Shadow and Light

There's a persistent mournfulness in Simon Prebble's reading. Whether it's directed toward a doomed Berlin of the 1920s or to the wreckage of the life of Rabb's protagonist, Nikolai Hoffner, the half-German, half-Russian-Jew detective, hardly matters. The dolefulness is richly appropriate in either case, for Berlin is sliding inexorably toward the abyss of Nazism, and Hoffner finds himself increasingly isolated from any meaningful human connection and from an ethical code that makes sense amid the rising corruption. He is investigating the death of a film studio accountant, a case that will eventually touch on plans to secretly rearm Germany and strengthen the Brown Shirts. The plot may become convoluted, but what stays true, thanks to Prebble, is the sense of despair you feel for Berlin and for Rabb's hero. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 16, 2009
Set in 1927 Germany, Rabb’s superb sequel to Rosa
correlates the advent of talking movies with the rise of Nazism. When Kriminal-Oberkommisar Nikolai Hoffner investigates the apparent suicide of an Ufa film studio executive, the trail leads the Berlin policeman to the sex and drug trade as well as to the National Socialist German Workers Party’s local leader, Joseph Goebbels. Working with Helen Coyle, an attractive American talent agent for MGM, Hoffner learns how cutthroat the picture business is. Rumors of films with sound threaten to change the industry. “Without sound, all you have is shadow and light,” an inventor tells Hoffner. With sound, movies can do a lot more than entertain, as soon to be shown by Nazi propaganda films and newsreels. Rabb’s meticulous research brings to life a corrupt society vulnerable to extremism. Well-conceived cameos by director Fritz Lang and actor Peter Lorre add to the intrigue. Author tour.