REVIEW: Stasi Child

How do you find a fresh way to approach the detective novel? David Young's Stasi Child has a decent answer - with the setting, scenario and characters required for a fascinating tale.

After wallowing in a bit of degree nostalgia with Richard J Evans, I was attracted to this book by the fact it was set in 1970s East Germany. I'd been fascinated by the GDR and the Stasi at university and this seemed an intriguing backdrop for a detective story. The central character, Karin Müller, is a police chief tasked with investigating the case of a grisly murder under the prying eyes of the Stasi, the infamous secret police.

Fittingly, there's more than meets the eye about the case and pretty much all of the characters we come across. Young captures the paranoia and corruption of the East German state well and it all serves to keep you guessing. All of the main characters have their own agenda and we see their back stories slowly peeled back, mirroring the progress of the case itself. It's refreshing to see the focus on 'real' people too - this is a Cold War thriller that isn't all about spies.

Through Müller we also see a different at the GDR. She's someone who doesn't yearn to escape to the west - she's sympathetic to the ideals of the socialist state and is appalled by the perceived excesses of the 'other Germany'. This makes her character all the more interesting for me. It's often difficult to understand how people in authoritarian regimes thought - and why they 'go along' with them - Müller helps us to see this. Her outlook doesn't make for a rose-tinted view of the GDR, but it does offer a richer understanding of the way real people acted and thought. Hopefully it will encourage people to delve further into the history of this short-lived but fascinating regime.

It's perhaps no surprise that the book is pretty grim too. I'm not sure anyone has a happy ending - and many characters are forced to make dark choices as events unfold. Just as we think Irma - a child we first find locked up in an institution for 'wayward' children - is going to get a positive future, for example, we learn that the price of her freedom is to spy on her mother for the Stasi. Informing on friends, family and neighbours was a macabre feature of the East German state and her story brings this to the fore powerfully.

We learn much of Irma's journey through first-person chapters which are interspersed throughout the narrative. It's an interesting writing device, and helps to build up the sense of mystery as the case develops.

Perhaps it's a little convenient that Klaus Jäger - the Stasi puppet master pulling the strings for much of the book - just fills in Müller with some of the missing details at the end to bring us up to speed but that's definitely forgivable and does explain away why some of the steps in the investigation feel a little coincidental.

All in all, Young weaves a complex web of intrigue over an atmospheric backdrop with Stasi Child. It's a riveting read and you can't help but be impressed by the quality on offer for this debut novel. Young tackles child abuse, corruption, authoritarianism, sexual abuse and relationships for good measure. He's also produced a set of three-dimensional characters and a detective story with a difference. I'm certainly looking forward to catching up on how he puts all of these puzzle pieces together in the next two Müller stories.

REVIEW: The Third Reich in History and Memory

Do you ever wish you could go back to the subject you studied at university? Maybe I'm sad, but I often do. I finished my three-year history undergraduate degree 11 years ago, but I still wish I could keep up to date with the latest ideas and interpretations being put forward by historians. A BBC History Magazine subscription scratches the itch to be fair, but I know there's more 'going on' in the world of history that I'm missing.

I quite fancied doing a Masters but journalism called - and I don't regret moving on to something that offered a job at the end of it.

Anyway, it was a sense of 'degree nostalgia' that drew me to my latest book, The Third Reich in History and Memory by Richard J Evans.

My degree actually started with a module looking at the study of history. In essence, we were asked to consider whether the study of history was really possible or worthwhile. I wonder of they still do that in an era of £9,000-plus fees. Would they want those high-paying students to question the value of their course??

Still, it was during this daunting and difficult early module that I stumbled across Richard J Evans' book In Defence of History. As the name suggests, it offered a strong case for the real value of my degree subject of choice. It remains to this day the most inspiring and influential book I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

From then on I knew I could trust Evans to provide a robust analysis of history and this book was the perfect fit for me. A collection of essays, speeches and reviews from recent years, this explores the latest debates and developments in the studies of Nazi Germany. In essence, this filled me in on everything that's happened in the decade since I was last engaged in academic study and had access to journals etc.

The book is a real triumph, flowing surprisingly well given that it's a collection of material that weren't originally intended as one volume. Indeed the 'episodic' nature of the content was ideally suited to our reading club at work - even if the occasional passer by looked a little perplexed by the subject matter for a lunch time read.

I was particularly intrigued by the sections exploring the way in which people have attempted to link 19th Century German foreign policy and the actions of the Nazis - and Evans' views on the extent to which we can say the Nazis led a 'dictatorship by consent'.

I won't attempt to explore any of the arguments here - I doubt I'd do Evans justice - but it's great to read the work of someone at the top of their profession arguing passionately and persuasively based on facts and experience. Evans is sometimes scathing in his reviews but always seems, to me at least, fair even when he's being firm.

This book ended up being much more than just degree nostalgia. It was intellectually stimulating and enlightening at every twist and turn and I'm pleased I picked it up. If you're missing your degree subject at all, I hope you're lucky enough to be able to find a book like this one.