Stasi Wolf

Written by David Young

Narrated by Julia Barrie

Karin Muller, side-lined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing. But Muller soon finds her problems have followed her to Halle-Neustadt. She and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town's image. Meanwhile, in the eerily nameless streets and tower blocks, a child snatcher lurks and the clock is ticking to rescue the twins alive...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980051855

David Young

David Young serves as the senior minister for the North Boulevard Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee—a church devoted to church planting and disciple-making. He has worked for churches in Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee, has taught New Testament at several colleges, formerly hosted the New Day Television Program, and travels widely teaching and preaching. He holds several advanced degrees in New Testament, including a PhD in New Testament from Vanderbilt University.

Reviews for Stasi Wolf

[edwardsgt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very different crime story set in 1975 in Halle-Neustadt, an East German new town with a confusing number of low-level tower blocks, on roads with no names, accomodating thousands of workers in the nearby Leuna and Beuna chemical works. Here Karin Muller a detective ("Kripo") with the East Berlin police is sent to investigate a by abduction under the ever-watchful and all-powerful Stasi State Security police. The plot jumps about in time for reasons which become clearer nearer the end but I found a bit confusing at first. Very well researched in time and place reflecting the society in which East Germans lived prior to unification.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the follow up novel to the author's Stasi Child, which I enjoyed greatly a year and a half ago. I liked this one slightly less, because of what I saw as the inherent implausibilities in some of the plotting, but it was still well written, with interesting characters and a grimly realistic depiction of a bleak East German "model" town. The central character, criminal investigator Oberleutnant Karin Muller is an interesting and three dimensional character, and the plot here, a harrowing one centring on abductions of very young babies, links closely to tragic events in Karin's own life. We find out a great deal about her family history which, at times, might be a bit over the top for a crime novel, though it makes sense in context. Karin's life is transformed for the better and it will be interesting to see how her life and career move on in in the next novel which, unusually for me, I have already pre-ordered some four months before its publication date.

[brokenangelkisses · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes a book surprises you.Last year that book was David Young's debut novel, 'Stasi Child' - winner of the CWA Golden Dagger award. Despite my vague belief that I don't really enjoy reading historical fiction, despite my occasional professed boredom with another story focusing on life in post-WW2 Germany, I LOVED 'Stasi Child'. It was chilling, atmospheric and perfectly plotted. I was genuinely excited to realise that this was the first book in a planned series, featuring Murder Squad Detective Karin Muller, though I did wonder what else poor Karin could endure.So I was delighted to learn that the next book in the series, 'Stasi Wolf', was about to be released. Could it live up to the excellence of its older sibling?What's it about?After being sidelined from the Berlin Murder Squad as a punishment for refusing to join the Stasi, detective Karin Muller is spending her days dealing with minor political infringements more suited to a uniformed officer:'She couldn't face many more days trying to get idiots like Lauterberg, with their faux western hippy attitudes, to confess to petty crimes against the state. It was more exhausting than a murder inquiry.'Then Karin is offered a job investigating the kidnapping of twins in Halle-Neustadt. The catch? Halle-Neustadt is a jewel in East Germany's republican crown, and Muller is not allowed to conduct an open investigation: there will be no house to house enquiries, no suggestion that anything untoward has even occurred.Karin needs to find a way to circumvent these restrictions, before more children vanish...What's it like?Chilling, intriguing, a fascinating glimpse into life in the DDR.The opening chapter is superb: it captures inhumane wartime behaviour and is utterly disturbing due to Young's decision to use second person pronouns (in this chapter only). We experience this character's trauma and are prepared for the fear which underpins all the main characters' relationship with the state.I still find it interesting that Young has created a protagonist, Karin Muller, who is sympathetic to a regime which history has looked at critically. She could initially seem to be an unsympathetic character as we first meet her (in this story) questioning a teenage boy about noise and an anti socialist joke he made. Seriously? Questioning a young man about a anti-socialist joke? Surely we're on his side as he retells the joke (which I did find amusing) and refuses to be intimated by Muller. This is state control taking an intrusive and heavy handed approach; it is a repressive regime in full flow and our protagonist is a willing part of the system.However, Muller's heart is clearly not in this interrogation and it soon becomes evident that she has reservations about the regime but sees protecting it as being fundamentally "for the greater good" (a phrase which, by the by, I can never think of now without hearing it chanted by the good people of Sandford in Simon Pegg's highly entertaining film 'Hot Fuzz').Most of the characters are primarily concerned with protecting themselves and a disturbing atmosphere of suspicion, paranoia and mistrust is evoked throughout.However.What's not to like?The story feels unevenly paced due to a time frame spanning nearly a year and a central crime with a lot of dead ends. This means that sometimes Muller's personal life seems to be the only real focus of the plot and I often struggle to enjoy police stories where the main protagonist's personal life is as central to the plot as their investigation.Personally, I'm just more interested in the crime / criminals and feel stories often become too far-fetched when their main protagonist is perpetually heavily involved in whatever terrible crime is occurring. In 'Stasi Child' I really enjoyed the way Muller's background was used, but in 'Stasi Wolf' it all felt a little too signposted and convenient.Muller develops a new relationship and her personal life becomes intertwined with the case she's investigating in multiple ways. This struck me as very convenient and ultimately unconvincing.I was also a little disappointed by the final solution, partly because I can't help but feel that in a society this rife with spies, someone would have reported certain oddities early on (I can't be more specific without introducing spoilers), and partly because I'm personally more happy reading about sad endings!! I'm not really a horrible person, I just generally find them more convincing than overall happy ones, and I like my fiction to keep me firmly enmeshed in the fantasy world right til the very end.Final thoughtsHowever, none of these personal disappointments are deal-breakers. I really enjoyed reading about Muller's attempts to circumvent the Stasi's restrictions and was fascinated to learn about the links to real-life cases in the DDR.I also really liked the first-person chapters interspersed throughout the narrative. This protagonist was both creepy and vulnerable and inadvertently shed light on what was happening to the kidnapped babies. I thought this was a great feature of the story.This works well as a standalone book, though if you like the sound of this I would definitely recommend reading 'Stasi Child' first as knowledge of certain events in the first book will add a certain chill to the events in 'Stasi Wolf'. Plus it's just a really, really good book!Once again, after everything Muller has experienced in this story, I shall be fascinated to see what challenges Young sends her way next, and how she will meet them from her new position.

[rowingrabbit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Detective Karen Müller is dying of boredom. After her last case with the homicide division of Kripo, she turned down a job with the Stasi (secret police) & was “rewarded” with a transfer to petty crimes. So when she’s asked to look into the disappearance of newborn twins, she accepts but with reservations. She’ll have to travel to Halle-Neustadt, a newly built town outside of East Berlin. And she’ll be under the watchful eye of the Stasi.It ’s 1975 & Halle-Neustadt is the pride & joy of the DDR’s socialist government. It’s a model town where every detail was carefully selected from the layout of nameless streets to acceptable behaviour for its chosen citizens. Plans are in the works for other towns based on the prototype & nothing can be allowed to tarnish its image. So when the Salzmann twins are snatched from the hospital, the Stasi quickly steps in & puts a lid on the investigation. Karen arrives to head up the case in name only & is soon frustrated by their smothering restrictions. How do you investigate when you’re not allowed to ask questions? In alternating chapters, we meet Franziska & her husband Hansi. Their story begins in 1965 while they await the birth of a long wanted child. As we gradually follow their lives to the present day, it soon becomes clear there’s something odd about their relationship & each chapter is creepier than the last. Karen & her team get creative about gathering information & the case soon snowballs to encompass much, much more than just missing babies. As the plot lines play out, you are always aware of the time & place of the setting. Descriptions of identical concrete buildings, waiting lists & the grim reality of every day provide constant reminders of life under communist rule. You can feel the pervasive fear of a people encouraged to inform on their neighbour or face the consequences. It’s almost dystopian & provides a sinister undercurrent running through the background of the story. Karen is a complex & sympathetic character. We get to know her through childhood memories & recent history. Some of these have ties to the present & the investigation becomes both deadly & personal. And while she manages to solve some aspects of the case, it comes at a huge cost. Echoes from her time in Halle-Neustadt & big changes in her private life will follow her back to East Berlin & no doubt set the stage for book #3 of this tense, atmospheric series.