Detective story about the discovery of sacks of bones - children's bones. In 1929 in Berlin, Detective Willi Kraus fights against antisemitism (with the help of one decorated leader in the Kripo) while trying to solve the case.

It is a most bizarre story about missing boys who are not missed and how they get caught in a trap. Be prepared for tunnels and secret passageways and a very unhappy family.
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Children of Wrath. Paul Grossman. 2012. A few years ago, I downloaded this author’s first book, Sleepwalkers. Willie Kraus is a WWWI hero and police detective noted for his ability to solve serial murders in 1929 Berlin. That he is Jewish has never been a real problem but it slowly becomes one for him and for his family as he struggles to find out who is murdering children and using skin and bones for purses. There are lots of twists, turns and narrow misses in this investigation and in the slow persecution that Willie and his family begin to feel. I hope Grossman continues this series. It is a good one. ( )

Where I got the book: review copy provided by the Historical Novel Society. This review first appeared on the HNS website.

This thriller, set in Depression-era Berlin, is the prequel to the action in The Sleepwalkers and features a younger Willi Kraus, married and father to two young boys, trying to negotiate the demands of marriage and fatherhood while fending off the anti-Semitism rife in the Kripo, Berlin’s criminal investigation department. Kraus is furious when he is taken off a serial murder case and assigned to a seemingly mundane matter of tainted sausages, but the two investigations are horribly linked.

The Children of Wrath contains many of the elements also found in The Sleepwalkers—the rise of the Nazi party, the decadence of 1930s Berlin and the strange cults and societies that flourished there—but Kraus’ relatively lowly position in the Criminal Police brings out the era’s pervasive anti-Semitism much more strongly as Kraus, who has an excellent war record and holds the prestigious Iron Cross, constantly has to prove himself in both his professional and his private life. Grossman endows Kraus with a dry sense of humor and a passion for justice that carry him well through the wide variety of settings and scenes afforded by a cosmopolitan city on the brink of economic disaster and political violence.

Grossman’s writing has a European feel that lends a distinctive voice to his detective’s viewpoint. The plot is fast-paced and intriguing with some nicely gruesome touches, leading up to a page-turning climax. The somberly reflective ending suggests that no more Willi Kraus books will be forthcoming, and I think that’s a great shame. Grossman has imagined a character who both belongs intimately to his time and location and is set apart from it by the tragedy of his age, and the result is fascinating. ( )

I got Paul Grossman's first book through Early Reviewers and was very excited for this one to be published. In addition to the mystery plot unfolding there is a second, equally fascinating story of the unfolding history of Germany in the 1930's. I will be happy to read more! ( )

This starts off on the right foot-- bag of mysterious bones washes up in the flood, with inscrutable Biblical passage marked. Willi Kraus on the case! Except . . . he's not. He's pulled off to investigate tainted sausages instead. At length. Many shades of The Jungle. And then he's back on the case again eventually which, no surprise here, links back to the slaughterhouses (coincidence! love it!). The novel moves somewhat slowly-- it is extremely precise in its historical accuraccy, but can get bogged down in detail-- every step Willi takes seems to have to be described at some length, and there are several tangents, plus several threads that get dropped altogether. I found the Epilogue rather unsatisfactory-- is this supposed to signal that the Willi Kraus series ends at two books? Better editing and a speeding up of pace could have improved a good idea for a serial killer mystery considerably; the core idea is good, it's just lacking in (pardon the pun) execution. Inevitable comparisons will be made to Philip Kerr-- don't expect Berlin Noir from Grossman, but do try to enjoy what he's produced on its own merits. ( )