From the Publisher
The war may be over but the killing goes on. It is Berlin, 1945, and the uneasy peace between the occupying Americans and the vanquished Germans is tested once again by the discovery of the body of a beautiful young woman near the Yanks’ “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” military station. American captain John Ashburner and German detective Klaus Dietrich quickly realize that to solve this brutal killing—now just the first salvo in what is becoming a mass-murder spree of pretty young women—they must join forces.

Against the backdrop of a city struggling to come to terms with the horrors of World War II, Berlin is an atmospheric whodunit of intertwined dramas, ofpeople whose past overwhelms their present. Already a bestseller in Germany, and translated into eight languages, Berlin is a potent mix of fast-paced crime thriller, powerful love story and a compelling portrait of the legacy of war that satisfies on every level

Berlin is the rarified genre of historical mystery. It is a mystery set in Berlin just after the end of WWII. Frei really catches the atmosphere of the country occupied by Americans and Russians. The body of a German woman who works for the Americans is found near a US station in Berlin. The German and American police must join forces and learn to deal with each other.

What set this novel apart is after each victim is found, Frei then describes the woman's life before, during and after the war. Each story is a page turner and I found myself reading far into the night to learn more. Some of the stories are vile as you would expect when dealing with the SS and concentration camps.


I loved reading this story and will look for others by Frei

Started reading this this morning.

Berlin takes place in post WWII in Germany, near 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', a now American militarized zone. When dead girls start to show up, all German blondes, with blue eyes, working in the American zone and having been brutally asaulted, the German police suspect an American. They work together with the Americans to try and solve who is behind these murders. At times you're lead to believe that it's not so much as working together as it is working against each other. Whenever a girl is found murdered, Frei takes the reader on an adventure into her past up until the point where she was murdered.
It took me a fair amount of time to get through this book, so that could be part of my problem with it. There were far too many characters to keep track of. First you had to remember all of the characters from the investigation (in of itself, not too hard), but then there were characters from each of the girls background which were like miniature stories. It got to the point where I couldn't tell one character from another and that probably ruined the ending for me because I hardly even recognized the murderer's name.
Frei did a great job of transporting you back into the past and giving descriptions of what it would have been like living in Berlin during WWII. Some of the girls had it fairly easy, some were not so lucky. I particularly felt bad for Marlene, who was continuously raped and beaten.
There was also a lot of vivid sexual descriptions in this novel. I didn't feel that they added much to the story but were just there to keep the reader interested and for shock value.
During the murder investigation, there were little snippets of story about Ben, the son of the lead investigator. They were kind of pointless. They, like the sex, provided no movement for the book, and rather just made it longer. Although the dependence on the barter system was interesting to read about.

This book is back with me

mailed today to Xeyra who got this as part of a mystery swap

Wow, this one took almost three months getting here but it did arrive safely. :) Thanks so much for mailing this! Looking forward to reading it, and my brother may want to read it too, since he's interested in this time period. Hugs!

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