Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Beton Rouge by Simone Buchholz. (Translated by Rachel Ward) It's criminal noir with characters who are bigger than the plot, which makes them the story. This is the second book in the Chastity Riley series and hopefully not the last.
About the Author
Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award, and second place in the German Crime Fiction Prize, for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.
Follow @ohneKlippo @OrendaBooks on Twitter,Visit simonebuchholz.com, Buy Beton Rouge
About the book
The second book in the critically acclaimed Chastity Riley series.
On a warm September morning, a man is found unconscious and tortured in a cage at the entrance to the offices of one of Germany’s biggest magazines. He’s soon identified as a manager of the company. Three days later, another manager appears in a similar way.
The magazine staff were facing significant layoffs, so sympathy for the two men is in short supply. Chastity Riley and her new colleague Ivo Stepanovic are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the attacks, an investigation that goes far beyond the revenge they first suspect, to the dubious past shared by both victims. Travelling to the south of Germany, they step into the hothouse world of boarding schools, where secrets are currency, and monsters are bred…monsters who will stop at nothing to protect themselves.
I think what I enjoy most about the particular style Buchholz brings to the table, is the 'I don't care what is going on around me - my grasp on reality and life in general is more important' attitude of the main character. This is what gives the Chastity Riley series a distinctive noir touch, and of course the more brusque character interaction and dialogue.
She always seems, and interestingly enough she says it herself, completely distanced from everything and everyone, including the cases she works on. Imagine the universe of Chastity and all the other characters are fellow planets circling the sun.
When she is roped into an unusual case involving a man being found naked in a small cage in a public area, she is also introduced to the person in charge of the case, Stepanovic. The meeting of the two is one of the most fascinating elements of this book.
A shout-out to the author for Stepanovic and the anti-Delorean theory. Now I finally understand the no man's land of the mind and consciousness. Combining his baggage and thought process with that of Chastity's very own brand of dealing with life and her relationships was a stroke of genius.
The two of them try to understand the mind-set of a perpetrator, who wants to scare and humiliate their victim, and at the same time figure out why nobody has any empathy for the victim.
The phrase Schmidt's Cat is used quite a few times in the book. Schmidt's Cat (Schmidt's Katze) is a phrase used in more recent eras to describe something or someone moving at an incredibly fast speed. Historically - Schmidt derives from the German word Schmied (blacksmith). The blacksmiths would often own a cat that was used to chase the mice away, and the cat would scarper as fast it could when the blacksmith banged his hammer, hence as fast as Schmidt's Cat.
So as it relates to the boy in the story becomes Sebastian Schmidt's cat. A well thought out sardonic twist that gets lost in translation somewhat. So, once again with the idiomatic expressions.
I have a feeling that Buchholz is just getting started, and not just where the Chastity Riley series is concerned. She has a fresh, brash voice and isn't afraid to use it. It's criminal noir with characters who are bigger than the plot, which makes them the story. Definitely an author to watch out for.
Buy Beton Rouge at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Orenda Books; Paperback pub date 21 Feb 2019, Kindle pub date 28 Dec 2018
Read my review of Blue Night (Chastity Riley #1) by Simone Buchholz
So pleased you enjoyed this Cheryl. Thanks for the blog tour support x
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