Publisher: Headline (Trade Paperback – 14 February 2023)
Series: Berlin Wartime Thriller – Book Two
Length: 422 pages
My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
One of my favourite historical fiction authors, the always impressive Simon Scarrow, dives back into turbulent World War II Germany with his latest compelling read, Dead of Night, an excellent and intense historical thriller with a dark twist to it.
Readers of this blog will know that I have long been a fan of Simon Scarrow ever since I read his first exceptional novel many years ago. I particularly enjoy his long-running Eagles of the Empire series, an outstanding adventure series that follows two Roman officers as they travel throughout the empire. The Eagles of the Empire books are some of the best historical fiction I have ever read, and I have had the pleasure of reviewing several of them, including The Blood of Rome, Traitors of Rome, The Emperor’s Exile, The Honour of Rome and Death to the Emperor. Aside from his Roman novels, Scarrow has also written several other series and standalone books set in various periods of history. This includes his 2021 release, Blackout, a gritty and complex murder mystery set in Nazi-controlled Berlin. Blackout was an awesome book, and I was very happy to hear that Scarrow was producing a sequel, Dead of Night, which turned out to be another outstanding read.
Berlin, January 1940. As Germany’s invasion of Poland rolls along, the Nazis continue to take complete control of their own country. While the people of Berlin wait to see how the Allies will retaliate, a mysterious death is about to occur with massive ramifications. A prominent SS doctor and his wife return home, having had a seemingly normal night attending a concert with the Nazi elite of the city. However, by the morning, the doctor will be dead in his study, the result of an apparent suicide.
After his last near-fatal brush with the Nazi state, Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke of the Berlin Kripo is determined to simply do his job and stay off the party’s radar. However, when Ruth Frankel, the Jewish woman whose life he saved during his previous investigation, reappears, Horst is once again dragged into unwanted trouble. The dead SS doctor is an old friend of Ruth’s family, and Ruth has promised his widow that she would help find out the truth behind his death, and Horst is her tool to do so.
Reluctantly agreeing to help, Horst looks into the case and quickly realises that the doctor’s death was no suicide. However, his superiors soon pull him off the investigation and forbid him from digging any further. But with his curiosity peaked, Horst cannot turn away, especially when he manages to connect the victim to the mysterious deaths of several children throughout Germany. Determined to find the truth no matter what, Horst soon discovers a terrible secret that places him in the firing line of the entire Nazi party and other volatile factions in the city. Can Horst survive this new case, or will the regime he despises finally take him off the board?
This was an excellent read from Scarrow, who has been on a real roll lately with his awesome books. Dead of Night not only served as an incredible sequel to Blackout, but it also features an intense and historically powerful narrative that had me hooked from the very beginning.
Dead of Night follows several of the same characters from the first book, primarily Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke, who serves as the main protagonist and point of view character, in another intriguing and complex case. Schenke must again work with Ruth Frankel to investigate the apparent suicide of a prominent SS doctor, which produces an intriguing and compelling early investigation storyline that I really enjoyed. However, Schenke soon runs into political problems, as well as threats of violence, which force him to conduct a subtle investigation. At the same time, Schenke’s socially crusading love interest, Karin, requests that he look into the mysterious deaths of several children at a remote medical institute. This second investigation takes up a good chunk of the novel and the protagonists dive into really starts to enhance the intensity of the plot. This is because Scarrow starts to utilise particularly sinister elements of Nazi history in the plot, which ensures that the novel gets fairly dark in tone and content. Scarrow is very subtle in how he brings these elements to the character’s attention, and there is a lot of emotion and disgust that emerges in the story as the protagonists realise what is going on.
From there the two divergent investigations start to come together as subtle clues that the author introduced in the first half of the book are brought to light again. The revelation of how the two cases are connected is pretty captivating, especially as it gives the ‘antagonists’ of the novel a very compelling and relatable motivation. The protagonist is forced to make some hard decisions as they come to terms with just what is going on and this leads to some great scenes about the differences between duty and what is right. Everything leads up to an emotionally charged confrontation which cleverly brings the entire story together and wraps up all the remaining mysteries and character arcs. This final major sequence is pretty damn awesome and it results in some of the most dramatic and powerful moments in the entire novel. I really liked how the entire novel came together at the end, especially as the protagonist is left in several unenviable positions while he watches his country descend further into darkness. I felt that the entire novel was very well paced out, and it doesn’t take long for the readers to get hooked on the story, especially with the two quality mysteries that Scarrow came up with. The blend of mystery, dark historical moments, and intriguing character interactions is pretty perfect, and it works to create a memorable and haunting tale. Combined with some of the great twists, many of which are based around evil parts of real-life history, and I felt that Dead of Night surpassed is predecessor in some very awesome ways
For me, the best thing about Dead of Night was the fantastic and distinctive wartime setting that surrounded the plot. Stories set in Nazi controlled Germany are always intense and dark for obvious reasons, but I felt that Scarrow did a particularly outstanding job of capturing it, especially as he pairs the dark mood with a gritty winter backdrop. Just like with Blackout, there is a focus on the evils of the Nazi regime in Dead of Night, and quite a lot of the plot is devoted to seeing how normal citizens, including non-political police officers, view what their city and country has turned into. There is a good focus on the fear and control that the Nazis blanket the city with, and the investigation angles of the narrative become even more complex and compelling due to the protagonist being constantly blocked by his Nazi and SS superiors. However, the best, or worst, historical elements of the book revolve around one of the cases that Inspector Schenke is dragged into, specifically around the death of several children. This case thrusts the protagonist right into the heart of some of the darkest things the Nazis ever did to their own people, which really gives this entire book a powerfully tragic edge. Scarrow uses this historical inclusion to his full advantage, as not only does it provide an excellent motivation for some of the crimes being committed, but it also increases the emotional conflict of the protagonist. Scarrow really does not hold back when it comes to showcasing these historical horrors and the readers get a full idea of what is going on and the sort of people behind it. This dark historical inclusion really helped to turn Dead of Night’s narrative into something particularly distinctive and captivating, and I felt that Scarrow did a fantastic job of drawing the reader in by giving them knowledge of this terrible moment from history.
I also need to highlight some of the excellent characters featured within Dead of Night, several of whom carry on from the previous novel in the series. Most of the focus is around Inspector Horst Schenke, one of the few senior police officers left in Berlin without a connection to the Nazi Party. Dedicated to the law, Schenke, a man already traumatised by his past, keeps finding it harder and harder to do his job in the new regime. Despite his best efforts, Schenke keeps getting dragged into the middle of the several Nazi plots and hidden schemes, which constantly place him in political danger. I loved the deep conflict that this builds within him as he is forced to choose between ignoring what he discovers, or trying to get justice and doing something. Further complicating matters are his relationships with the two women in his life, his girlfriend, Karin, and the Jewish women he previously saved, Ruth Frankel. Both keep pushing him to do more to oppose the Nazis or get to the truth of crimes they are covering up, and he is forced to balance his desires to help them with his sense of pragmatism while trying to protect them from the Nazis.
Other great characters in this book include Schenke’s police backup, Sergeant Hauser and former Gestapo agent Liebwitz. These two are great supporting characters and they provide interesting counterviews to German life, with Hauser being a more everyman figure, while Liebwitz is bound up by his Gestapo training. Despite the apparent differences between Hauser and Liebwitz, the two work together well and serve as good support to Schenke, and I liked the fun odd-couple team that they formed. They also have some intriguing moments throughout the book, especially when they encounter some of the horrors of the Nazi regime. While Hauser has some great emotional reactions, especially when it comes to the death of children, Liebwitz has the more intriguing responses, as he balances his loyalty to the state with his own past experiences and conscious. Watching him come to terms with some of the evils he witnesses makes for some powerful reading and I am glad that Scarrow added in these intriguing alternate characters. I also really enjoyed the complex main antagonists of the story, as they had quite a powerful motivation for some of the crimes committed in the book. While they are not as noble as they believe, the antagonist’s goal still serves to trouble the protagonist’s sense of justice, and interesting compromises have to be made as a result. I deeply appreciated some of the deep characters that Scarrow featured in this novel and I look forward to seeing how they are utilised in any future books in the series.
Simon Scarrow continues to impress me as one of the best historical fiction authors out there with this incredible new read. Dead of Night has a brilliant and powerful story behind it that takes full advantage of its bleak and historically rich setting. Featuring an outstanding investigation narrative and some dark insights into the horrors of the Nazi regime, Dead of Night will easily grab your attention and ensure you will not forget it anytime soon. A highly recommended novel from one of my favourite authors.
The Unseen Library 