Pieke Biermann - "Violetta"
Serpent’s Tail Mask Noir Paperback Original (1 85242 289 0) £8.99
Described in the period
before the wall came down but when the old regimes of Eastern Europe were definitely on
their last legs the Berlin of Pieke Biermann’s Violetta is a
chaotic, dangerous place. Various groups are engaging in violence or subterfuge to further
their agenda for the new Germany. Militant Feminists roam the streets looking for
potential rapists to discipline, newly confident neo-nazis are making their bitter
presence felt and the old interest groups are desperately trying to hang on to what they
think is theirs by right. Tension is in the air and it’s left to the Berlin police
and Inspector Lietze in particular to keep the lid on things. During a long hot summer Lietze and her colleagues are faced with the appearance of a seemingly racially motivated serial killer. There’s also a murderer who kills outwardly respectable middle-class males after sex and a militant women’s group who go in for very direct action. Given the added inconvenience of being assigned a Ramboesque recruit Lietze’s nerve is tested to the full. The old question arises - if the law cannot supply justice why not supply it yourself? Lietze’s answer to the question should be firm but in the end cannot be anything other than ambiguous.
Violetta is a Berlin 87th precinct with plenty of twists. The Departmental bickering, tension and black comedy of precinct life are all there. But the strength of the book lies in the very believable portrait of the city at a pivotal time. The characters Biermann shows us may be inadequate, hypocritical, neurotic or just downright odd but they are above all human and believable. You get the feeling they’re real and out there, an all too rare experience in the some time over formulaic world of crime fiction. This book should be bought by anyone who craves a fresh breeze through the precinct door. Recommended! (RL)
