Snow White must die - Nele Neuhaus

'Tobias Sartorius' has served 11 years in prison after being convicted of killing 2 girls and has been released as Nele Neuhaus's 'Snow white must die' begins. Though Tobias has always maintained that he is innocent, he also cannot remember anything of the events of the day when he is supposed to have killed the 2 girls. The beginning does remind us of Hakan Nasser's 'The Return' and Tana French's 'In the Woods',  but Neuhaus creates her own path to the murky depths of human behavior. 

A mystery set in a small village could be an easy cop-out, just mention that the village is small, that everyone knows everyone, throw a bit of gossip and you have a small town mystery. But right from the prologue Neuhaus gets the setting, tone and mood perfect. The prologue starts of with a disturbing image. It begins as what seems to be a common enough scenario in crime fiction, where someone seems to be imprisoned and the person who has imprisoned the captive has come to see her. He makes sure that the captive has everything that is needed, including playing music etc. But something seems to be wrong, it doesn't seem to be a case of kidnapping and slowly we realize that whoever had been imprisoned is not alive (and has been probably dead for quite a long time) and the person has been taking care of a corpse. Scary. (Having communicated implicitly that the captive is dead, why did Neuhaus have to state it explicitly at the end of the prologue? A bit more confidence in the reader would do writers a whole lot of good).

The setting of Altenhain village, between 2 mountains, with the woods nearby add to the eerie atmosphere. Add to this the mob mentality of the villagers when Tobias returns to his home, the various characters who all seem to be disturbed by his return (unlike a majority of the villagers who just seem to hate having a murderer in their village,  these characters seem to be  personally involved in events of the past), a young man suffering (apparently) from autism who seems to know more than what he lets on, an curious teenager (who is also an outsider) who is interested in the past, you get a novel (and the village in it) waiting to explode.

Nelehaus maintains the narrative tension for the first half well, with multiple scenarios for what could have happened in the past and several suspects for them. Nelehaus is ambitious in the scope of the novel and even if there are too many threads going around, all them are neatly tied with the core of the novel and do make sense. The motivation of each character is pitch perfect, but the manner in which the investigators (and Nelehaus) arrive at it is not. And that's because, she overextends herself,  gets entangled in her own web of threads and is in such a hurry to resolve every doubt that she had sown in the mind of the reader (and the investigators), that the unraveling of the mystery seems more like the unraveling of her narrative skills. There are the obligatory parallel threads of the personnel life of the lead investigators which is functional. In a way, it is actually a good thing because we are not distracted from the core of the novel, but it could also be a deterrent in case of a series (as opposed to in a standalone mystery) when you are not invested into the main protagonists. 

The novels works more as a powerful human drama than as a taut mystery. A drama of power, and its abuse in various forms. The cunning manifestation of power masquerading as compassion, the power of sexuality and the sexual jealousy it causes. The drama of families broken apart by a tragic event, the tragic event itself acting as a canvas where the villagers can paint their 

pseudo-solicitousness and holier than thou attitude all the while harboring great glee at the opportunity to gossip and badmouth others and reveling in the misfortune of others. The sad state of Tobias's father is one such instance. His once famous restaurant had to be closed due to lack of patronage, his farm had to be mortgaged, house went to seed, got divorced from his wife, he also has to bear the taunts of the villagers. One could argue as to why he should suffer for what his son did and one could rationalize that it was an unfortunate, but unavoidable side-effect of what his son did (or what the villagers thought he did). But towards the end, when one gets to know the truth behind the events,  it is clear that more than righteousness  or moral outrage, it  was the jealousy and spite that the villagers harbored towards the family to Tobias that made them turn against them without any compunction. 

This is also about how being a complicit bystander, where one chooses to not do/to ignore/turn the other way,  causes as much heartburn as what one actually does. And it is the power and depth of this human drama, that makes one hope that Neuhaus can provide us more tighter mysteries without compromising on the human core.

P.S

As is the case in the translation of most authors, it looks like Nele Neuhaus's books are being translated out of order. This seems to her 7th book (as per one of her interviews) and it is not clear whether her earlier works were standalone novels or if they too had the detectives  Pia and Oliver in them. Early on in this novel, there is a reference to an earlier investigation. If that investigation is indeed an earlier novel in this series, the reference here could work as a kind of dampener as one of the suspects is mentioned as being not being innocent. However, It must be said that this novel looks (and reads) like the first of a series, so the reference mentioned here may have no major impact.

  

Hans Koppel - Two novels - She's never coming back/You're mine now

Hans Koppel's 'She's never coming back' starts with the kidnapping of Ylva. Koppel adds an audacious and macabre twist to it as her kidnappers keep her captive in basement of a house that is right opposite Ylva's. The room where she is captive has a live camera feed for transmitting images from the front of her own house.

The plot has multiple threads to it. The core one is of course the mystery of who has kidnapped her and why. The relationship between Ylva and Mike (there is a mention of an affair between Ylva and another person sometime earlier), with Mike seemingly prone to bouts of depression is another, as is the thread of how Mike and his daughter try to pick the pieces of their lives and move on.

All of these could have made the novel as much a psychological drama as it is a mystery. But Koppel doesn't much time on these, not even time to give enough information for the reader to un-spool the unsaid by  himself. It's one thing, if Koppel had completely ignored the other threads and kept it as a straight forward thriller. But looks like he was caught in two minds, one to add more emotional heft to a thriller and at the same time feeling a compulsion to write a fast paced thriller. The result is that we get a few tantalizing insights, like the dynamics of the husband-wife relation, how relatively easily the family (seemingly) gets over Ylva's disappearance. The relationship between Ylva and her kidnappers is another thread that had immense possibilities. But Koppel rushes from one situation to another, running at breakneck speed towards the end, making all the above superfluous. 

The mystery itself is nothing much to speak of. The identity of the kidnapper is a surprise (though a bit contrived, it's purpose being to lead to the conclusion) , but the manner in which they do it (and also the other crimes they do) is glossed over. It just looks like the kidnapper got up one day and decided to do it. There is no hint of the planning etc done by them, particularly about the other crimes committed. The reason for the crimes is a sad enough story, one that we have heard about countless times. There is also another parallel thread about a couple of people who were classmates of Ylva, which gives some hints on why the kidnapping could have happened, but there is again a 'ex deus machina' in this thread to take the story forward.

With some many plot-lines, each with potential of their own, this could have been a cracker of a novel, but remains a middling one at best.

Koppel's 'You're mine now' pretty much follows the same pattern. Anna has an affair with an younger 'Erik' and it leads to unforeseen consequences. The dynamics of Anna's relationship with her husband (Magnus) is interesting here too. One good thing about both the novels is that the women in them are quite capable of taking care of themselves and don't always need a shoulder to cry on. The men, though not wimps come very close to being one. Magnus is a better etched character than Mike, the reason being Koppel spends more time on showing us their relationship. When Anna decides to break off the affair, Erik shows another side of his. The transformation (to the reader and Anna) of Erik is brought out well. Instead of telling us directly, Koppel makes us understand through the actions of Erik. Sometimes he is submissive, disconsolate,  yearning for Anna, cajoling her and sometimes he is aggressive, spewing hatred and trying to create problems for her, telling reader (and Anna) that he is unstable. The reason for Erik's actions is a controversial plot line which is completely skimmed over by Koppel other than a few hints here and there. 

Mention should be made of the role of police in both the novels. The policemen here are not existentially scarred persons fighting ghosts of the past. Their concerns seem to be like when the baths or cinemas would open rather than justice.  It's also probably an indicator of how police view some (supposed) crimes in reality. When Ylva is first reported missing, the police take quite a long time to decide that she has indeed gone missing against her and will and their first (and major) suspicion is on the husband. When 'Anna' reports about Erik pestering her, the policemen do not take it too seriously. Even when a character goes missing and Erik seems to be in the thick of it, they take Erik's word and decide that he has nothing to do with it. One could say that they are being realistic or incompetent, depending on how you view it.

If one is looking for a reasonably fast paced thriller, these two novels offer a bang for the buck. But does the bang has as much an impact as it sounds? And what after the bang? Though both novels fail to scale the heights they promise to, the story-lines that Koppel takes up, the (infrequent) moments of startling insights into relationships that the books have make one hope that Koppel may achieve this promise in his future books. 

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Micheal Chabon

The genre of crime/mystery fiction seems to have fascinated our more reputed writers of general fiction in the modern era(I use 'general' here instead of 'literary' since the latter sounds snobbish). From Borges to Eco to Orhan Pamuk several writers have written works based on this genre. But can we classify 'The Name Of the Rose' or 'My Name is Red' as conventional crime fiction? The base is crime yes, but the writers expand the boundaries, in fact tear open conventions of crime fiction so that their works become a new genre of sorts themselves. We mostly see the inventiveness and even playfulness of the writers when they attempt such works. The crime becomes a secondary part in the works. But a true blue crime fiction or noir? They are pretty rare. Of such works Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn) and Micheal Chabon (The Yiddish Policemen's Union) tend to tread the path of hardboiled crime fiction genre. The authors bring in their own twist to the genre, while not deviating too much from the established conventions of the genre.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union starts of a alternate history premise. It is set in 'Sitka in Alaska'. The premise is that at the end of world war II, Jews were settled in Sitka instead of at Jerusalem. This is apparently based on a actual proposal about settling Jews in America, that came up in the 1940's. (It was not carried out in the end). Chabon starts off with this unique setting. Sitka is now a Jewish settlement, with the Jews living together with the native americans of the area. The main protagonist is 'Meyer Landsman', a typical hardboiled police detective with all the traits that such a detective has in novels. He is alcoholic, divorced (his wife is his superior), does not play by the rules and what not, basically a pest who some how gets things done his way and for that has to be put up with. A murder has occurred in the hotel that he is staying. The victim is Mendel, who was supposed to be a  'Tzaddik ha-Dor'. (This refers to a person who could be the potential messiah for the Jews. Such a person is supposed to be born every generation). The story kicks off as Meyer starts the investigation.
Chabon also weaves in the story of the entire jewish community which is facing another exile. The lease given to them for Sitka is set to expire in the next few months and the American government would not renew it. People are applying to go to other countries or to migrate within America itself. Chabon paints a picture of an almost claustrophobic and insular Jewish community who are very tightly integrated and at despair about the future. Suffice to say that Meyer is not worried about it. As a typical fictional detective, he has his own emotional baggage to carry (his sister's death, his relationship with his deceased father) that solving crime seems to be the only way out for him to survive that baggage. Mendel is found to be the son of a rebbe who is the head of one of most powerful crime syndicate in Sitka. He antagonizes Mendel's father and as a result is told to lay off from investigating the crime. He continues with it and as a result is suspended from work. Being the classic stubborn type he still continues with his investigation in private and starts piecing together the details about Mendel's life.
Along with the normal set pieces of crime fiction, Chabon gives a moving account of Mendel's story, his glorious childhood to youth when he was revered by most people who came in contact with him, the expectancy of great things from him and his fall from grace just before his marriage. He runs away from home before his marriage and his father disowns him. We get a hint that his sexual orientation could have played a role in it, but it's not explicit. At this point, we find ourself empathizing with Mendel more, how would it have been to carry the burden of an entire race as being the chosen one, being under scrutiny always, always expected to be perfect. It is in these pages, that Chabon pushes the boundary of crime fiction to something more. I found myself transfixed by Mendel's story up to the point and the crime took a back seat. More than Meyer, Mendel fascinated me. (To digress here a bit, the victim in 'My Name Is Red' did not affect me as much, though he even talks to us in the beginning. This again could be because, the author there was more concerned about things other than the victim or the mystery, namely the Ottoman art and the nature of painting itself).
During the course of the investigations, Meyers gets shot at, imprisoned, has a chase, gets beaten and bruised, but still on the move and determined to get the end. (Your typical set pieces). He also comes to know some new details about his Sister's death. He uncovers a diabolical plot, but is not able to divulge it. He is released on making that promise. Ironically it does not seem to have anything to do with Mendel's murder. Meyer reunites with his wife, but is still nagged by the thought of the murder being unsolved. Finally he cracks it, which is quite surprising to say the least. The novel ends with Meyer ready to face life wherever it takes him in the upcoming exodus. 
The novel worked for me as a generic fiction and not as pure crime fiction. Chabon paints an minutely detailed picture of the Jewish community in exile, their quirks, makes his characters flawed in more than one ways, which in turn makes them more believable. Meyer, with his template habits could be a worthy successor to Philip Marlowe. The relationship between the natives of Alaska and the Jews is also brought out well, in some cases humorously. One sees both the groups being racist towards each other, in an almost unconscious manner, which is bit ironic when we consider the Jews being a bit racist in their day to day life. Chabon uses some beautiful similes throughout the novel, one other thing we cannot find in your conventional crime fiction.  But these same things hinder the novel from being a great crime fiction. At some point, you just want to move ahead in the story instead of getting more character portraits. At the end I was not too interested in the murderer, but was caught up in the individual characters lives. This is surely a triumph of his story telling, but from  the perspective of a crime fiction aficionado, it was a bit of a letdown, though the author is not the reason for it. If you approach the novel as a generic one, with not much expectations on the crime front, you would like this. This is probably the closest one could get while trying to straddle 2 genres, without disappointing much in either. For hardcore crime fictions fans however, it better to stick to Raymond Chandler, Henning Mankell, Ian Rankin and the other masters. 


Chabon has also tried out the intermixing of genres with his 'The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay' which concerns comic books juxtaposed with the second world war and the holocaust. The life of a comic book hero rescuing Jews contrasts with the reality of that time. 
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Micheal Chabon's website is www.michaelchabon.com.