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Rosa was my first experience with Jonathan Rabb's work, although it is his third book. His gift for detail is unerring, which makes this complex mystery all the more appealing. Simply stated, I could not easily lay this book aside until the last page.
The place is post World War One Berlin. Rabb brings this metropolis to life with deft touches, shedding light in each dark corner, every nuance that gave Berlin its flavor at the time. Rabb doesn't simply tell the wonderful and gritty details. He takes his readers there so we can live it, experience the snow and mist, explore the scents and sounds. His skill with descriptive prose adds resonating depths his readers might not have experienced otherwise.
Detective Inspector of the Kriminal Polizei -- the Kripo -- Nikolei Hoffner, is in pursuit of a serial killer whose madness borders on genius. Hoffner and his assistant, Hans Fichte, methodically follow every small clue, groping in the dark, until they find Rosa's body. Rosa Luxemburg is a socialist revolutionary and enemy of the Reichstadt. Hoffner knows immediately that, as a victim, she is out of place. That initial thought draws Hoffner and Fichte into a provocative conspiracy involving the Political Police, the black market, secret Aryan societies, and scientific developments overseen by a young Albert Einstein.
Nikolei Hoffner is a magnificent character, a troubled and brilliant man who seeks the truth with dogged determination. We walk in Hoffner's shoes as he dissects cryptic clues and searches Berlin's underbelly for his killer. The truths he uncovers and losses he experiences are horrible, beyond even his comprehension.
Rabb totally immerses readers in place and time and his character development is brilliant. We experience what Hoffner sees and feels, even his despair and impotence. And we witness the horrifying stirrings of anti Semitism, glimpse the spectre that will be Nazi Germany.
Jonathan Rabb blends history with fiction in Rosa with exciting results. Rosa Luxemburg was real, as were many characters from that time. Her murder and disappearance of her body were never solved in real life. This book is one possible explanation. For lovers of mystery, suspense, and history, Rosa is a must have, must read.
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