Blackout by Simon Scarrow

Blackout is an excellent WWII historical fiction novel which takes place in December 1939 in Berlin. Simon Scarrow is a prolific author of historical fiction novels, but this is the first one reviewed in this blog. By December of 1939, Hitler had already invaded Poland, therefore breaking the Munich Agreement between the English Prime Minister Chamberlain and Hitler regarding nonagression. While the Nazi forces were working to subdue the captured Poles, Berlin was struggling with the new Nazi Party, the changes that were happening in the country, the cold winter, and all the food and fuel shortages. In the midst of this disorganization of Germany, a series of murders were occuring along the Berlin railways.

The protagonist was Criminal Inspector Schenke, who importantly was not a member of the Nazi Party. He argued that he was a professional police officer who worked to keep the citizens safe and he had no interest in a party affiliation. The title of the book has to do with Berlin being in blackout mode every night, and that allowed all types of criminal activity to go on during the long cold nights. Schenke actually worked for Kripo, a group of highly professional investigators, but the usual police officers were gradually coming under the control of the Gestapo, led by Heinrich Himmler and his deputy Richard Heydrich. Himmler had formed the SS which gradually began to dominate all forms of law enforcement within Germany.

The Nazi party seemed to have an unexpected interest in this case and began putting unusual pressure on Schenke with regard to his findings. Meanwhile, the death toll was mounting. Women were being sexually assaulted and murdered. The method of murder was very specific, and despite the Nazi interference Schenke kept following the evidence. The one of the assaulted women got away after having wounded her assailant, but since she was a Jewess, her credibility was immediately devalued. Another party official said, “A Jewess?... How can we trust the word of a Jew…. You might as well trust a pack of rats.” When Schenke said she had not given him any reason to believe she was lying, Muller said, “Of course not. They’re far too crafty for that.” Certainly, the disregard and mistreatment of the Jews left his reader very uncomfortable.

In short, the characters of the police, the victims, and the Nazis were all well described and believable. I did not see the conclusion coming until it was on top of me. The writing is excellent and compelling. The historical fiction aspect only added to the drama. The ending was appropriate to the historical setting, but one that was otherwise unsettling. This story gets my strongest recommendation.

 

WCD