The Sinner

December 24, 2007
Hammesfahr’s darkly depressing yet engrossing crime novel, a bestseller in Germany, examines the price of survival for two young girls growing up in a small German community. Police commissioner Rudolf Grovian is assigned the case of Cora Bender, a young woman who murders an apparent stranger in a crowded park. The local constabulary deems it an open and shut case, but Grovian, intrigued by Cora’s strange behavior, pursues his own investigation. Cora reveals the bizarre circumstances of her claustrophobic family life, from her mother’s relentless blaming of Cora for stealing her life to Cora’s own complicated relationship with her disabled younger sister. The mixture of both first- and third-person perspectives and the explicit discussions of religious and sexual obsessions set this work apart from standard psychological fare. Dubbed Germany’s answer to Patricia Highsmith, Hammesfahr should win new American fans with this English translation.

December 1, 2007
In this complex, disturbing, and fast-paced psychological thriller, seamlessly translated by John Brownjohn, Hammesfahr slowly reveals the life of Cora Bender, a seemingly normal young wife and mother living in Germany. Normal, that is, until she leaps off her blanket at the lake and stabs the man next to her. Why did Cora snap? This question becomes the guiding force behind the dogged investigation led by Chief Grovian, as he delves into Cora's complicated past. The dedicated chief repeatedly interrogates Cora, and together they struggle to uncover her great secret. Cora's suppressed memories make her an unreliable narrator, and her first-person account is riddled with flashbacks and sporadic blackouts. A best-seller in Hammesfahr's native Germany and across Europe, The Sinner is a gripping psychological thriller that will appeal to fans of Karin Fossum, Kjell Eriksson, and, especially, Jurgen Christianson's equally chilling thriller, The Exception. The emphasis on Cora's troubled childhood will also appeal to mainstream readers, making this a good choice for all fiction collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)