A Visible Darkness [Paperback]

In the summer of 1808, procurator Hanno Stiffeniis finds himself called to the Prussian coastal village of Nordcopp. Prussia is occupied by the armies of Napoleon, but the war is not going well for them: a war of attrition is being waged in Spain, swallowing up ever more men and money. Therefore, the French are desperate to maximize the collection of priceless amber on the Prussian coast. So when the mutilated corpse of a woman is found near the amber-works, they turn to Stiffeniis who finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place: the French, it seems, desire only that he hand them a Prussian culprit on a platter as soon as possible, while the Prussians regard him as a collaborator. On top of all that, Stiffeniis' wife is due to give birth to their 4h child soon...

As with the two previous novels featuring Hanno Stiffeniis ('Critique of Criminal Reason' and 'Days of Atonement') I found 'A visible darkness' to be an absolutely riveting read, drawing me in from the very start and not releasing me from its clutches until I finished the book (at 6am this morning, talk about 'unputdownable'). What is it with these books that makes them so good? Well, I can think of a number of reasons (in random order):

First of all there is the setting: much as I love detectives and thrillers set for instance in Victorian London or the middle ages, Prussia in the early 19th century makes for a welcome change, and all the more so because Gregorio has a knack of vividly describing the place and the atmosphere: the harsh and desolate coastline, the squalid peasants' settlements, the decaying Prussian grandeur of Königsberg with its gloomy warren of alleys,...

Secondly, I should mention the characters. In a sense, having read this book, you'd think that Prussia at the time was a veritable showcase of all possible forms of human deformity, both physically and mentally. While he is on the track of this elusive killer (who is clearly mentally deranged, mutilating his victims in the most gruesome manner), Hanno meets with a stunning array of bizarre people: priests having succumbed to the seduction of female visitors, greedy amber traders, arrogant French sentries with the smell of stale onion on their breath, sycophantic university professors, ... All in all not a happy lot to consort with, each and every one of them seeming to have fallen under the spell of amber. But on the other hand, Gregorio depicts each and every one of these so very lifelike that it takes little or no effort to grant the proverbial 'willing suspension of disbelief'. Last but not least there's Hanno Stiffeniis. As the novel is written in the first person, and Hanno has no qualms about describing his own often ambivalent feelings (as in the attraction he feels to one of the women gathering amber on the coast, fully aware that just a few miles away his pregnant wife is eagerly awaiting his return) and soul-searching this makes him very human (i.e. fallible) and easy to identify with.

Thirdly, there's the plot. Not only does it move at a fast pace but contrary perhaps to many other detective novels, Gregorio does not limit himself to obvious motives as greed or revenge but draws in notions as diverse as Lamarck's theory of evolution or the role of Pietism in Prussian resistance!

In short, I enjoyed this novel immensely and eagerly await the further adventures of Stiffeniis. I can only heartily recommend this book to all lovers of (historical) detective stories, with only this as a warning: there are some pretty horrific scenes in the book, and they are described in unsettling detail. Not for the faint at heart!