Nikolai Hoffner is a man who can see beyond black and white divisions to get to the heart of the crime and all the various assorted links his investigation has to seemingly disparate corners of society. SHADOW AND LIGHT is an innovative historical detective mystery. At times challenging with a plot that weaves through several areas of Berlin society that appear at first glance to have little in common and a cast of characters both real and imaginary, SHADOW AND LIGHT does an excellent job of portraying a city on the verge of major change alongside the uncertainty of the times. Historical film buffs will appreciate Jonathan Rabb's portrayal of the undercurrents of the film industry of the time for an intriguing glance at the technical inventions in the works, the insider's look into the economic competition an