David Young stature as an author has grown and matured as this series has developed.

Setting his novels in the DDR, the former East Germany from 1949-1990, when the eastern portion of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state in English usage, it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state." Wikipedia.

It attracts readers like me who grew up reading Cold War thrillers, fans of police procedures where all is complicated by state intervention, compare with Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. Where Arkady Renko, a Moscow homicide investigator was thwarted by KGB interference. Young’s detective is female, Karin Müller and her best efforts are undermined, her investigations marginalised and closed down by the Stasi who go to any lengths to suppress the truth where state security is threatened.

I love the tension this introduces into all her cases; where her own team can’t be trusted, harassment and intimidation is used against her. She is a great detective, loyal to her government but determined to seek out justice and expose the truth.

Into this scenario the author is then able to introduce great locations and historical background that makes for a fresh and interesting read.

Stasi 77 is no different, it continues to draw on the strengths of this set of books. Stasi 77 is the fourth book in this series and for me the best yet. It has real tension and Karin ends up not just fighting to stay with the investigation but struggling to keep her job and family safe.

The historical dimension that the writer has woven into his plot is well researched, relevant to the characters he has previously introduced to us and sensitively shared. That said, it is a horrific series of events in the Nazi struggle to maintain slave labour and the atrocities that occurred at the end of the conflict in 1945.

David Young comments at the end of the novel about combining fact and fiction in this way. How it is hard to write of war crimes within a commercial format to promote fiction.

The books reads so well. It is a real skill to mix up the revelation of a historical narrative in pace with the modern plot. The past has a significant bearing on the present action and the crimes being committed. There is no comparison with the two; one is mass murder but these facts are revealed not in a sensational way but like reading an historical account from the war years. It is moving, brings historical knowledge where the reader may otherwise not be aware of these events and adds understanding to ideas of restorative justice, forgiveness and accountability.

The author introduces a number of reflections and voices in these issues. At the time, in the immediate aftermath and how lives move on for both victims and perpetrators.

The case Karin begins to investigate she is always going to fail to bring into the full light of justice. That in itself is a parable of these times, those that write history rather than crime fiction. However, Karin’s integrity never wavers, she may have learned that she has to raise her game to match the Stasi but we learn that the truth can still be manipulated and perhaps always buried. Karin does her best to expose the darkest hours and days in German history. We should be grateful to the talented work of this author who has lifted a stone from that past. In fiction played out various scenarios and outcomes and in his protagonist a War Baby herself that new life and hope can grow from the blackest moments.

I fully recommend these series of books and Stasi 77 was simply a wonderful read.

There’s an irony about Stasi 77. Like many of the characters within its pages, David Young’s latest DDR novel is not all it seems. It promises to be another high quality police procedural with the mystery taking place alongside position-jockeying between investigator Karin Müller and Stasi officers hiding in the shadows. In fact, the mystery is, you feel, only really there so that Young can ask fundamental questions about individual and collective fear, guilt, courage and moral certitude.
Let’s cover the mystery first: it’s fine. As usual, Müller forces her way through to a conclusion. We like Müller: she believes in the DDR but she is no humourless apparatchik. She’s brave and resourceful and if, sometimes, her hunches seem to pay off rather too conveniently there are none the less some super spy set pieces.
The main narrative is interspersed with a first person narrative from the tail end of the Second World War. The narrator, a French prisoner of war captured along with his brothers, and Young plausibly presents his fear, hope and spirit as the POWs are shunted by their captors as they flee the Allies’ advance. We can guess the outcome. What we may not know is that this narrative depicts a real atrocity.
In an afterword to the novel, Young questions the ethics of, as he puts it, ‘bolting a fictional story onto a horrific real-life event’. It isn’t for me to pass judgement on that, but I do think that Young manages to do three things rather well. First, he tells the story of the Gardelegen massacre, a not-well-known episode that requires to be told.
The second result is slightly less obvious and is difficult to relate in a review of this length. But Young tries to look at the massacre through the eyes of some of the Germans present at the massacre. He manages to do this sensitively and to ask wider questions about individual agency in the face of a mob. To what extent did those who found themselves caught up in atrocity find that they were able to stand up to it? Young considers the question from a number of angles: it is easy, after all, to claim you were against an atrocity after the fact, and it is also possible for history to be written and re-written, depending on the interests of those doing the writing. Young points out that Nazi sympathisers gained positions of power in the DDR - and that others were blackmailed by the Stasi into doing its work. I don’t think that Young lets his characters off the hook. And Müller, who was not born during this part of her country’s history, is able to take what she sees as a principled stance. On one level, that’s any easy position for her to take, and Young encourages us to question how much she earns her position on the high ground, and, by implication, how much we today who have never been tested in this way earn our right to claim any moral superiority.
Stasi 77 is a risk-taking, ambitious novel that promises you a police procedural and instead kicks you in the gut. It isn’t an easy read. I recommend it highly.

I have only read one the of the previous Karin Muller novels but that made no difference at all. Really interesting thriller set in Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Believable characters and a plot that kept the reader interested until the end. Thoroughly recommended.

Stasi 77 is much more than a good thriller, it shows the reader two things, how a socialist system certainly does not lend itself to equality even for the police and the overlooked assumption that once a country is defeated, the population can some how be transformed in to new beings, beings without prior history. After all what sort of new Utopia should require such levels of intrusion and secrecy to keep a population which purports to be free, idealistic and homogeneous, so subjugated and repressed? Stasi 77 should make us reflect upon the freedoms we have in the West despite its failings. I once lived in a country where any conversation could be reported and the only smidgen of hoped for freedom was to listen at night to the chimes of Big Ben relayed from the BBC World Service on a fading short wave radio signal. It was a beacon in the dark.

As an adjunct to my review I have had the good fortune to own three Citroën CX's. The early models were like something from another planet, however they did not age well. Very ahead of their time and much faster then anything the Stasi could muster. My final CX was one of the fastest production diesels in the world, a Turbo 2. I still buy Citroëns.

This is the 4th outing for Karin Muller, and it certainly packs a punch.

It is 1977 and Karin is back at work in East Berlin with her twins, boyfriend, and newly-discovered grandmother, when she is called in to investigate the mysterious death of an industrialist.

With the help of her partner Tilsner, her sometime nemesis Jager, and the forensic scientist, Schmidt, she becomes embroiled in a mystery that stretches back to a very difficult period in German history, the turbulent times at the end of the war.

Interleaved with Karins story is that of Philippe Verbier, a French prisoner of war, forced to work for the Germans in appalling conditions.

As the truth emerges and the two stories come together, the ramifications of decisions made at the end of the war and their effect on the present become clear, and Karin is forced to make some life-changing decisions.

I really enjoyed the book, and was fascinated by the insights into life in East Germany.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Wow. David Young does it again in the continuing story of people's police major Karin Muller. This time, she is trying to discover the truth behind murders by fire. There are similarities in the deaths of three men. However she is taken of the case by the stasi. In a series of flashbacks and interviews, we discover what happened in a barn in east Germany in 1945. The Stasi, Hitler youth and modern day police are caught up in a thrilling drama. Highly recommended.

Another excellent addition to the "Stasi" series by David Young. The plot swings between a Detective, Karin Muller, desperately balancing her family/ work life in 70's East Germany, whilst constantly guarding herself against the Stasi and shady colleagues, to the horrors of the final days of WW2, as Nazi Germany was in its death throes. Meticulous research and a great plot that keeps you going to the end. Can't wait for the next one.

Initially I found it to be a slightly slow start but in the long run this was helpful. It gave me a chance to get my head around the plot. Think of it as a train that's pulling out of a station. It takes a while to get up to full speed but then it doesn't stop until the final destination.
David Young has done his usual style of another story thread interspersed with Karin's investigation. I knew the two would eventually link somehow but the reveal is devastating. I don't want to give any spoilers but when reading, I wrote in my notes, 'Did this actually happen?' Sadly, the answer is yes. And that's the wonderful thing about this series. You get a History lesson without realising it. It's the authentic touches that make the difference. The description of the newly built towns - a vision in concrete it seems - and Karin's belief in the Republic, brings alive a world that was hidden from the West.
Karin Müller is such a wonderful character. It's a bit of a cliché but she really has been on a journey and David Young has turned her life upside down on several occasions. As Karin discovers, the Stasi will use anything to get their way, including her children. Although she's been in tight scrapes before, this is Karin at her most vulnerable - alone and unable to trust anyone.
Throughout the novel, there are references to Karin's past cases. As this is the fourth in the series, I would recommend reading the books from the beginning. Having said that, this could be read as a standalone. But the tie-ins from the past have got me thinking - is this the last novel? I hope not!
So, compelling and powerful? Absolutely. This is my favourite of the four without a shadow of a doubt. It takes a while to 'bed' in a character but we're there with Karin Müller. We know she believes in the Republic but is wary of the Stasi. We know if she's ordered off a case then she'll find a way to solve it regardless. We know if Karin is pushed into a corner then she'll come out fighting. So I really hope she has more cases to solve. Especially as this is set in 1977. Another 12 years before the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Come on David, you know you want to.

It’s a well written historical crime novel that is part of a series. It just about works as a stand alone, but I do feel reading the prior books in the franchise would have improved my experience.

Don’t make the mistake that I did! ‘Stasi 77’ is best read once you have read the other books in the series, and I’m speaking from experience as I didn’t quite realise until it was too late that it was part of a series. I did learn the hard way and unfortunately it did alter my experience regarding the entire thing.

David Young was a new author for me, one I was looking forward to getting stuck into! Even though an error was made and I wasn’t able to enjoy the book 100 percent, I could not fault the author on his ability to create a suspenseful storyline. I was very impressed by the intensity of the characters actions and their own individual journeys, even though there was a lot more to their personalities that I hadn’t found out yet.

The historical element to ‘Stasi 77’ made for a shocking read, but one which I lapped up like a cat with a saucer of milk. The uniqueness of the history versus crime was a true experience, and I did enjoy the chilling escapades and rollercoaster ride of a read.

I am looking forward to starting from the very beginning with David Young’s novels, as I thought that his writing style is extremely engaging and highly gripping.

This was the first book in this series that I have read and I will be going back and buying the other three after finishing this one.

Well plotted, exciting and with a great feel for time and place, I was immediately drawn into an exciting, credible and fascinating plot and I finished the book in a couple of breathless sessions.

Highly recommended.

This is the 4th in a series set in 1979s East Germany where the sinister Stasi undermines the attempts of policewoman Karin Muller to solve crimes. I enjoyed this episode the most as Karin links the present of the book with the Nazi past, and some questions from previous books are answered.
Well-written and gripping

Continuing this excellent and compelling crime novel series set in the former East Germany.

Episode 4 of this fascinating police procedural, and the deeper you get into this series the closer you get to know and feel for the characters.

What sets it apart from others is the unusual location, combined with the ideology, bureaucracy, secrecy and the strong female lead in Murder Squad Chief Karin Müller.

In this story Müller is again thwarted by the looming influence of the Stasi in her investigations of multiple murders seeming linked back to an incident in the dying days of World War 2.

As in previous books there's various different timelines at play here, but I found this a real page turner and could not tell how this one was going to end up.

As always David Young packs in some great details that would appear insignificant to many not familiar with the period or the politics.

However, it’s also a great crime novel with a richly detailed and complex female lead. A cracking ending, that makes the reader want to read more about Karin Müller...

If you like police procedurals, strong female characters, along with an Orwellian landscape then I recommend this.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for an advance copy of Stasi 77, the fourth novel to feature Karin Müller of the DDR’s Volkspolizei Serious Crimes Department set in 1977.

Karin is recalled from holiday to investigate the murder of a party official in a factory in Karl Marx Stadt but she doesn’t get very far as the Stasi block her investigation at every turn before taking it over completely. The same happens when she discovers more victims. She soon realises that the murders have their roots in the past and that, unable to trust anyone, she’ll have to investigate alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stasi 77 which is an engrossing if difficult historical read. It opens with a foreigner with a plan trying to get through Checkpoint Charlie. That was me hooked. The tension of his situation was palpable and his mission intriguing. It then switches to Karin’s investigation which, again, is intriguing and the reader can’t help but connect the two events through small things although there’s nothing overt to say so. As Karin’s investigation progresses it is intercut with one man’s story of his time as a slave labourer under the Nazis. This latter is horrific in its cruelty and inhumanity.

This is a riveting novel in historical terms with both the wartime and 1977 stories showing the worst side of human nature. Both reinforce, perhaps without nuance, the harmfulness of authoritarian regimes. The war story is background and is well done as the reader can feel the narrator’s pain and suffering. Karin’s investigation is cleverly plotted but perhaps not as authentic as it could be as she seems to be able to dodge under the radar and manipulate the system more than history would suggest is possible. As the highest ranking female police officer in the state she is under constant surveillance and yet she is able to avoid it on a regular basis. I think that is what offers hope in a novel where the state suffocates its citizens and stifles any deviation from the party line, although what constitutes the party line seems tied up in the personal needs of senior officials. The picture it paints of the DDR is unedifying and believable.

Stasi 77 is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is the 4th book in the Karin Müller series. I’ve enjoyed the first 3 books so as soon as this popped up on netgalley I had to request it!

Set in East Berlin, 1977, Karin of the serious crimes department of the Kriminalpolizei is called and rushed back from her family holiday to investigate what appears to be the murder of a local political party official, Found in an old Mill, tied up and locked in a room then left to sufficate on smoke fumes.

Similar murders follow, Müller attempts to investigate but the Stasi block her at every turn whilst her deputy and sometime love interest Weiner Tilsner seems to be acting very strangely about the investigation. Is he somehow involved?

Kicked off the case, Müller goes to her boss, to try and get back on the case, he pointedly refuses and she backs off until she receives a mysterious letter offering information on the murders.

There are flash backs throughout to a 1943 prison camp and the tale of 3 French brothers. These are harrowing, disturbing and the darkest I’ve read from David Young in the 4 Muller books, nothing is sensationalised, it feels very grim and very real.

Betrayal and lies from the people she trusts, Stasi putting up dead ends at every turn, murder , corruption right to the very top of the Stasi and cover ups abound and threats to Müller, what links the murders to these flash backs?

A Tense finale , full of twists and continuing Betrayal , brings an excellent book to its end, and a very interesting turn in Müller‘s life and future leaves me waiting eagerly for the next in the series.

This is the darkest , most powerful of the series so far, some extremely difficult scenes to read , at times almost poignant.

Clevery written, highly researched with great attention to detail especially in regards to the authorities at that time and the ranks and names.

A highly Interesting , intriguing , compelling page turner.

A series going from strength to strength and a highly enjoyable albeit upsetting and dark tale

4.5

Third in the Karin Muller detective novels set in 1970s East Germany, this one is interspersed with flashbacks of 1945 Germany and the ill-treatment of prisoners of war. Karin is called in when a man is found dead due to smoke installation with burn marks where he’s been tied at the wrists. Soon the Stasi step in to stop her investigation but as more bodies are found in different locations she’s too intrigued to let the threats to her family stop her from investigating further and uncovering a web of intrigue dating back to horrific events at the end of the war.

I look forward each year to the latest book in David Young's East German crime series and Stasi 77 which is the 4th book is another excellent book.

Set in 1977 the author has clearly researched in depth and uses this and historical events to weave together a brilliant story that is expertly told.

The main character Karin Muller faces interference as she tries to investigate a series of murders but why is she being constantly warned off and who is pulling who's strings?

If you've not read the previous books in this series then don't worry as Stasi 77 can be read as a standalone although I would recommend you read the other books purely because they are that good.

One of my favourite books of the year and unreservedly recommended