On a warm September morning, an unconscious man is found in a cage at the entrance to the offices of one of Germany’s biggest magazines. He’s soon identified as a manager of the company, and he’s been tortured. Three days later, another manager appears in a similar way.
Chastity Riley and her new colleague Ivo Stepanovic are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the attacks, an investigation that goes far beyond the revenge they first suspect … to the dubious past shared by both victims. Travelling to the south of Germany, they step into the hothouse world of boarding schools, where secrets are currency, and monsters are bred … monsters who will stop at nothing to protect themselves.
A smart, dark, probing thriller, full of all the hard-boiled poetry and acerbic wit of the very best noir, Beton Rouge is both a classic whodunit and a scintillating expose of society, by one of the most exciting names in crime fiction.
Beton Rouge by Simon Buchholz in published in paperback by Orenda Books on 21 February 2019.
As part of the Blog Tour, I am delighted to welcome the author here to Random Things today, she's talking about the books that are special to her in My Life In Books
My Life in Books - Simone Buchholz
This is the first crime
novel I ever read. I was seven or eight years old when I discovered the
incredible Hotzenplotz: a robber with wild black hair and a long beard, and armed
with seven knives and a pepper pistol. I adored the ambivalent character who
never wore shoes, even in the middle of the forest.
Christine Nöstlinger: Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig (Not yet translated into English, the title loosely
means ‘we don’t fucking care about the cucumber king’)
A populist-minded ‘cucumber
king’ is discovered in the basement of a twelve-year-old boy’s family home. A
story about the way populism works – by using lies and constantly yelling
falsehoods –
this is a fantastic book
that was an important part of my political education.
I was just deeply in
love with Holden Caulfield (and I still am).
Hemingway’s last, uncomplete
novel stood on my father’s bookshelf. When I was sixteen, it was the first book
for adults I read. Irritating, tender and absolutely beautiful.
What can I say? I was
nailed by this book’s sound. Since then my whole world sounds like Marlowe,
especially at night.
The first German crime
novel that really knocked my socks off. Suddenly I realised that it is possible to write cool, emotional and
elegant stuff in this awkward language.
When I was studying philosophy
I had to read a lot of men. Madame Nin was the female antidote; at night on my
terrace – with shitloads of white wine, wagonloads of stars and the imagination
born of that kind of life.
When I was writing for
women’s magazines and wanted to get better, Dorothy Parker’s voice was a
wonderful teacher.
Some people say it’s
not okay to love this book, but I can’t help myself.
The best adventure
story ever written; forget everything else when it comes to writing about the
wilderness.
For me this is the book
of all books. Reading the story of Logan Mountstuart felt like heart surgery
without anaesthesia, because I could feel
everything I ever wanted to know about mankind and humanity. Absolutely
enchanting, but in a very serious way.
Finally…
These days I am reading a lot of Joan Didion, just discovered her properly.
Simone Buchholz - February 2019
At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg.
In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award, and second place in the German Crime Fiction Prize, for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months.
She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.
Follow her on Twitter @ohneKlippo
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