Dead of Night: A Berlin Wartime Thriller

Scarrow’s gripping sequel to 2021’s Blackout again centers on German cop Horst Schenke as he seeks justice under the Nazis. In 1940, at the request of Ruth Frankel, a young Jewish woman trapped in Berlin who helped Schenke catch a serial killer the previous year, the inspector reopens the case of Manfred Schmesler, an SS doctor who’d been a Frankel family friend before he joined the Nazi Party. Even after he joined, Schmesler and his wife, Brigitte, helped the Frankels with food and money at great personal risk. Now, Schmesler is dead of an apparent suicide. He was found in his study with a gun near his hand and a note apologizing to his wife for taking his own life. Brigitte refuses to accept that her husband killed himself, and as Schenke digs into the evidence, he comes to agree. His unrelenting and dangerous search for the truth takes him into the dark heart of WWII-era Berlin. Scarrow keeps the pages turning with brisk action, well-drawn characters, and a gift for historical detail. Bernie Gunther fans looking for a new series to sink their teeth into should check this out. (Dec.)