Sourse: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/brother-grimm-craig-russell/1072042/
Advantages: Interesting first half
Disadvantages: Too grim, a little dull
Disney has a lot to answer for with their treatment of fairy tales. When they produced their early feature length cartoons such as 'Snow White' or 'Sleeping Beauty', they choose to adapt the later politically correct version of the tales. Gone were the references to rape, torture, murder etc. to be replaced with singing and dancing animals. I hope that no poor unfortunate child gets their hands on an original version of the Grimm's fairy tales as they will be in for a nasty shock. Many of these tales were violent and could easily impact a vivid imagination. Therefore, it seems inevitable that an author would use these gothic books as inspiration for a serial killer. Fabel is a German detective who heads a small group of police officers trained to look into the more unusual crimes in and around Hamburg. They are called in when the body of a young woman is found near the beach, she seems to have been displayed purposely and is clutching a note in her hand. The investigation soon opens more widely when another body is found and the killer seems to be linking the murders to the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Can Fabel and his electric group of officer's track down the killer before they make their way through all of the 150+ tales in the Grimm's book of fairy tales? As a fan of crime fiction I read a lot of similar types of books. 'Brother Grimm' falls into the camp of extreme macabre fiction similar to Karin Slaughter and John Connelly. As a rule I am not as big a fan of this type of crime novel as the lighter work as they concentrate too much on the grisly details and not in solving the crime. Unfortunately, once again another author has fallen into this trap as Russell's 'Brother Grimm' is just too dark to be instantly enjoyable. I am not a squeamish person as the horror genre is probably one of my favourite, but even I only need to know so much about how a person was murdered. For the first half of the book Russell manages to balance the dark nature of the crimes and the story in a way that is both interesting and unsettling. The use of fairy tales as a motive for killing is perhaps not the most original, and indeed it's a bit cheesy, but for the first section of the book Russell manages to keep it fresh by referring to the original texts. However, as the murders stack up Russell begins to feel it's important to try and uncover why the killer is doing what they are doing. This means that large parts of the books become a pseudo psychological look at a fictional killer's mind. It soon becomes dull, especially when Russell includes sections of a made up non-fiction book in his novel. I rarely feel that quoting text within a fiction novel works, and my views are supported here. If you add to this the fact that the story become too confusing and intertwined by the end and you have something that drops from being a good read into a chore. The characters fare a little better than the story does. Set in Germany, Russell is able to populate the book with people that are slightly different from the UK/US residents I usually read. The central character of Fabel is easily the best thing in the book as he tries to solve the crimes whilst not giving into nightmares. The collection of police officers that he surrounds himself do not fare quite as well as they are either boring or a little too stereotypical for my liking. Overall, the characters are good and they interact well with one another, the issue is not with the characters but how Russell treats them. Russell alludes to his earlier book that at least one member of his team was killed whilst others were badly injured. I found it strange that this book would have similar injuries. I doubt very much that the powers that be would allow a crack squad of police to be so cavalier. Overall, I found 'Brother Grimm' a hard going read. After beginning so promisingly Russell took the novel in a dull direction. Too much time was spent looking at the psychology of the killer and when the action did take place I did not believe that the characters would be so blasé. For a psychological crime thriller to work you have to enjoy the hunt. This book was not a particularly enjoyable experience and like many books in the genre ended up being disturbing for disturbing sake. It was a reasonable book that became too confusing and slightly dull towards the end. I can imagine with 100 pages less waffle Russell can write a very good - if dark - novel.
Advantages: A fantastic idea...
Disadvantages: ...that is not carried out as well as it could have been
Jan Fabel is the Erster Kriminalhauptkommisar and the leader of the Hamburg Murder Squad. Together with his team he starts investigating the murder of a young girl found posed on a lonely stretch of strand in Blanknese, Hamburg. In her hand she clutches a neatly written note which seems to suggest that she may be part of something other than a family argument gone wrong or a sexually motivated murder. When the team believe they may have identified the girl and bring the parents in for an official identification they realise that the killer is playing some sort of game with them. As a couple is murdered in the forest and posed together with some bread crumbs and a neatly written note, the aptly named Fabel starts to see links with the most German of literature – the folk stories collected by the Brothers Grimm. There are links leading him to a controversial author, Gerhard Weiss, whose most recent novel is a fictionalised travelling diary of the Brothers Grimm. In this novel Jacob Grimm and his brother William travel across Germany to collect the tales and myths that they will eventually publish as Children’s and Household Tales (Grimm’s Fairy Tales) and German Myths. Whereas much of the novel seems to quite truthfully follow the actual travels undertaken by the brothers it also depicts Jacob Grimm as a serial killer, killing women and children in ways replicating the tales that he has collected together with his brother. Fabel and his team are now left to decide whether this is of importance to their current investigation and in doing so immerse themselves in the often cruel and violent tales. Do the fairy tales really have any bearing on our modern life? During the investigation more bodies turn up and the detectives find themselves in a race against time where reality and myth is closely interlinked. Will they have time to stop the murderer before he murders again? I was immediately interested in this book when I saw it as I have always found the Brothers Grimm’s collection fascinating. It is interesting that the same tales, with variations seem to exist in most cultures and I have never quite been able to understand just why these often very violent stories have been considered suitable for kids even after having been rewritten and edited. Even though I don’t agree that all books for children should be sugary sweet I don’t think rape, incest and murder is entirely suitable either. This is the second book in Craig Russel’s Jan Fabel thrillers. Although there are several references to a previous case which shook the Hamburg Murder Squad I didn’t find it necessary to have read the first book in order to follow the personal relationships of the second book. In spite of the author being Scottish his description of Hamburg and the German police officers never rang false to me. Russell clearly has a fascination with Germany and the German language. He does use several German words but it is always clear from the context what they mean or they are translated into English, often by Fabel whose mother conveniently is English. I find the idea for this book absolutely fantastic and incredibly interesting. However, I also feel that the book never takes full advantage of such a great idea. As I was reading I kept waiting for something to happen that would really make this book stand out. Unfortunately, to me, it never did. Although it is a perfectly enjoyable book with a steady pace it never really lifts. Partly I think this may be due to the characters; not all of them are entirely believable. You have the classic female cop, overly aggressive but of course beautiful and simply hiding her vulnerability through this aggressiveness. The author Gerhard Weiss also seems a bit wooden to me and he never really convinces as an arrogant but intelligent man. In all I would recommend this book as light entertainment (if you can call brutal murders entertainment? You know what I mean!). It could have been an amazing story but unfortunately that opportunity was lost. I picked up my Arrow published copy at Waterstone's for a mere £3.99 and a quick look on Amazon gives the same price. The paperback version is a mere 439 fairly easily read pages so shouldn't cause anybody great problems.
Summary: A book worth reading in spite of some problems
AND WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT RUSSEL'S BROTHER GRIMM?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Marina said
ReplyDeleteSince my early childhood I've enjoyed reading and watching detective stories. First it was the special series for children, then adult detectives. Mysteries attracted me, it was always interesting and challenging to guess before the end of the book, who was the murderer.
"Brother Grimm" didn't become an exception. The plot is captivating from the first pages (or tracks in our case). Unfortunately, I haven't read the story to the end, so I'm judging only by the beginning.
I think the author combined mystery, romance, friendship, family drama and mutual assistance; together it made the detective story appealing to a larger reading audience.
The use of German words is an originality, a pep to the plot. The most incredible thing is that this book really makes a reader think whether the Grimm Brothers could be convicted of numerous murders. I used to read their fairytales in my childhood and I'm sure thousands of other children around the world did it too. It's unbelievable that murders could be the dark side of the fairytales.
The stratagem of the detective, its artful design of killings and investigation captivates the reader, making him wonder who would be the next victim. I believe it's a great skill of the author who introduced information by little portions. However, some may want him to "hurry up", not prolonging the narration.
It's undeniable that every reader may like or dislike this detective story, but you'll never know until you get to the end of it. To me the principal question is whether my 1st guesses about the killer were right and what does the story have to do with the Grimm Brothers.
First of all, it was the name of the book itself which had attracted my attention. “Brother Grimm”. At once their tales came to my mind. They always were not those fairy tales about beautiful princesses and brave princes, who married and lived happily. They were always tales with mystery, with secret sense. I remember that sometimes I didn’t understand them, sometimes I was afraid of them, sometimes I cried, reading them and there was always something which you realized to be somewhere beyond your mind but you could feel it. Now I understand that they are tales for adults. For those adults who can plunge into their mystery.
ReplyDeleteAfter I have listened to that very moment in the audio book when Fabel hears an interview about Jacob Grimm’s crimes, I think this my feeling of mystery in Grimm’s tales has found a kind of confirmation.
This detective story is not just a simple detective story. We can also find in it historical and cultural references, we can follow the lines of love and family relationships and to see how they jobs, feelings and memories are intertwined.
This is the first detective story that I don’t read, but listen to, and I should say that’s much better and more interesting and captivating, when you hear all these intonations, whisper and cry, even breath. Then you feel that all this happens in your life, in your house, with your acquaintances. And of course this is scary; this makes you tremble of fear and of unexpectedness. But on the other hand, this is exactly what we are waiting from the detective story. New track, new crime, new supposition, new suspicion.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNow when I’ve finished listening to the book I can, finally, write some sort of review of it.
ReplyDeleteI can’t say I enjoy reading detective stories (unless they are somehow connected with history and historical events or mythology). So I’ve got some mixed impression after listening to this book.
I find the idea, the conception of the story fantastic: brutal killings having references to the Grimms’ fairy-tales (the contrast is ominous: the killings and the children’s fairy-tales. At least, it was until I realized that the Grimms’ tales were indeed grim). I liked guessing what fairy-tale the murderer was trying to represent. And I also liked all the parts about the Grimm brothers and their travelings (these were the parts from the Weiss’s book).
But on the other hand the story is too steady. I would agree with the second reviewer from dooyoo.co.uk: with such an unusual idea I would expected this story to stand out. But everything happens as it usually does in detective stories.
Secondly, there were so many characters that at some moment I began to confuse them (the minor characters, I mean). I suppose this was due to the format of the book – it’s always difficult for me to memorize things aurally. I’m a visual person. That’s why I prefer reading books, see the text with my own eyes, to percept it without any intermediary; I like reading and imagine the voices, the intonations, the sounds inside my head. It helps me to get the complete image of a story.
All in all, I think I liked the book, though I didn’t much enjoy listening to it. Maybe I’ll read it someday, but to tell the truth it doesn’t seem as inspiring as the 13th tale.
And, finally, I did it! I am through with "Brother Grimm"!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to sincerely thank Craig Russell for such a fascinating story, which his imagination gave birth to. This was something I truly enjoyed!
For some reason I have always been attracted by mysterious dark stories that can tickle your nerves and awake your mind with the rush of the adrenaline, caused by the ever twisting and varying plot. And "Brother Grimm" is one that can and does. This gothic novel, based on the smashing combination of blood-freezing murders and lovely (as we usually think of them!) fairy tales, seasoned with the spicy sense of uncertainty and tension, cannot leave you indifferent. Having once started reading/listening to the novel you can't drop it somewhere in the middle because you have simply got to know who that freakish pervert, who assassinates people with such deliberate inventiveness that, despite the feeling of disgust, shame and horror, attracts your attention, is.
As the narration proceeds, we are not actually given a real chance to build more or less solid theory about these "fairy murders", because every time we assume who the killer may be a new suspect and a new victim emerge, and our theory bursts like a soap bubble. And when Fabel and his team face already three suspects and appear to be unable to link all the fairy tales and killings and see all the hints, left by the murderer, we all get stuck in a deadlock, not knowing what to do next.
The insight of the main character feels like a breath of fresh air after the stuffiness of ignorance, that was strangling the investigation, and we rush at once to the dreadful ending of the story.
In the end of the story personally I was left with the strange sadness of the feeling that the murderer won, after all, since he fulfilled what he had planned and finished his fairy tale of "Hansel and Gretel", though it was a relief that this bloody nightmare came to an end.
"Brother Grimm" is not one of the infantile spooky stories that in childhood made you have gooseflesh and be afraid of the darkness and long for the morning to come, so that it could drive the shadows away. It is not a childish story that forces you to seek salvation from your fears in daylight. It is connected with reality and with its horrifying details it sets the sensation of uneasiness and alert inside of you, which do not let go and which you cannot shake off neither the next second nor the next minute.
One more time I would like to express my gratefulness to Craig Russell for creating such a thrilling and captivating story!
P.S. Oh, and by the way, I also want to express my profound respect for the voice of the audio book! Good job!
Frankly speaking, I am not keen on detective stories, except for classical novels by Agatha Christie or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Yet this particular audio book, a contemporary ‘Krimi’, turned out to be captivating - it was a surprise to me. The main reason to it is the literary allusions to the Grimm brothers and the postmodernistic device of a text within another text. One may think that such complications make the story more improbable or fictional, but I got an impression that literary allusions ‘verify’ this fictional story. Another reason why I liked it is that it is a psychological novel as well as a thriller, and was its psychological component that awoke my interest rather than the story of investigation and the sequence of events.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the concept of the novel is intriguing, its implementation leaves much to be desired in my opinion. I find most of the characters unaccomplished. They play their roles in the plot, but they are rather schematic and don’t represent whole vivid images. Some of the secondary plot lines are left undeveloped, and most of the dialogues sound artificial. You can actually predict the phrases of the interlocutors, because most dialogues in the novel represent monologues divided into separate remarks and given to different characters. Obviously, it is always the author whom you listen to, not his characters – and I think it is a drawback in a novel like this.
However, there were two well designed characters – Fabel and the murderer. I sincerely sympathized with the former and loathed the latter. Almost till the very end of the story I had been thinking that it was Gerhard Weiss, so it was a pleasant discovery that the plot remained unpredictable.
On the whole, the book was worth listening to (by the way, its performance was brilliant), thank you very much!
Actually, I adore reading detective stories, science fiction and mystics, because there always exists the element of a riddle, which should be solved at first by the reader and the right answers to them will be given only in the end of the book.
ReplyDeleteI think, this book is written in compliance with all the rules of this particular genre. Moreover, the plot is really interesting and twisted. I suspected of murders almost every character while listening to the book. I even imagined the ghosts…
To tell the truth, in general I liked the story. The only fact that was uncomfortable to me, that this was the audio book. Actually, I’d prefer to watch it on TV. But still more I’d read it… on the paper. Because the actor represents the story, according to his view. Who knows where my imagination could bring me.
However, the plot seemed rather unusual for me. The murders which were accomplished in accordance with Grimm’s fairy tales bring to one’s mind a lot to be thought over. At times my childish belief in the story-tellers and the invented characters came into a conflict with my view of the reality. However, actually I can’t stand when the professional biography is mixed with the private life of the author. Recently I’ve seen a film about one famous writer, but, unfortunately, the whole plot, in my opinion, was dedicated to show his non-traditional sexual orientation. I mean, I was offended about this guess about Jacob Grimm. Another fact that confused me was the detailed description of murders. But, of course, in the films there is much more blood…
But in general, the book is really exciting. I’ll definitely reread it the near future and I’m sure I’ll get new impressions
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, as I am fond of mysterious stories, I liked this book from the very beginning, but when I have listened the story to the very end I liked it even more. I was totally grasped by the plot of the story.
ReplyDeleteSurely, I had some suppositions and guesses. To my deep surprise, none of the three suspects was the murderer. At first, as I was sure that neither Mr Fenrich nor Olsen were able to commit these crimes, I thought, that the murderer was the writer Weisse. But I had no idea that the murderer could be the baker. Certainly, this turning-point makes the story even more captivating.
In spite of the fact that I read such books very seldom, where corpses, and murders are portrayed; I took a keen interest in the story.
This gripping story is not a children's fairy tale, it is a serious book, where real events are described.
No doubt, the author of the book is a very talented person, and his masterpiece is worth reading/listening. But it seems to me, that such stories create murderers. It is obvious, that the villain in this story is a real schizophrenic and he is not able to understand the main point of his acts. And there are a lot of mentally defective people all over the world, and having read this detective, probably,they will commit crimes by analogy with the book. It is deplorable, that such murderes escape punishment, while some people are not able to return their relatives.
Thus, having listened this story to the very end, I have contradictory feelings, and it makes me reflect on the injustice of life.