Butchers of Berlin

by Chris Petit

'One of Britain's most visionary writers'  DAVID PEACE  ‘An appalling, beautifully-lit abyss’ ALAN MOORE A dark, chilling and mesmerising thriller set in wartime Berlin, for fans of Joseph Kanon and Robert Harris.  Berlin 1943. August Schlegel lives in a world full of questions with no easy answers. Why is he being called out on a homicide case when he works in financial crimes? Why did the old Jewish solider with an Iron Cross shoot the block warden in the eye then put a bullet through his own head? Why does Schlegel persist with the case when no one cares because the Jews are all being shipped out anyway? And why should Morgen, wearing the dreaded black uniform of the SS, turn up and say he has been assigned to work with him? Corpses, dressed with fake money, bodies flayed beyond are these routine murders committed out of rage or is someone trying to tell them something? Praise for Chris Petit's previous 'Hugely impressive and highly readable; in the tradition of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs' Financial Times 'Ferocious invention marks this novel out as special' The Edge 'Ambitious and intelligent'  Times 'Puts Petit in the first rank' Metro 'A zigzagging narrative as byzantine and blackly pessemistic as late James Ellroy' Independent on Sunday 'An example of the genre near its best. Gorky Park with something to spare; well worth anyone's weekend' Guardian for The Psalm Killer

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Germany, World War II, Mystery, Thriller

496 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2016

About the author

English novelist and filmmaker.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Butchers of Berlin – A Dark Wartime Thriller

Chris Petit has often been compared to fellow writers such as Robert Harris, David Peace and Joseph Kanon, all of which means that Petit is one hell of a writer. The Butchers of Berlin reminds me of writers of an early vintage, such as Ernst Haffer, Hans Fallada, Alfred Doblin and Erich Maria Remarque. My reasoning being is that he has captured the paranoia, the darkness, the evocative horror of the time and the absolute fear of those German writers from an earlier age.

The Butchers of Berlin is an SS procedural thriller that is investigating murder and financial irregularities during wartime, when the Germans were starting to feel the reversal in their fortunes on the battlefield. This is now a society that has been so far cut off from its leadership that rumours abound all over Berlin, where still having some money means a better chance of surviving events that others.

This is a society that now has three different security forces policing then from the regular police, Gestapo and the dreaded SS who had more power than the others together, the black uniforms striking terror wherever they went.

It is August 1943 and the prematurely white haired detective August Schlegel, a detective in financial crimes is appointed by his chief to investigate a murder. When he gets to the murder scene he finds that a block warden has been murdered by an old Jewish soldier who in then turned the gun on himself. To complicate matters the Gestapo are waiting to clear the block of the Jewish residents and take them for transportation to the East.

More bodies are turn up, some showing the effects of torture before they are killed all are Jewish, but Schlegel still investigates their murders even though nobody actually cares. This is not helped because Goebbels has demanded that Berlin becomes Judenfrei quickly so is not pleased when things are not going his way.

When Schlegel find an SS Officer in his office sat smoking, he explains he is there to help him, and not to worry. Schlegel worries more when he finds that the SS Office, Eiko Morgen, is an SS Judge who is not the most popular man with the leadership.

Things become more complicated when fake money turns up on the bodies of those murdered and the Gestapo never seem too far away from what is happening. Everyone just wants the murders squared away and blamed on a people that are being hounded out of Berlin.

Things take a turn for the worst for Schlegel when he also happens to look a little too closely at the Berlin wartime economy, at the agents that are being used to hunt for remaining Jews and how close to the leadership things appear to be. Also in 1943 the Allied Bombers were making frequent visits over Berlin and dropping their payload on the city, things would never be the same again.

The Butchers of Berlin is evocative of that time during the war when the city was running on empty, paranoia and fear ran hand in hand. Who you could trust was not just a question of the Jewish population but for all the citizens of Berlin, keeping a low profile was always a help. The City was naked of its German males many of whom were on the Eastern Front, and those still there were either injured or managed to get out of war service.

Chris Petit has written a highly enjoyable, dark and very readable thriller, set when Berlin was at its most pessimistic The Butchers of Berlin is evocative of earlier writers. The Butchers of Berlin also happens to be one of the best researched novels that I have read in a long time and some of the characters are real leave a reminder of those darker times.

Highly enjoyable historical crime thriller where nobody escapes unscathed, and that includes the reader.

[Rowena Hoseason · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has the feel of a commissioning editor saying to a contracted author; 'for your next book, which you've already been paid a handsome advance for, the company would like you to write something like a Bernie Gunther story. Something exactly like a Bernie Gunther story. Can you make sure there are oppressed Jews in Berlin, evil SS officers, Arthur Nebe, some gadfly aristocratic socialites, and a good German policeman seeking redemption?'
Been there, read that - not just by Philip Kerr but by several other authors. And most of them do it so much better.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with The Butchers Of Berlin, but there's nothing especially good about it, either. It is carelessly anachronistic in places; how could a young woman in Berlin in the 1940s possibly imagine she was an astronaut, floating above the world? Such concepts could not exist in that period. Bad enough that the author wrote such bunkum: worse that the editor allowed it to get into print.
The situation has been done a dozens times already, and none of the characters engaged my interest. Nor did the story, so I bailed out on this one. Which is frustrating, because I actually bought it in paperback (a rare thing these days).
Ho hum.
If you've not read any other novels of this type then you might enjoy it. However, you'd be better off spending time and money on Philip Kerr, David Downing, Luke McCallin, Alan Furst and Ben Pastor. All have done it so much better.
4/10

There are more reviews of crime/thrillers over at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very dark book and gruesome in parts, not surprisingly because of its setting. The writer has obviously done a lot of research. I was surprised to learn that Stella Kubler and Morgen were real people and many events in the book are based on fact. It is well worth reading the author’s afterword, it will add to the reader’s appreciation of the book.

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was recommended this by a friend consistently for a month. Was never invested or interested. I knew going in it would be hard to compete with Mr Kerrs series around the same time period. A little underwhelming and the main character didnt grab me and invite me to read more. I managed to finish it but probably wont be reading much more on this character.

[Gram · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read 250 pages of this book and gave up. It's not often I don't finish a book but this one seemed to get bogged down as it went along. Whole chapters seemed utterly pointless. Do yourself a favour and read the late Philip Kerr's "Bernie Gunther" series. I enjoyed Chris Petit's "The Psalm Killer" which also had a tortuous plot, but this one proved too much for my patience.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gory grotesque of a crime novel. Set in the horror that 1942 Berlin was during the final arrests of the Jewish population, the constant savagery recounted in great deal does not feel gratuitous if only beacuase of the period.

[Studvet · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was "OK" but was not up to the standard expected. It was interesting because of its times and historical setting but in another way it was boring and pedestrian. Characters kept jumping around all over the place and quite often nothing made much sense and often you had to re - read the paragraphs to get his meaning and who says it. Much of it seemed far - fetched and incoherent in its structure and there is little if any empathy for the shallow characters and little logical development of their behaviour. Basically, it's all a bit of a mish - mash and, despite the premise, pedestrian and uninvolving. I only finished it to find out the "real story". Very disappointing.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Petit lost me at the point a soggy cheroot was likened to a ‘dog’s dick’.

The writing was initially strong, but then isn’t every author working hard to impress you in those early chapters? Although atmospheric, the historical detail for me was lacking. The mystery was unengaging, needlessly gory and the descriptions of women/assault/murder vulgar. (I know, an antiquated word, but I can’t think of another that sums the novel up so aptly.)

I bailed out about a quarter of the way through. Perhaps I’ll try some Philip Kerr.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having just finished a Philip Kerr (Bernie Gunther) I thought this would be a good bet. However I really struggled to finish this. The story is decent but the writing is poor. If you want to read a good crime thriller set in Nazi Berlin then just read Philip Kerr.

[Sophs · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mean I don't know what I could possibly say about this book - I wanted to like it, but I just didn't. I couldn't get into the story, it was long winded and felt that certain parts were unnecessary - meh.

[A.K. Kulshreshth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't remember when I last didn't finish a book. With audio books, I try to finish at >100% speeds if I don't like them. I did get to 130% with this one, but had to stop close to the end - at a point (described in some detail) where a dead man is flayed. His skin comes off easily because he is steamed.

I am aware, of course, that it might work for other readers. It's just not for anyone who is remotely squeamish. This book needs to carry a warning about graphic content. And that I got to it is a reminder to me that AI is often over-rated. This is clearly a case of a "recommendation engine" pointing me to a book I should never have picked up in the first place.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay but I kept getting confused and then would have to recheck what I had read. It did come together at the end

[Paul Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

WARNING FOR MINOR SPOILERS

August Schlegel is a young detective with the Berlin Criminal Police. But this is no ordinary time to be a copper. It’s 1943, and the tide of the war is turning against Nazi Germany. The capital city is now regularly bombed, there is nothing but bad news from the front, and the government is virtually in hiding. The population meanwhile, attempts to lead as normal an existence as possible, but is hungry, weary and increasingly lawless.

Schlegel, himself, is a poor specimen of a police officer. Half English on his aristocratic mother’s side, he’s still a loyal German, but earlier in the war, rather foolishly, he was lured into joining the Einsatzkruppen, a mobile police battalion whose job was follow the army advancing into Russia, under the impression that he’d be rounding up partisans. Instead, he found himself participating in the firing squad massacres of civilians, mainly Jews. So horrendous did Schlegel find this work that he suffered a severe nervous breakdown, his hair turning white overnight. Sent home to recuperate, he was placed on ‘light duties’ in the form of attachment to a low-priority financial crimes unit.

Now, however, somewhat inexplicably, he is summoned by Homicide boss, Stoffel, to a murder/suicide. It’s a curious case, an elderly Jewish war-hero, Metzler, killing his building’s block warden by shooting, and then taking his own life. Stoffel explains that Schlegel has got the job simply because he was in the police station at the time, but that doesn’t explain why the case is being investigated at all. Metzler, the perpetrator, is dead already, and in any case, there are now daily round-ups, those few Jews remaining in Berlin being systematically deported to the east; why bother trying to prove that a Jew was responsible, because it won’t matter either way? Police Chief Nebe will shed no light on it and is vexed when questioned. Even more mysterious, is the arrival of the black-uniformed Eiko Morgen, a member of the SS judiciary, who declares that he’s now Schlegel’s partner in the investigation but declines to explain why or under whose authority.

No sooner has this unlikely duo embarked on their enquiry than further murders follow, both men and women slain, and these killings are infinitely more grotesque, the bodies found flayed, dismembered, and sometimes with money stuffed into their orifices. The convoluted enquiry, which is much distracted by daily events in a near-anarchic city where everyone is corrupt and no-one trustworthy, eventually leads to a hideous old slaughterhouse, where an oddball collection of workers is quick to blame the crimes on a gang of Jewish butchers, who were seeking to sew discord in the city but who now can’t be traced as they’ve all been deported. At the same time, just in case this dead-end doesn’t put paid to the enquiry, Stoffel pulls in a half-witted criminal who is willing to plead guilty to all the crimes, and many more, on the condition that he’ll be sent to a hospital rather than the guillotine.

Morgen, for one, is unconvinced, certain that the suspect is too dim to have carried out so many killings successfully and feeling that he’s been framed for the sake of convenience. When more murders follow, Nebe’s solution is simply to cover them up, Morgen and Schlegel feeling more like undertakers than detectives, but nevertheless continuing to investigate, their suspicions crystallising around a possible smuggling/counterfeiting ring and leading them back, almost inevitably, to that dingy slaughterhouse.

While all this is going on, in a parallel thread, we follow the fortunes of two young German women. Lore and Sybil are not just Jews, but lesbian lovers, which also makes them persona non grata in the eyes of the Nazis. If that isn’t enough, Sybil is a witness to the Metzler shooting, but daren’t come forward because she’s only surviving in Berlin by the skin of her teeth as it is. The duo moves about continually, just below the notice of the authorities, but are in danger all the time and suffer constant harassment and abuse. In due course, they are separated, and Sybil finds herself at the mercy of ruthless Gestapo chief, Gersten, who adds her to his cadre of so-called ‘catchers’, a group of alluring Jewish women – headed up by the ultra cold-hearted Stella Kübler, (‘Blonde Poison’ as her paymasters call her, and as they called her in real-life, because she was an actual person!), who are allowed to live in comfort and safety so long as they inform on their own people.

In a world where only the callous and vicious seem to prosper, Gersten is one of the worst people Sybil has ever met. But she isn’t alone in that assessment. Gersten’s name increasingly crops up in Schlegel and Morgen’s enquiry, neither of the investigators liking him, though both are wary of the power he wields.

Meanwhile, the murder victims pile up, the bombs continue to fall, and all around them the madness of a declining, collapsing society rages on. The mystery deepens steadily, Schlegel increasingly convinced that whatever conspiracy lies at the heart of it will only be exposed under the costliest circumstances. And at this stage, he doesn’t know the half of it …

The first thing that struck me about The Butchers of Berlin was how harrowing (and presumably how realistic) a portrayal it is of a city teetering on the edge of damnation.

It’s the very height of World War II, but the war itself seems a long way away; German troops are fighting, but still on distant battlefields, there are only two bombing raids (though both are colossally destructive), and there is little discussion about military tactics or the fortunes of the nation, other than a resigned acknowledgement that the armies of National Socialism are finally in retreat. But the consequences of Hitler’s insane policies have bent a once cultured German society out of all shape and recognition. Little has been done to improve the city’s industrial infrastructure since the cash-strapped days of the Weimer Republic (and the bombing has flattened much of that – so, queue some very neat evocation of German cinematic expressionism by Chris Petit, who is also a renowned film-maker!). Wounded and deranged men lurk everywhere. Rationing and shortages have cut deeply into the heart of normal life. Most folk are impoverished, the black market is flourishing, crime rates have soared, and there is violence and rowdiness on the rubble-strewn streets – not everyone, it seems, is cowed by the Nazis. Meanwhile, everyday morality has virtually disappeared. The criminal police are incompetent, uninterested and most of the time drunk. There is widespread prostitution and depravity, racketeering and dishonesty are commonplace, the all-licensed Hitler Youth are running wild (behaving in lunatic and degenerate fashion), and when someone disappears it is simply accepted that they’ve been ‘sent to a camp’, with no-one especially concerned about where or why.

And then of course, there are the pogroms.

Those few remaining Jews who don’t wish to be rounded up and deported indulge in all kinds of chicanery, bribery, concealment and impersonation to remain at liberty, and even then, must tough it out in ways that only a few years earlier they’d have found intolerable. This is nowhere better exemplified than in the traumatised characters of Sybil and Lore, who have come to accept rape and blackmail as a daily occurrence and are more than willing to participate in pornography so long as it buys them a meal. Respectability as a concept no longer has meaning. Instead, survival is all. Even the upper class, as represented by Schlegel’s mother and her friends are faking it, partying, gossiping and affecting a façade of mischievous superiority, while at the same time, lying, cheating and playing constant games of one-upmanship simply to maintain a semblance of the lifestyle they once knew.

Berlin in 1943 is truly a city of ruins. A socio-political Hellscape where the population live like rats in anticipation of the approaching Apocalypse.

Against this Dantean backdrop, August Schlegel is almost an incidental character, partly because Chris Petit consciously imbues him with few redeeming features. He’s not an evil man – that’s about the best you can say for him, but he’s weak and tired and torn by his conscience. He’s also, for much of the narrative, a passenger, confused by the unfolding mystery as he travels on the coat-tails of Eiko Morgen, who is probably the first SS character I’ve encountered in fiction to elicit some degree of sympathy, though this isn’t easily won.

Morgen initially appears as a sinister hardcase, both intellectually and physically; he’s secretive, he’s cold, he’s far from friendly, and though he becomes an ally of Schlegel’s, he never really amounts to more than that – he’s certainly not what you’d call a companion. But it’s often a relief to see him, because whenever Morgen is present, the forces of darkness gathering around our main hero appear to retreat a little. Even so, because we never really know who Morgen works for – it could be Heinrich Himmler himself! – we’re never sure that Schegel should fully trust him, even though we’re glad he’s there.

But this is par for the course in a book where almost everyone is flawed, or at least compromised. We already know about Schlegel’s history as an Einsatzkommando, which, even though he was fooled into it and even though he is tortured by regret, is a ghastly blot on his soul. At least Schlegel has a conscience, though. In contrast, fellow cops Nebe and Stoffel are pathetic examples of public servants who after years of genuine service have now opted for the easier course, towing the party line, subverting the law, framing the innocent, and passing the buck at every opportunity. Even the Jews themselves display vengeful and villainous traits, Metzler shooting one of his persecutors through the eye, Stella Kübler, the senior Jew-catcher, much more then just a femme fatale, a literal black widow who revels in her status as a sexually empowered predator.

Then we have the actual villains, of course, such as Gersten and his lackeys, who are every bit as evil as you’d expect. The Gestapo chief epitomises that weird contradiction of Nazi Germany, wherein apparently civilised but in fact deeply maladjusted individuals used newly acquired power, which they’d never really earned, to pretend they were still pillars of their community while at the same time behaving like raving, demented beasts.

By comparison, heroines Lore and Sybil are almost impossibly innocent, the former tragically overconfident that they will somehow make it through this maelstrom, the latter more easily frightened and thus more circumspect about their chances. I don’t want to say too much more about the female leads, because that would give away an unconscionable amount of story-line. Suffice to say that, despite Schlegel’s best efforts, they are torn from pillar to post, and that much of the terror and suspense, which ramps up dramatically in the second half of the book, comes at the expense of Sybil in particular, whose attempts to preserve her own life are increasingly desperate and miserable.

It’s a grim fact of The Butchers of Berlin that the brualisation of human beings, both in mind and body, is never stinted on – and that doesn’t just end with the mutilation victims.

Not everyone has taken to this, some reviewers commenting that it isn’t so much a wartime thriller as a horror novel, others calling it insensitive to the real atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. My response to this would be that if you’re writing seriously about this time and place, then sugar-coating any aspect of it would be doing a disservice to history. If you don’t think it should be written about at all, that’s a different argument, but we’ve seen action-adventures set during wartime, as well as serious dramas, we’ve seen romances, comedies, musicals – is it really so outrageous to set a murder-mystery in the same milieu? And if it is, does that mean we shouldn’t set fiction and/or drama in Northern Ireland during the Troubles or in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, or even during the plague years of the Middle Ages. All these disasters are part of real human experience which we can’t simply ignore, so the argument doesn’t hold water for me.

Whatever your view on that, I thoroughly enjoyed The Butchers of Berlin, and have no hesitation recommending it to all crime and thriller fans (and yes, probably to horror fans too). It’s about as dark a novel as I’ve ever read. But it’s not just a gore-fest. It’s wonderfully written, very tense and very compelling. It’s also an intellectual exercise. It’ll demand a lot of you if you’re going to fathom the mystery out, so you’ve got to pay attention to every detail, no matter how apparently minor. Do that, though, and you’ll be very amply rewarded – so long as you’ve got the belly for it.

[Kerry Algar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, on the surface a straightforward police and crime story but it is the setting that means there is much more to it.
Set in Berlin in1943 when the signs of defeat for Nazi Germany are looming in the distance, the narrative sees Schlegel, a detective in the Criminal Police attempting to solve a murder by and then suicide of a Jewish old soldier as well as a series of gruesome mutilations and killings. He is joined unexpectedly by an S.S. Officer, Morgan, with a past and motives that are hidden, in his attempt to find the perpetrators. At the same time, the Jewish population of Berlin is being rounded up at a frantic pace as the murderous final solution accelerates, and Sybil is just one of many who are attempting to stay alive and avoid detection. What the novel does well is juxtapose the serial murders with the already murderous situation that the Jews and other opponents of the Nazis are facing. The whole moral compass has disappeared as the society faces a chaotic descent into the barbarism of the Nazis and their attempts at annihilation and ordinary citizens spare faced with unimaginable choices. There is little light in this story and it also sketches the utter inhumanity, irrationalism and extreme criminality of the Nazi regime, its ideas and its actions. The infighting and naked profiteering of the hierarchy and the squirming and vacillations of the powerful are well presented as the story develops. The writing is good, and the tension palpable throughout, although at times it can be a little difficult to follow in the machinations of it’s plot. What is most striking is the way a society that is warped and murderous can function and attempt to deal with what would be horrific in any other society, while organising and sanctioning the greater horror that is being carried out around it. As the first part of a trilogy , the reader will no doubt come to see how the characters here may respond. The main protagonists in this story have become mired in the system that has demanded them to begin to perhaps see it for the horror that it is and have already set the wheels in motion for their own conflict with the Nazi regime.

[Linda Boa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow on crimeworm.WordPress.com.

An engaging, complex crime investigation set in Nazi Germany, just as it's apparent the tide of war has turned against them. Our hero, who normally investigates financial crime, Schlegel, ends up looking into a series of murders with SS officer Morgen, who has a reputation as a loose cannon. When they are told to cease the investigation they stubbornly continue, stumbling into shocking depravity, even for wartime. Throughout the book we encounter Sybil, a Jewish girl, who witnessed the first murder and who they want to speak to. Obviously Sybil is avoiding them as most Jews are now gone, or hiding out, apart from those who provide useful services to the German establishment - which includes Schlegel's mother, who, through her second husband, Schlegel's stepfather, is somewhat influential.
But Sybil is untraceable until a superior policeman, Gersten, catches her and sets her up as a Jew catcher - one who catches and snitches on their own people. Queen of this is Stella, who seduces men and if they are circumcised she knows she's right. Despite living in comparative luxury with her girlfriend Lore in the block assigned to the valuable catchers, Sybil is disgusted at her role. At least her mother is safe - a respected reader of cards and fortune teller to the elite, who pray for good news for Germany.
With a much bigger cast than I've mentioned here, including a drunk Irish poet and lecturer who uses his position to seduce female students, this is an epic tale of foul and diabolical doings, where no-one is quite sure who they can trust. Will Schlegel, who's never fired a gun on duty, survive the conspiracies swirling around? Why does Morgen keep disappearing - is he reporting to someone above him in the SS? And can Schlegel trust this strange taciturn man? With a denouement worthy of a Hollywood film, who will survive? Bloody excellent book!

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

A taut, gripping and menacing novel set in wartime Berlin - 4 stars

Berlin 1943. Why is August Schlegel being called out on a homicide case when he works in financial crimes? Why did the old Jewish soldier with an Iron Cross shoot the block warden in the eye then put a bullet through his own head? Why does Schlegel persist with the case when no one cares because the Jews are all being shipped out anyway? And why should Eiko Morgen, wearing the dreaded black uniform of the SS, turn up and say he has been assigned to work with him? These questions are answered very effectively in this really good wartime novel.

The book expertly details the efforts of Schlegel to solve a series of murders occurring in the city at a time of the mass transportation of the remaining Jewish residents, under the auspices of the SS. A group of Jewish Butchers are initially blamed for the flayed female corpse discovered on their premises, a possible act of retaliation against their oppressors, but this is not an open and shut case.

Conjuring a wartime Berlin where atrocities get lost against a ground of escalating Holocaust and crumbling rationales, this story penetrates down to the marrow. It may be too galling for some readers not of a strong constitution but I loved it. It is very dark and there are some graphic details of violence and sexual activity, some of which are over the top and probably unnecessary. Fiction blends seamlessly with fact and at the heart of the book lies a good story.

I would say the book is slightly too long (470 pages) and some passages are hard work to get through in terms of the style of writing, but this is a solid read and I recommend it to hardened crime thriller readers who don't mind some gore and an, at times, complex story line. If you like excellent character development and a very neat and satisfying last 30 pages then this is one of the books for you.

Digger95

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

[Livia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars
Very well-written - there were many times where I couldn't put this book down, it was that interesting. What I wasn't a fan of was that it got a bit too detailed about the killings in some places. And towards the end, I started to get a bit confused about what was happening plot-wise. Throughout the book, I found myself having to reread some parts, as the language used can get a bit intellectual... not the kind of words used in everyday conversation.

(Book provided for free in order to give an honest and unbiased review.)

{My in-depth review can be found: http://www.planetbooks.com.au/the-but... }

[Eva Lehmann-Bauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it to be honest, much preferred Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther. And why does it always have to be SS and Kripo?

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journey to the heart of darkness.

Not an easy read but one that left silent for sometime once I had finished it. To compare this book to the Bernie Gunther series, as a crime novel set in war time Berlin, misses the point of the Chris Petit tale. It's like saying that his novel "The Psalm Killer" is a murder story set in Belfast.
I thought the book explored the disintegration of a society and how individuals managed to survive, both physically and mentally, when all around them the world was turning to a real living hell.
I think Phillip Kerr does "do" Berlin better because it is integral to the Bernie Gunther series whereas for Chris Petit it is almost incidental, it's Dante's inferno set in a German city.
The brutality can at times be shocking and stomach turning, but how could it not be considering the setting. The easy callousness is breathtaking, as is the story of the "catchers", the Jewish Greifers who worked for the Gestapo. By the end of the book I struggled to not see everyone as victim and villain, as everybody seemed to be victims of circumstance, moulded by the horror of a regime that seemed to survive by destroying all semblance of morality. In the end the victim was humanity.
I think Jonathan Littrells "The Kindly Ones" is a better view of the breakdown of German society, " Please Mein Herr, shoot the children cleanly" still haunts me now; and Daniel Goldenhagens " Hitler's Willing Executioners" is by far the best book on how German society worked with the Nazi machine, but they do not diminish "The Butchers of Berlin", this is still a very fine book, albeit an uncomfortable one.

[Nicki · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was such a hard slog. I was reading it at the start of lockdown and in seven weeks, I should have ploughed through at least seven books, more probably given all the time I had to read. But I hardly ever picked up this book to pass the time.

The plot meanders and could have been much tighter. The characters aren't interesting and never develop. Some of the violence is just plain nasty. Plus the way it's written is sometimes strange. Things like the dialogue, where one minute it's direct speech complete with speech marks, the next it reports what the respondent said. I don't like that. It takes me out of the flow of the story.

I finally finished this today and I'm glad it's over with, but I didn't enjoy it.

[Marc Diepstraten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very dark book, which clearly describes the horror and brutality of the regime of Berlin in WW2. Fictional but with historical figures playing a part. Inevitably comparisons are made to writers who write about the same period with police procedurals or investigative stories, such as Alan Furst, Luke McCallin, Joseph Kanon and Philip Kerr.
What these others manage and Petit doesn't pull off, is sympathy for the lead character. I didn't really care about the fate of Schegl and for me that's a different engagement with a book, than rooting for your man to succeed. I found the character Morgen more to my liking but he slips in and out of the story. Petit can write though and the story is very grim and undoubtedly could have happened.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read The Psalm Killer a number of years back I was pleased to rediscover Chris Petit as I loved that book.

Unfortunately the book doesn't compare favourably with Psalm Killer nor does it compare well to other books / series set in Germany during WW2. As mentioned by other reviewers this comes no where near the quality of the Philip Kerr Bernie Gunter series. I found the gratuitous violence and sexual references tiresome and the latter irrelevant to the story in most cases. - disappointing

[Thekirkiepirate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book hard going. This was expected at the start, as I thought that the subject matter would be harrowing. Whilst this was certainly the case, I found it very hard to engage with the text.

The style is quite disjointed, not unlike some of David Peace's work, which makes it quite hard to follow at times.

On the plus side, it was interesting to read a novel set in WW2, but written from a German perspective.

However, I won't be seeking out any more of Chris Petit's work.

[Tim Barker · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good bits are that some of the characters are real and the atmosphere is suitably dire, but the bad bit is that there are too many characters with in distinct roles and drivers as well as being somewhat underdeveloped- maybe this is built upon in later books... Philip Kerr has boxed off this WW II Berlin genre and this feels like an attempt to get into the market ... however, full marks for the research

[MS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, I hate it when an an author wastes some interesting characters and an intriguing premise :( In this case, the problem lies with the writing style, which resembles very much script writing. Scene after scene is chronicled, told in a fashion that doesn't allow you to become involved or attached to whatever is happening. This would indeed work much better in film form, so I gotta abandon this book for now and prolly forever.

[Archiegitdog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Randomly picked this book up on holiday in Portugal with no idea of the plot or the author and what a great find it was. I struggled with the first one hundred pages but thereafter I could not put it down. It is confusing, full of devious plots and very gruesome but I enjoyed every moment of it. I shall be buying more books written by Chris Petit!!!

[Dan Downing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading history set in wartime Germany---WWII, that is---can be disconcerting, always revolting. When a fine writer adds personality and depth to the monsters, the task of reading can become onerous. In the present instance a flood of characters amid a wave of complications that go on chapter after chapter become a burden. Too pointlessly grim, too long.

[Bill McFadyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the characters in this very dark book are based on real life people who lived in Berlin of the 1940s.
This is a very savage book - however I suggest that Berlin in 1942 - more so if you were Jewish or a member of the Nazi regime was very savage.

[Richard Humphreys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to follow, requiring re-reading of paragraphs to make sense of the plot. Far too much going on described equally in too much depth or not enough to make for a good read. Throw away sex snippets cheapen rather than enrich the story. Thomas Harris’s Fatherland it is not.