Until the Debt is Paid by Alexander Hartung

Published in Germany in 2013; published in translation by Amazon Crossing on November 4, 2014

Until the Debt is Paid opens with the brutal death of a judge in Berlin named George Holoch. We then cut to homicide detective Jan Tommen who wakes up with a hangover to find that he's lost a day and is a suspect in the investigation of Holoch's murder. Of course, Jan's blood is found at the crime scene, the judge's blood is found on his shirt, and Jan's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. And, of course, his only alibi is a girlfriend who dies of an apparent suicide before she can clear his name. Another death follows and Jan is a suspect in that one, as well.

As is the convention in this well-traveled plot, Jan evades the police while trying to find the killer who framed him. Jan is assisted by capably crafted secondary characters, including a Rwandan bouncer named Chandu, a priest named Father Anberger, a computer hacker named Max, and a forensic scientist named Zoe.

Alexander Hartung moves the novel quickly but much of the ground it covers will be familiar to mystery readers. The framed detective relies on the computer hacker who is a social misfit and the medical examiner who believes in his innocence despite all the evidence to the contrary. Jan indulges in the obligatory prayer despite his questionable faith (although, to his credit, he doesn't pray for himself). Red herring suspects are planted to misdirect the reader. Seasoned readers will recognize them as red herrings because they are too obvious to be shocking.

Despite the novel's formulaic nature, the reveal surprised me. Surprising reveals are often forced but this one follows the logic of the story. That's the key to success in this formula and so, to that extent, the novel works. Characters are reasonably well developed and the Berlin setting, while less than vivid, gives the novel some added appeal. The ending sets up additional novels with some of the same characters. On the strength of this one, I'm willing to give the next one a shot, but I would hope that it is less formulaic and makes greater use of Berlin's noir atmosphere.

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