Beton Rouge: Volume 2

"Blue Night has great sparkling energy, humour and stylistic verve . . . and the story itself is gripping and pacey. Simone Buchholz's homage to Raymond Chandler and Johnny Cash is affectionate and deliberate.Then there's the interplay of author and translator, like musicians in the same band . . . creating an all-female tour de force." --Rosie Goldsmith, European Literature Network

"This book is to crime thriller what jazz music is to classical. With plenty of dry humour and a good old dash of despair, Simone Buchholz is an unconventional, refreshing new voice, the likes of which I haven't heard in German crime fiction since Arjouni." --Crime Fiction Lover

"Beton Rouge is a fast-paced German thriller set in Hamburg and featuring Chastity Riley of the public prosecutor's office. She has her cabal of friends with her, but whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a moot point (adds to the fun though). This is an intriguing revengers tale that explores the nature of blame, guilt and mitigation - what drives a person to crime. Borrowing from the American hardboiled school, the writing is taut, the dialogue sassy and there is an edge of toughness and cynicism to the story. However, what Buchholz borrows she makes her own, the result is a distinctive noir and Chastity is a truly original character. As much as this is a crime story, it's also Chastity Riley's personal journey through life, she is the principal fascination of the novel ... Buchholz also does a nice line in wry, black humour in her novels and there are some very funny moments in Beton Rouge set against a backdrop of greyness and pessimism ... Beton Rouge is a touch of class, a superb noir." --New Books Magazine
"As ever drinking too much coffee and alcohol, smoking like a trooper and profoundly dry-witted and full of heavy sarcasm, Chastity is a heroine with a difference and here works along new colleague Ivo Stepanovic when two naked, tortured men are found displayed, in quick succession, in front of a magazine's offices and turn out to have been unpopular managers there. Alongside this mystery, they are also confronted by a hit and run on a cyclist. Is there a connection? But the solution is far from obvious and soon the two cops are investigating the common past of the two humiliated victims and journey south to Bavaria in search of answers, while continuously sparring with sharp, witty dialogue and regularly treading the dark side of their home town which comes over almost as a main character in the best tradition of hardboiled writing with an acute sense of locale. With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation." --Maxim Jakubowski, Crime Time
"This book has been translated, rather excellently, by Rachel Ward, and nothing has been lost in translation. There is a great energy in Buchholz writing and that is reflected in the main character Chastity Riley. While this may be classed as a novella it certainly punches above its weight, with short snappy sentences and chapters, there are no wasted words, no trying to pad the story out. There is also an underlying humour, even if the hero does come across as somewhat unconventional ... There is a fantastic pace to the story which keeps you hooked from the first sentence all the way to the end. Once again Simone Buchholz holds no punches, with a unique voice that delivers a stylish story. Buchholz proves that you can pack an excellent crime thriller into 186 pages and engross the reader who wants more, once completed." --NB Magazine
"Chastity Riley, the central character in Simone Buchholz's sharp and unrelenting crime noir series, is a one of a kind character. . . . The follow-up to Blue Night is a smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on society." --Culture Fly
"A slick and stylish thriller with substance." -- Mystery Scene