Guilt [Hardcover]

'Guilt' (which appeared in German in 2010) is the second volume of stories in which the author has drawn on his eminent legal career for the outlines of events. The first volume, 'Crime', was a runaway best-seller in Europe and has also been translated.

For the reader new to von Schirach, the first impression may be that these are simply recountings of real-life legal cases fleshed out with a little journalistic reconstruction. The straightforward tone - closer to that of a policeman dispassionately documenting the facts than that of a lawyer making a case - encourages that illusion. Certainly the book might be enjoyed at that level. But rest assured: these are stories, and as they accumulate it become clear that they work together as well as in isolation.

In each tale, Von Schirach gives us a series of events that in theory lead to a clean conclusion and then pulls the rug out from under the reader's reasonable expectations. By the end of the book, one is left with a deep sense of the fragility of human lives and the limits to which other people may be known. Von Schirach is unsparing, where need be, with the forensic details, but nothing is exaggerated or forced: there is never a sense of horror indulged for its own sake. He can also be dryly funny, and on occasion - as in the story 'The Key' - a master of farce.

As a practising lawyer, von Schirach is well aware of the ambiguity of the terms of his trade - 'crime', 'guilt', 'remorse', 'punishment', and so on. The sheer messiness of life makes any simple understanding of these straightforward conceptual categories inadequate. The impression is of a deep humanity struggling against moral exhaustion in the face of mankind's ever-renewed capacity for self-harm and the failure of simple ideas adequately to accommodate complex reality. But 'Guilt' is the work of a real writer, not a moonlighting lawyer with a simplistic agenda, and there is considerable if unobtrusive literary skill here.

Thoroughly recommended. The interested reader on a budget may prefer to seek out the joint volume in which 'Guilt' is published alongside 'Crime'.

If you are of a squeamish disposition or someone who worries late at night about all the most unlikely scenarios that could happen to you the next day (we have all done this at some point haven't we?) then I am not sure I would recommend the second collection of Ferdinand von Schirach stories, translated by Carol Brown Janeway. You see, like his previous collection `Crime', Ferdinand tells us of the most unlikely, dark, horrific or traumatic things that can happen to people and how the perpetrators can get away with them.

In this collection we have children running cults, drug barons who are afraid of nothing and know no limits to revenge, a seemingly harmless old man who turns killer at a train station, a briefcase with horrifying contents and endless secrets. All incredibly tantalizing and weirdly fascinating. Two of the most disturbing tales, `Funfair' (which is anything but fun) and `The Illuminati' (which would make quite a horror film), will possibly never leave me. I think about them now and shudder before thinking a) how on earth did anyone get away with such things and b) how on earth did it not make the press?

Not knowing the British legal system (other than for Visa applications, getting a passport as I haven't killed anyone... yet) I couldn't really compare what goes on in the German system, but I did find myself thinking `oh that wouldn't happen in the UK'. But would it, or does it already and we just never hear about it where we live, or only get to hear the odd horrific crime now and again, not every crime must be reported for whatever reason must it? This is where if you are someone who can worry about a piano falling on you on every street you turn (I used to think this and that a shark might suddenly appear in the local pool and eat me, I have sought help and am fine now, ha) you should maybe rethink reading it, but if you have a grim fascination with the most bizarre and terrible things people can do then you should give this a whirl.

I should say that not all of the stories are utterly horrific. Awful things might happen but Ferdinand has an interest in looking at why people did them, after all there are many accidental murders or ones commited in self defence, one such tale with a brilliant twist is `Comparison', it is tales like that and `Anatomy' which shocked me so suddenly I laughed, which make you really think how you would judge something if you knew all the facts.

Yet again Ferdinand von Schirach delivers a very intriguing and insightful, if occasionally difficult to read, collection with `Guilt'. I hope he keeps them coming to be honest, is that awful? I also wonder if he might ever give a full length novel a whirl, could there be a true life case that he could `fictionalise' that could last for a few hundred pages and keep us held. Or could he come up with something dark and original using the uneasy and bizarre he sees in his day to day work? If you haven't tried `Crime' or `Guilt' do give them a try, if you dare, I will definitely be reading whatever Ferdinand von Schirach produces next.

The sequel to Crime, which I read with great enjoyment last year, offers more of the same - short stories focussing on crimes, and often crimes in which the defence lawyer in the German legal system plays a critical role in determining the outcome of justice.

The stories are told with great economy, and calmly recount the life histories of some very unfortunate and some very bad people. There's a very real sense of the real world against which crimes are committed, the scenes of the crimes can be vividly rendered. So too can the psychological springs of behaviour, though some are not explicable.

The best stories here are excellent and the equal of anything in Crime. But I did not feel they all reached that same high standard.