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The tumultuous period that followed World War I shook Germany to its very core and laid the groundwork for the rise of the National Socialist Party led by Adolph Hitler. During these months, an attempt at a true socialist revolution sent Kaiser Wilhelm into exile. Order was restored only when the leaders of the revolution, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were assassinated in January 1919. Rosa's body was not found until the end of May. This is the real history that forms the jumping-off point for Jonathan Rabb's spectacular mystery, ROSA. Nickolai Hoffner, a Detective Inspector with the Kriminalpolizei, is flawed man of 45. His mother was Jewish and his father Russian, and that makes him an outcast in post-World War I Berlin, where Russians were only recently the enemy and anti-Semitism is gaining an ever surer foothold in German society. As the story opens, Hoffner, a capable detective, is investigating the murders of four older women who have been found with an odd design carved into their upper backs. The quick solution to the murders is made even more urgent by the jumpiness of a public who have only recently survived war and revolution and constantly hover on the verge of panic. The Politikalpolizei take an interest in the murders when Rosa Luxemburg's body turns up in the Landwehr Canal, mutilated with identical designs. Hoffner soon discovers that the markings on the women's backs are precisely the same as those made by a madman named Wouters who is currently locked up in an insane asylum in Bruges, Belgium. Moreover, the gloves worn by one of the women were made of a rare lace manufactured only in Bruges. Hoffner dispatches his assistant, Hans Frichte, to Belgium to investigate. From there the story's many twists serve to lay bare interesting aspects of German life during the post-war period. ROSA is the masterwork of a very skilled novelist. Berlin after World War I comes vividly to life in Rabb's spare but telling descriptions. He captures these volatile times with assurance, crafting a world that captures us from the first sentence. He's made many brave choices in writing about this period, and the more you know about the history, the more you'll enjoy and appreciate what he's done with it. The nascent Nazi movement and the anti-Semitism it fed on are all here, but the characterizations are so cleverly drawn that the reader is left with the impression of plausible actions taken by people thrown off balance by the circumstances in which they find themselves. In fact, the whole book can be seen as a parable about the politics of fear and the ways in which it is used by those in power to subdue and manipulate those who are not. The slow erosion of individual freedoms in the context of threats to the social order has an eerie resonance in today's headlines. In choosing a protagonist, Rabb chose a policeman who is also an outsider. The man is not particularly sympathetic. Indeed, he makes choices in his personal life that invite the reader's contempt. But he is absolutely credible as someone capable of looking beyond what others wish him to see. Best of all, though, is Rabb's characterization of Rosa herself. Though Luxemburg is something of an obscure figure now, she was the most brilliant social theorist of her day. She broke with Lenin and Trotsky over the direction of the revolution, and subsequent history has proved her critique correct. She was Polish, a revolutionary, a Jew and a woman, and any one of these characteristics should have disqualified her from being an effective agent for change in those days. Yet she led a movement that roused a country to action and resulted in the Kaiser's abdication. Rabb treats Rosa with unfailing respect, but more importantly he captures the human being, lonely and isolated, surviving imprisonment and dedicating her life to the betterment of all powerless people. Never, ever does Rabb allow his portrait to become a caricature either of the mad revolutionary or the altruistic saint. Rosa is a complex woman, and it is to Rabb's everlasting credit that he captures everything. This is not a simple book, and those looking for a quick thriller should look elsewhere. Those who value good writing about the intricacies of history, accurately reported and brought vividly to life, will spend many happy hours reading ROSA and marveling at Rabb's artistry.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, June 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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