Book Review: The Collini Case by Ferdinand Von Schirach

Fabrizio Collini meets well known German industrialist Hans Meyer at a Berlin Hotel and brutally murders him. He then waits in the lobby for the police to arrive.

Struggling novice defence lawyer, Casper Leinen, is on the legal-aid rota and receives a call from the magistrate’s office to ask if he will represent Collini. Sensing the possibility of making a name for himself, Leinen is keen to take on the case. Finding his client to be uncommunicative and also discovering that the victim and the bereaved are known to him, Leinen questions his commitment.

It appears to be an open and shut case. Can he, should he, defend Collini? Of course, he does, and his efforts to do his utmost to defend his client sees him delve into his personal history and friendships as well as the troubled past of Germany.

This is the first book I have read by Ferdinand von Schirach, a respected defence lawyer in Germany who has written short stories and novels that have become bestsellers.

This is a slim book and von Shirach’s style is spare but efficient. The characters are introduced and the plot moves along at a pace. At first, the brisk, unfussy style comes across well but later, narrative jumps and some questionable scenes in which the characters choose to release information when it would suit the writer best, rather than when it would be natural for them to release it, serve to irritate.

As an example, during a crucial cross-examination scene an expert witness answers the prosecutor’s questions with mostly ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers, which is great for the prosecution. She does not qualify her answers in any way, as would be natural to an expert who wanted to convey full information and the nuances of what they were saying. The full picture only comes out when Casper Leinen cross-examines her and, conveniently, she gives a fuller statement that changes the weight of her evidence considerably.

There are also scenes which seem to add nothing to the story other than perhaps ticking off a list of items that the writer has been told are necessary for a crime-thriller. Autopsy (tick). Sex scene (tick). Montage of the protagonist making a name for himself and in a dashed off paragraph listing all of the cases he has successfully defended before the main murder case comes to court (tick). Defence lawyer receiving homely but sage advice from a shop owner (tick). However, without these, the book would be more a pamphlet given von Schirach’s unfussy style. The reader may also roll their eyes when the prosecution lawyer stands up and blusters ‘I object.’ Can this ever not happen in a fictional court case?

The story is readable however, and you will want to get to the end to find out what happens. It also raises some interesting and though-provoking questions about how we adjust to new knowledge that affects long-held beliefs, experiences and memories.

The Collini Case was translated from the German by Anthea Bell and published by Penguin Books – 2015

Book Review: Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Anyone who has read Children of Time will know that Adrian Tchaikovsky can create marvellous science fiction.

This new short novel tells the story of a British astronaut who is part of an international team sent to investigate a mysterious anomaly at the fringes of the Solar System. The anomaly turns out to be an ancient alien ‘artefact’, which, due to its appearance is dubbed the ‘Frog God’.

I know! Mysterious ancient artefacts, what’s not to like?

The artefact is riddled with tunnels which humans can move through but which are inhospitable to technology. The astronauts call the labyrinthine interior of the artefact ‘the crypts’. Mostly the interior is barren and boring but sometimes they come across oddities and horrors. The ‘egg men’ are a particular delight, I would leave to read a book on their back-story and exploits.

The story is told from the point of view of Gary Rendell, who always wanted to be an astronaut but is having second thoughts on this mission. Like me, some of you may be looking at that name and thinking what it reminds you of. Perhaps if you view the name as G.Rendell it might help you to think of that legendary exiled creature of darkness who is the bane of mankind.

The story switches between the mission out to the artefact and Gary Rendell’s increasingly desperate and deranged wanderings around the interior, where time, space and gravity do not act in the way that they should.

Tchaikovsky even manages a reference to Ack Ack Macaque, simian creation of Gareth L Powell.

This is a great little book and will help Tchaikovsky fans in the period before the sequel to Children of Time is released.

Walking to Aldebaran is published by Solaris.

Book Review: Muscle by Alan Trotter

In this dark, comedy the narrator and protagonist (for the most part) is a large man called Box, who is good at violence but little else that would earn him a living.

He was given the nickname Box by his colleague/partner named _________, a line 1cm long. How do you say it? How do you read it? For the sake of not having a mental hum every time I came to the name, I decided to refer to him as ‘Line’.

Line is first introduced to Box in a very unconventional, violent and acrobatic manner. It’s hilarious. Afterwards, they are both muscle for hire. Their start in the business is inauspicious and they have to resort to strong arm tactics to persuade potential clients to give them work. Their lives seem to consist of long-periods of ennui in run-down buildings, interspersed with briefer flashes of work. Box sees it as a way to get by but Line appears to be more sadistic, enjoying the savagery for its own sake. Line can be violent towards Box, who tolerates it, believing that Line could lose control.

They play card games with associates and strangers. A man called Holcomb plays poker with them. Holcomb is a science-fiction writer. Box picks up a SF mag that contains one of Holcomb’s stories, which is described in detail. The story seems to be about fear of difference and violence towards the ‘other’. Box is mesmerised by it and the thought of time-travel. He wonders what he would do with such a machine, a thought which will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Box is a man of very few words and struggles to make his thoughts and feelings known. A girlfriend of Holcomb, called Evvie, shows some kindness towards Box, as one would to a frightened or tongue-tied child. Box reads into it more than Evvie intended.

In the later parts of the book, the narrative switches away from Box. We find out that things have not gone as expected for him and Box, which has resulted in doublecross, the alienation of Evvie and death. Box is shown in a self-made head contraption of his own making, which is his attempt at time travel. Does it represent a pathetic attempt to undo the past and make things right, or could it be the real thing?

This is a very enjoyable alternative take on a hard-boiled gangster noir theme. Plenty of the language would fit well in a gumshoe/hoodlum book written several decades ago. It’s got an authentic feel but with a contemporary outlook and theme. There are a number of interesting characters throughout, most have some redeeming feature. The red-headed pickpocket triplets are a particular highlight, particularly the description of their synchronous way of moving around. The style of writing gives the reader a contemplative feeling, the words are measured and thoughtful. The Science Fiction theme gives a twist that makes Box and the reader think about regret and revisiting the past.

Muscle is published by Faber and Faber

Book Review: Children of Tomorrow by A.E. Van Vogt

After 10 years away, Space Commander John Lane returns home to Spaceport, Earth and is reunited with his wife Estelle and 16 year old daughter, Susan.

Lane discovers that the role of raising children in their teenage years (when they are colloquially known as ‘jabbers’) has passed to officially sanctioned ‘outfits’. Lane is not happy with this change and puts wheels in motion to undermine the outfit and return responsibility for raising his daughter to the parents (more specifically, him).

A member of an alien race watches Lane from afar, aided by his son (Bud) who is disguised as a member of Susan’s outfit. The aliens are very interested in learning the capabilities and weaknesses of Earth. The alien seeks to protect and guide his son from afar.

Matters come to a head when an alien fleet is detected at the fringes of the Solar System but in a trajectory that will intercept Earth. Commander Lane must respond to the threat. Bud, attempts to escape Earth prior to the confrontation. Both must consider their loyalties and conceptions about parental responsibility.

Written in 1970, the book is dated by the use of language and the vision of technology. Teenagers are called ‘jabbers’, parents, like Lane who oppose the ‘outfit’ system are ‘booters’. Teenagers say ‘sack’, which appears to be a general affirmation/agreement along the lines of ‘you dig?’. Telephones are still wired into houses and call-boxes and there are many mentions of lifts which take people up and down to the underground transport system. Most of the focus is on the characters themselves and the reader doesn’t really get a picture of Spaceport. In some respects, the setting and language feel dated even for the 1970s.

More problematic from our viewpoint is Lane’s attitude to his daughter. His view of parental responsibility seems to be that he owns his daughter and he will decide what is right for her future. To be fair to Van Vogt, Len Jaeger, the unwitting father of alien imposter Bud, also treats his son as a chattel and violently resists all outside influence. In a plot to undermine Susan’s ‘outfit’ (the Red Cats, groovy man!) Lane orders a good looking Flight Officer under his command to take her on a date. The Flight Officer is more than 10 years older than Susan and uses his greater strength to force her into kissing against her wishes. In a strange counterpoint, a scene involving Lane receiving a late night call is at pains to highlight that he and his wife have twin beds. No funny business here.

The outfits themselves are semi-autonomous and apply approved ‘outfit regulations’. For the most part, outfit members are very sensible, studious, independent and prudish (Susan is sanctioned for lip-kissing, even though it was against her will) Considering that the outfits are made up of of boys and girls from the ages of 13 to 19, this might not chime with the readers experience of teenagers or their memories of themselves at the same age. Outfits have been adopted because evidence showed that men like Lane, who seek danger and tests of courage largely as a result of trauma in their own teenage lives which condemns them to remain as overgrown teens forever. Their actions subsequently cause trauma to their own sons and daughters and the loop continues on and on. It is felt that teenagers are better able to raise themselves and younger children and the results in Spaceport, seem to support the theory.

Intergenerational differences are the main topic of the book and, indeed, feature in the confrontation with the alien fleet at the climax. If you can accept the vision of the future was written almost 50 years ago and that relations between men and women and their children were somewhat ‘different’ then, this is for the most part an enjoyable book, which makes you consider modern relationships between the sexes and the generations.