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The Collini Case (2011)

by Ferdinand von Schirach(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0670026522 (ISBN13: 9780670026524)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: I recently read a list of the best crime fiction of the last yearthat focused on non-American novels. Since my taste runs that way I wasvery happy to get such a list and to find most of the books were in mylibrary system. I had never read German literature before and so I waslooking forward to this.The Collini Case involves a well-respected, elderly member of Germansociety who is violently murdered, by an immigrant no less. Given thestatus of the victim and the perpetrator, and because the murderer calledthe police and confessed while waiting for them to arrive; it falls to alawyer his first week into the job. The problem for the defense and theprosecution is while the murderer is happy to confess he will not give hisreasons why.So after much thought our lawyer suddenl... morey figures something out, spends aweek researching, and then presents a brilliant defense. It turns out eventhe best of us may have a few skeletons in our closet, and a Germangentleman of a certain age may just have more than most.Now my problem with this book is demonstrated in the above paragraph. Youmay be tempted to think that I am being too simplistic in my explanation ofthe plot, but yet that is almost how the book is written. In anoutstanding example of concise writing our author has left out much of whatwould have made this book 5 stars. It reads like a treatment of the bookhe was going to write, the other 2-300 pages not to be found.So if you want to read a great book devoid of all the extraneous detailsand red herrings of the investigative process; to just get to the facts instereotypical German efficiency, then the Collini Case is the perfect book.All the crime in a two hour read.
review 2: This is a powerful and riveting book demonstrating that the consequences of war far outlive the actual fighting. A seemingly senseless murder is committed in modern times - the perpetrator admits his guilt but will not provide the motivation for his crime. Over the course of the story, we come to understand the reasons, and they stretch far back in time.Thanks Jo-anne for the recommendation. less

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