Published 2nd February 2023 by Headline.
From the cover of the book:
BERLIN. JANUARY 1940.After Germany's invasion of Poland, the world is holding its breath and hoping for peace. At home, the Nazi Party's hold on power is absolute.
One freezing night, an SS doctor and his wife return from an evening mingling with their fellow Nazis at the concert hall. By the time the sun rises, the doctor will be lying lifeless in a pool of blood.
Was it murder or suicide? Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke is told that under no circumstances should he investigate. The doctor's widow, however, is convinced her husband was the target of a hit. But why would anyone murder an apparently obscure doctor? Compelled to dig deeper, Schenke learns of the mysterious death of a child. The cases seem unconnected, but soon chilling links begin to emerge that point to a terrifying secret.
Even in times of war, under a ruthless regime, there are places in hell no man should ever enter. And Schenke fears he may not return alive . . .
***********
Berlin, 1940. After Germany's invasion of Poland, many still hope that a peace can be agreed before the mayhem of all out war begins in earnest. The shortages are already being felt, as resources are diverted to the war effort, and the brutal, endless winter is starting to hit hard.
The apparent suicide of an SS doctor gives Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke something to distract him from the freezing temperatures, and his personal troubles. The doctor's wife is determined that her husband would never have killed himself, and asks Schenke for his help in proving that he was murdered. Schenke and his associates, Sergeant Hauser and Gestapo transfer Scharfuher Liebwitz, are inclined to agree with her view after examining the evidence. However, when they are ordered by the powers that be not to interfere with the official verdict of suicide, they must comply.
Instead, Schenke and his team turn their attention to the mysterious death of a young child, and what they uncover both chills them to the bone, and appears to be connected to the murder of the Berlin doctor in some way. They have stumbled across a huge secret which reaches far into the highest echelons of the Nazi Party, and in doing so, have put themselves in grave danger.
Dead of Night is a cracking thriller that cleverly uses a police procedural, and mix of fact and fiction, to explore some very disturbing wartime history. It is all too easy to be overwhelmed with the horror of the atrocities meted out by the Nazis in pursuit of their racial hygiene policies, but this story superbly distils down some of the horrors by bringing in a human element that not only makes this easier to shockingly get your head around in a small way, but also flays you to the emotional bone.
In this tale, we are still in the early days of WWII, in the strange period before all out conflict got underway, despite the declaration of war on Germany in September 1939. Hitler's plan to 'purify' the German nation, by disposing of 'defective' humans through secret programmes of euthanasia, lies at the heart of the story.
Intriguingly, this is a mystery set within the police department in Berlin in 1940, which I do not think I have read about before, and the concept is simply brilliant. Among the all the compelling police investigative elements you would expect, Scarrow brings in so much about the complexities of the political situation in Berlin at this time, and the twisted ideology of the Nazi Party. The picture he paints is flooded with menacing themes of suspicion, propaganda, persecution, in-fighting, and control, and these work deliciously against the atmosphere created by the freezing winter temperatures. The fear of spoilers prevents me from giving away too much, but the way he explores the conflicting feelings of apparently 'good' people coerced into heinous acts alongside those who fanatically adhere to them is done with such skill, delving into twisting threads around silence and struggles of conscience. Scarrow chooses his characters well too. The dynamic between Schenke and his team is really interesting, especially with young Liebwitz, who no one seems to trust given his Gestapo background. There is lovely character development across the story, that also bodes well for the next book in the series.
This is powerful stuff, that will deeply unsettle you, and an enthralling departure for Scarrow from the ancient times that are the subjects of his usual historical fiction novels. It is filled with black, white and shades of grey that leave you asking thought provoking questions about the motives and behaviour of humankind, and also how you would have behave yourself in the same circumstances - just what the very best kind of historical fiction should do. I have not read the first book in this series, Blackout, which is an error I will be putting right in short order, and I cannot wait for book three.
Dead of Night is available to buy now in hard cover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ransom PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Simon Scarrow is also the author of a quartet of novels about the lives of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte, YOUNG BLOODS, THE GENERALS, FIRE AND SWORD and THE FIELDS OF DEATH; a novel about the 1565 Siege of Malta, SWORD & SCIMITAR; HEARTS OF STONE, set in Greece during the Second World War; and PLAYING WITH DEATH, a contemporary thriller written with Lee Francis. He also wrote the novels ARENA and INVADER with T. J. Andrews.
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