Stasi Wolf, David Young

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher *

Stasi Wolf, David YoungAuthor: David Young
Publisher: Zaffre
Pages: 416
Format: DRC
ISBN-10: 1785760688
ISBN-13: 9781785760686
Series: Karin Müller #2
Publisher: eBook | Hardcover | Paperback
TITELBOEK

3 stars

East Germany, 1975. Karin Müller, sidelined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing.
But Müller soon finds her problems have followed her. Halle-Neustadt is a new town - the pride of the communist state - and she and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town's flawless image.
Meanwhile, in the eerily nameless streets and tower blocks, a child snatcher lurks, and the clock is ticking to rescue the twins alive . . .

This book is a great mystery novel. Young babies being kidnapped and show up again either dead or alive. Karin has to find out what happened and is being transferred to the town of Halle Neu from Berlin. It is obviously some kind of retribution that she has to go there but it stayed unclear to me why exactly. A lot of politics or maybe something that happened in the first book I did not read. The town of Halle-Neustadt is really weird and scary. It made me so curious I looked up pictures.
The mystery of the disappearing babies is not the only problem Karin is having. The Stasi is deeply involved in the investigation and it is unclear why. As the secrets unravel the case becomes personal and endangers Karin and her companions eventually. The ties between all these people and all the different parts they play in the story get a bit to mixed which disturbed me a bit. I felt it would be enough if they would just play the one part, maybe a few with a double part but it felt as if all of them had more than one part.
I did like Karin as a character. In a very masculine environment she was a strong woman. Keeping her head up and not accepting nonsense. Franzie her chapters were very disturbing and confusing. I did not enjoy those very much.
There are some nice surprises in the book. Thing you do not see coming. Still it was possible to solve a few parts of the mystery yourself too, which I really like.
Though referred to a few times I was not disturbed in my reading by the fact I did not read the first book.
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