Blog Tour / Book Review – Blue Night by Simone Buchholz (translated by Rachel Ward)

I am so glad it is my stop today at the blog tour for Blue Night. Thank you so much Anne and Orenda Books for sending me an advance copy of Blue Night and including me in this fabulous blog tour.

Synopsis:

After convicting a superior for corruption and shooting off a gangster’s crown jewels, the career of Hamburg’s most hard-bitten state prosecutor, Chastity Riley, has taken a nose dive: she has been transferred to the tedium of witness protection to prevent her making any more trouble. However, when she is assigned to the case of an anonymous man lying under police guard in hospital, Chastity’s instinct for the big, exciting case kicks in. Using all her powers of persuasion, she soon gains her charge’s confidence, and finds herself on the trail to Leipzig, a new ally, and a whole heap of lethal synthetic drugs. When she discovers that a friend and former colleague is trying to bring down Hamburg’s Albanian mafia kingpin single-handedly, it looks like Chas Riley’s dull life on witness protection really has been short-lived…

My Review: 4/5 stars

Wow, I finished the book last night and one thought came to mind: what a great crime fiction.

Set in the gritty German city of Hamburg, the story followed our protagonist Chasity Riley, who was assigned a new task in the Police force where her main job was to protect the witnesses and victims of crime. The story started with her being assigned to protect a man who was beaten so severely and left alone on the street. The more she found out about this man, the more secrets about the biggest crime organisation in Germany unfolded.

What I loved most about this book is the fact that even though the story is mainly told from Chastity’s point of view, the book has also included the viewpoints of Chastity’s circle of friends. In addition, what made it so engaging was that with all these viewpoints, past and present are also intertwined. It gives you such a clear understanding of how these characters come to be the people they are today, and their stories and relationships also play a huge role in Chastity’s life and her career. This is such a refreshing way of narrating a story and I find it so endearing.

In addition, this story is so atmospheric, and it has done an excellent job of portraying the gritty, raw, seedy hedonism of Hamburg at that time. I can smell the salty and foul air, I can see the dirty streets and feel the absolute pleasure-seeking energy in this city.

I finished the book in one sitting and I enjoyed it immensely!

Blue Night is now out in ebook format and the paperback will be out on 28 February and you can pre-order it here.

About The Author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. 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 as well as runner-up for 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.

Please make sure you check out the other blog posts for the blog tour