Church and state
Author : Mariusz Czubaj
Title : 21:37
Published :
Pages : 202
Genre : 13/05/2013
Publisher : Stork Press Ltd
Rudolf Heinz's life is far from perfect. His son avoids him, he's a terrible guitar player, and he lives in constant pain. But there is one thing Rudolf Heinz is really good at - he's the best profiler in Poland when it comes to serial killers. When the police find the dead bodies of two young men, their heads covered in plastic bags marked with the numbers 21 and 37, Heinz faces his most challenging case. Taking on a killer who likes to play games, the investigation is complicated when he discovers the victims are priests, and the local police close ranks against him. As he analyzes each lead, Heinz's search for the killer pushes him deep into his own past, unaware that he will soon have to save his own life. And he's running out of time.
21:37 has topped a lot of charts back in its native country of Poland. I had added to my TBR stack but had never got around to reading it. So I felt that at the beginning of the new year might be the time to give it a go. Profiling is a subject I have a great interest in I finds it fascinating how with clues from a crime scene someone can get a glimpse into the mind of the person who committed a crime. In this instant, the murder of two men would this be a complex game of cat and mouse. And could this book live up to its hype?
This for me was one of the hardest books to make my way through that I have read in a while. And not because of the subject matter. Firstly I think this is in part down to the translations. To me, it felt very stilted and the stances all felt clipped. I really struggled to find a rhythm in my reading. As those of you who have read my other post know, I have read a few books by polish authors now and they all had a great flow throughout. so I can only put this down to the translation of this book rather than the way polish writers work. Maybe it would have been better in its native tongue but my polish isn't that good yet.
The author does tackle some very big problems faced not only in Poland but in the world generally. homophobia and racism all take canter stage in the story but in a lot of ways, I thought they did not play out to there full potential. I would have thought in the using of these as plot point you would be inclined to be making a bigger statement about the way your country sees these. Although I guess maybe that's the point I was simply trying to force my own views and beliefs on to a character who doesn't come from my country. I suppose I was looking for a little more compassion and sympathy at times but our hero Heinz never quiet pulled himself up to those highs. And the other police officers don't really seem to care that much about the case. Maybe due to the nature of the case this is a common problem within real police forces and thus would add some level to the book but I'm just not to sure about that.
The plot it's self-was one I did find some traction with for most of the book. At least in the twists and turns it took. This was a hate crime committed against two men. While clues are given the would appear to be not that obvious to me. Pink triangles and the numbers 21:37. From these Heinz get a link not only to the Nazi past but also to that of the Catholic church. This is an institution that is very closed doored to police presence and anything that might lead to a scandal. Some of this interaction where amusing and also at time annoying as the church is less than helpful. All of this makes Heinz's ability to push the cases forward all the more difficult. There where some elements I did enjoy the references to films and music some of which I knew and others not so much, made for some interesting conservations between a couple of the charters. And the author did manage to get in some local color to flesh out the surroundings and few of the situations these people found themselves in.
This for me was one of the hardest books to make my way through that I have read in a while. And not because of the subject matter. Firstly I think this is in part down to the translations. To me, it felt very stilted and the stances all felt clipped. I really struggled to find a rhythm in my reading. As those of you who have read my other post know, I have read a few books by polish authors now and they all had a great flow throughout. so I can only put this down to the translation of this book rather than the way polish writers work. Maybe it would have been better in its native tongue but my polish isn't that good yet.
The author does tackle some very big problems faced not only in Poland but in the world generally. homophobia and racism all take canter stage in the story but in a lot of ways, I thought they did not play out to there full potential. I would have thought in the using of these as plot point you would be inclined to be making a bigger statement about the way your country sees these. Although I guess maybe that's the point I was simply trying to force my own views and beliefs on to a character who doesn't come from my country. I suppose I was looking for a little more compassion and sympathy at times but our hero Heinz never quiet pulled himself up to those highs. And the other police officers don't really seem to care that much about the case. Maybe due to the nature of the case this is a common problem within real police forces and thus would add some level to the book but I'm just not to sure about that.
The plot it's self-was one I did find some traction with for most of the book. At least in the twists and turns it took. This was a hate crime committed against two men. While clues are given the would appear to be not that obvious to me. Pink triangles and the numbers 21:37. From these Heinz get a link not only to the Nazi past but also to that of the Catholic church. This is an institution that is very closed doored to police presence and anything that might lead to a scandal. Some of this interaction where amusing and also at time annoying as the church is less than helpful. All of this makes Heinz's ability to push the cases forward all the more difficult. There where some elements I did enjoy the references to films and music some of which I knew and others not so much, made for some interesting conservations between a couple of the charters. And the author did manage to get in some local color to flesh out the surroundings and few of the situations these people found themselves in.
Heinz is a character I found very difficult to connect with. He is ill-tempered and has a very difficult relationship with his son. He seemed far too prone to emotional outburst of anger for someone in his position. I guess in some parts this is down to the constant pain he is in due to events of his past. Which justifies some of his chosen actions but not all. Adding these together makes him not the most pleasant man to spend any time with, and mean he alienates pretty much every one of his colleagues and those he comes into contact with. I will give you that every detective or profiler in fiction needs there own style. For Heinz it's being the lone wolf he wants to be the one that solves the case. Although this is how he see's himself he attempts does this at arm's length which doesn't always work. And this I suppose is my problem with him there needs to be some element that makes him venerable to make up for all this and throughout the course of the book I just could not find much to justify this. Which is not to say that the course of his pain is not horrific just that sometimes there need to be cracks in all that defensive amour.
I really wanted to like this novel but in so doing maybe I set the bar too high. I cant expect to read a great book every go. By the time I reached the end I was left feeling that this book was just ok. It could have been so more if certain elements had been expanded upon. For me, it didn't really bring anything that would hold it up with some of my favorites. As it would appear that no more of his books have been translated so far I won't get a chance to see if thing improves in the late installments. Which I feel is a shame as usually try and give an author a couple of books before making a final judgment.
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