also known as The Ashes of Berlin ( )

A Divided City is the third book featuring German policeman Gregor Reinhardt. The first two were set during the war, but this one begins in 1947 Berlin, where Reinhardt has returned to the police force. Everything has changed now, and even though he's back, his colleagues neither like nor trust him. Each person on the force has been sponsored by one of the four temporary governing powers – England, France, United States, and Soviet Union. Reinhardt has been sponsored by one of the Americans.

One night he is called to a rundown building, where he finds two dead bodies that appear to be unconnected. One of the dead men is identified as Carlsen, a British agent, who is thought to have been killed by a criminal as part of a bar fight. The other dead man is Noell, a former German Air Force veteran. Reinhardt volunteers to investigate the Noell case, while the rest of the police focus on Carlsen, who appears to be the more important of the dead men.

I love the way the author describes post-war Berlin, a city ravaged by war and the wreckage of the city. He also has given us one of the most haunted of characters in Gregor Reinhardt. The secondary characters are incredibly well done. The story can be difficult to get started due to the unfamiliar names of people and places, but once I had them settled in my own language, I had no difficulty following the story. A Divided City is more of a crime novel that the previous stories and can easily be read as a standalone book. It's impossible not to compare this to the Bernard Gunther series by Philip Kerr, but they are actually quite different. Most books that have WW2 settings stop at the end of the war, or give us a perspective from the victor's side. This one gives the reader a completely different side of the story – one from the view of a German. ( )

This is the third book in the series and WWII is now over and Reinhardt is back in Berlin as a policeman. He is still very much a troubled soul, with no family left and only his friend Brauer for company.

Unliked by his colleagues he is working the night shift when called to a run-down tenement where a body has been found. As the investigation develops he is forced to confront his personal demons about his personal role in the war.

There are people though who want to continue with the war and won't accept they have been defeated which leads to problems for all concerned.

Reinhardt finds himself working with British agents as well as Americans and Russians and finds he gets on with them despite having been on opposing sides during the war. As the investigation continues it leads him to discover what scientists were trying to develop and why this has led to what is happening now.

One of my favourite passages is when Reinhardt goes back to his bombed out home desperately searching for anything from his family life there.

This is a fascinating book, not least the descriptions of war-torn Berlin. The people are starving and many have extremely inadequate homes. It's good to read something which shows how the city and people of Berlin suffered and not just showing them all as Nazi sympathisers.

The author does an amazing job of describing the harsh realities of life.

From feral children cadging cigarettes to women ostracised for fraternising this book shows the reality of a defeated people.

The ending of the book is very good and has twists that were not forseeable. ( )

Luke McCallin - The Ashes of Berlin

The Ashes of Berlin is the third in the Captain/Inspector Gregor Reinhardt series by Luke McCallin.

The fighting is over and Reinhardt like millions of other Germans must find his place in the post war world. 1947 Berlin is a city of rubble, a traumatised population and the overbearing presence of the occupying forces. Reinhardt has reluctantly returned to the Berlin police force, they don't want him, (he is just a little too independent), but a little manipulation from his American friend, Collingridge, gets him a posting on the kripo night shift. Reinhardt is marking time until the discovery of an unidentified body, beaten and broken, in the stairwell of a crumbling apartment block in the American sector. A second dead man, Andreas Noell is found in one of the flats - something about the crimes strikes a chord with Reinhardt, a serial killer is on the loose. Initially the Ami-MP's are not interested but the unidentified man was working for the British and now they and the Americans are all over Reinhardt's investigation. Dark secrets at the heart of the war begins to emerge. As if life is not complicated enough for Reinhardt he falls under the scrutiny of Russian MGB colonel Skokov who has his own agenda. The newly re-established police force is at war with itself and gangs of kids, criminals and Nazis vie for control of the streets. Everyone is watching Reinhardt's every move.

This is a superior police procedural with a lot in common with the American private eye noir novels of the 1940's, the lone wolf detective. The Ashes of Berlin is a solid murder mystery, the investigation is raised above the crowd by the evocative use of time and place and a very clever plot that draws on some lesser known dark moments of Nazi history during the war and their repercussions after it.

The novel is driven by Reinhardt and his investigation, and as McCallin states in the historical note at the end of the book, events are seen through his eyes so the story is heavily character driven and paints a very personal view of the city. It is not a study of post war Berlin, nevertheless, it is rich in the detail unfolding around Reinhardt. McCallin creates a very credible late 40's Berlin - ruins, tough living, and mean streets. An earlier rejected title for the book was 'A Divided City' and McCallin conjures up the fractious relationships the allied powers have to forge with each other and with German administrative bodies as well as the local populous. There are little glimpses of the time, like the Russian concern to fill the police force with communist sympathisers rather than good detectives that make the background come to life.

Reinhardt is a wonderful character; a survivor, his wife dead, his son long lost to the Nazis, guilt trapped by his own past and fear yet desperately trying to do the right thing. He's a loner up against the odds dedicated to finding the truth no matter that nearly every one wants to get in his way. The supporting cast are also colourful and rounded, I particularly liked Skokov, the dangerous Russian intelligence officer.

This is a thrill ride of a book, a real page turner, sprinkles of humour but broad dark tones. The story unfolds at a steady pace that keeps you both interested in what is going on and guessing all the way to the end. It is a really satisfying read and stands out in an area that has attracted a lot of writers in recent years. For excitement The Ashes of Berlin reminds me of Sam Eastland's Pekkala series but we are also firmly in Bernie Gunther territory (Philip Kerr's German detective/PI), as to that Reinhardt and this novel are original enough to charm it's own readers - more please.

This novel works as a stand alone read partly because Reinhardt has taken a new path in his career after the war so I don't think starting here is a problem but the earlier books set in Bosnia are well worth tracking down. The two previous novels tell the story of Captain Reinhardt as an investigator with German military intelligence during WWII: 'The Man from Berlin (2014), The Pale House (2015), both published by No Exit Press. ( )