I confess my heart lifted when Blackout by Simon Scarrow squeezed through the letter box because I am a complete sucker for Bernie Gunther novels and this stood a good chance of filling the gap. Alas there will be no more of Gunther after the sad loss of the exceptional  Philip Kerr so… is Simon Scarrow’s Blackout the answer?

Consider … Berlin, December 1939,  the start of a war- another one? But Germany is still reeling from the first world war, indeed the world is – so no sane government would consider it… The Nazis, however, are in control, their grip ever tighter, ever darker, ever more forbidding, ever more determined to direct affairs as they wish.

Add to this  crushing situation the fact that winter is approaching, the daylight hours are fewer, and in Germany a blackout is ordered. a real darkness descends.

It is a darkness in which crime can flourish. And does.

Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke is already unpopular within the police force, an outsider because of his failure to adhere to the expectations that men such as he should be  Nazi Party members. It is he, moreover,  who has to solve the brutal murder of a young woman. It’s a tricky line to keep to, in order to discover ‘who dun it?’ What if it’s someone held in high party esteem, what if..?

But at least it is only one victim. Only it isn’t.

A second victim is discovered and this puts almost unbearable  pressure on  Schenke to solve the heinous crimes  before it happens again. He exists in a world where questions are not welcome, where walking on eggshells is the norm, where trust is non-existent – because who is in support of Schenke and justice, and who is only concerned with protecting themselves and others within their factions, all of whom are in positions of power?

And let us not pretend otherwise, this regime is darker than any blackout, it is without mercy, without conscience and soul. As Schenke’s investigation takes him closer to a solution he surely must see that his enemy is  not just the killer, but that that in fact it is the world in which he swims.

Scarrow has written an astonishngly taut atmospheric thriller with echoes of the wonderful Bernie Gunther. What’s more it’s a pretty loud echo, but even as I’m writing this, I feel I am wrong, for Schenke is his own man. It is the Nazi regime which is common to both authors.  both of whom summon up the unbearable tension of those times, layer upon layer. Add to that the hunt for the killer, and the reader has barely time to breathe, such is the impact of the meticulousl research, the believable characters, the pace, the depth of evil, and of course, Horst Schenke, a worthy successor to Bernie.

My final thought: I hope this is the start of a series.

Blackout by Simon Scarrow is available in HB, PB Audio and e-Book

Annie Clarke (one of Margaret Graham’s pen names) is the author of the   Home Front series.