2021-03-08 Publishers Weekly

68 BOOKLIFE, MARCH 8, 2021

MYSTERY/THRILLER

One-Way Ticket: A

Hamburg Crime Story

Peter Sarda | Highway 99 Press

280p, trade paper, $11.99, ISBN 978-3-

982-26652-7

This gritty police procedural,

set in modern-day Hamburg,

Germany, portrays a team of

tough homicide detectives who

delve into the city’s grim under-

belly in all its noirish glory.

Thomas Ritter, a police officer

with a mysterious past, transfers

to Hamburg to take charge of a

detective squad. He and his crew find themselves immersed in a

murder with political overtones, when local official Mertens dies

during an S&M game at a brothel. The investigation reveals ties

to a well-connected crime boss, a dominatrix and her ex-con girl-

friend, and a ruthless Albanian smuggler, whose stories come

together in an explosive finish.

Sarda, an American living in Germany, brings Hamburg’s

seedy side to life, with black-humored dialog and descriptions

well-suited to a dark and violent story. When Ritter notes that

the prison looks old-fashioned compared to the one in Frankfurt,

another officer says, “We’re more traditional here. Still got bullet

holes in the back wall, next to the guillotine.” A suicide comes

across in stark, bleak prose: “The steam took the sting out of the

first cut. She didn’t even feel the second ... Let it flow. Let it all

out.” Sarda doesn’t stint on graphic descriptions of sex and

violence—this is vigorous prose appropriate to the milieu but not

for the easily offended.

Ritter has a wounded psyche and his attempts to come to

terms with who he has become thread through the book. Also

well-limned is his partner Motz

Beck, fighting his own inner

demons and penchant for

violence. Ritter and Motz’s joint

interrogation brilliantly shows

how these two detectives, in

spite of—or perhaps because

of—their damaged characters,

subtly break down a suspect. A

pair of sex workers share a

romance that elevates the char-

acters far beyond tired stereo-

types. With a well-defined cast,

an intricate plot, and plenty of

action, devotees of hardboiled

police procedurals will find

themselves breathless by the

end.

MYSTERY/THRILLER

Helen’s Orphans

Ron Fritsch | Asymmetric Worlds

155p, trade, $9.99, ISBN 978-0-997-

88299-5

Two orphans of the Trojan

War seek to discover the true

nature of the relationship

between Helen of Troy and

Paris in this engaging historical

novel. Timon and Lukas,

growing up in the same

orphanage that Helen and her

sister Clytemnestra once did,

are befriended by Helen, who

has recently been queened after her return to Sparta. Helen

spends considerable time visiting with both orphans,

answering their inquiries about Paris and the Trojan War, and

freely discloses her memories of the destructive events.

Fritsch’s uses flashbacks from Helen’s perspective, intermin-

gled with present-day narration by Timon and Lukas, to reveal

an alternate ending to the Trojan War.

Despite appearances from the likes of Achilles, Nestor, and

Menelaus, Timon and Lukas emerge as the ensemble’s most

compelling characters. They share touching moments, such as

when they sing together and discover a mutual love of music,

and their eagerness to question Helen (“Did you find Paris

attractive?”) is relatable. Fritsch (The Lord Chamberlain’s

Daughter) crafts a detailed and immersive fiction that is

charming in its minute detail, though some readers will be disap-

pointed by a lack of dynamism in prose. A tendency toward the

pedantic diminishes the drama, as even battles at times read

more like a history essay than an engrossing tale.

Timon and Lukas are fresh

air in this history lesson.

Those familiar with the

Odyssey and the myth of the

Trojan War will find few

surprises in Fritsch’s charac-

terization of Helen, Paris, and

Clytemnestra, but Helen’s

point-of-view passages give

the legend charm and agency-

-and even makes her relatable.

With an appeal to audiences

versed in Greek myth,

Fritsch’s new spin on a time-

less tale will draw in readers

with his sympathetic charac-

terization and occasional orig-

inal inventions.

Noir fans will revel

in this twisty story

of tough cops,

brutal gangsters,

and Hamburg’s

underworld.

Production grades

Cover: A

Design & typography: B

Illustrations: –

Editing: A

Marketing copy: B

Production grades

Cover: A-

Design & typography: A-

Illustrations: –

Editing: B+

Marketing copy: B+

A novel approach to

an established

classic, with an

alternate ending

that will please fans

of Greek mythology.

Great for fans of

Madeline Miller’s The

Song of Achilles, David

Gemmell’s Lord of the

Silver Bow.

Great for fans of

James M. Cain,

Dashiell Hammett,

Jakob Arjouni.

PAID REVIEWS