Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Stasi Child
- Oberleutnant Karin Müller, Book 1
- Narrated by: Julia Barrie
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Buy Now for £16.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
East Berlin, 1975: When Oberleutnant Karin Müller is called to investigate a girl's body at the foot of the wall, she realises this is a death like no other. It seems the girl was trying to escape - but from the West.
The Stasi want her to discover the identity of the girl but assure Müller the case is otherwise closed. This is not a regime that tolerates a curious mind, and Müller doesn't realise that the trail she's following will lead her dangerously close to home....
Critic reviews
More from the same
Author
What listeners say about Stasi Child
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Derrick
- 30-07-16
Great start, but fell away
In the constant search for new angles on the crime thriller, David Young takes us to the Soviet bloc (not new; Arkady Renko strolled into Gorky Park decades ago), but gives it a little more twist with a female detective. The initial set up of a gruesome murder near the Berlin Wall offers some promise, the forensic side of things is logical and carries one into the story, and the labyrinthine organisational politics ring true.
But for me, it all tailed off after that. The narrator's delivery is a little grating: trying a little too hard, but the main issue is the story goes off into a rather meandering and implausible adventure with a main character who, frankly, does not hold one's interest. This is clearly being set up for a "Karin Muller" series, but in this hopelessly cliched and hackneyed genre, there just is not enough here to tempt me back.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan Rose
- 05-03-16
A great debut novel full of twists and turns
Stasichild is David Young's excellent debut novel. Set in East Berlin in 1975. A teenage girl's body is found near the Berlin Wall (or the anti-fascist protection barrier). But the question is, who is she? where did she come from? and how and where did she die? To answer these questions, Oberleutnant Karin Muller and her team are drawn into the seedy side of GDR power and influence.
This is a great debut novel full of atmosphere, detail, twists and turns. It is well researched, with much to offer both the casual reader and those with a special interest in the former East Germany. I would highly recommend both the print and audio version as I have them both
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MS RUTH SHAW
- 28-02-16
Very good listen
I enjoyed this but it didn t grip me... there's something not quite right about the way Karin the main character is written... I just didn t care about her enough... didn t know her. Great performance though from narrator
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nick Drew
- 10-10-18
A run-of-the-mill detective yarn, lacking suspense
I was excited by the prospect of a detective story set in the GDR and the possibilities for cultural examination and historical colour that this would afford, but this one quickly descends into a set of very obvious tropes of the genre - an idealistic (in this case female) officer with an inferiority complex and a broken relationship, her cynical and world-weary subordinate, an apparently simple mystery which turns out to "go all the way to the top", flashbacks to fill in the background to the case, etc. etc. It ends up feeling rather run-of-the-mill, and isn't helped by being clumsily written and often so slow-moving that it seems to grind to a halt, and references to life in East Germany which seem crowbarred into the text - indeed, there is very little about this story which is necessarily GDR-specific. To add to all this, the narrator, who otherwise does her best to enliven the leaden prose, fails to pronounce some very elementary German correctly. I'd advise spending your credits elsewhere.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dunblane1
- 16-05-19
Dreadful narration!
Tried a couple of times to get into the story but found female voice both inappropriate for the many male characters and irritatingly banal so am returning this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James Drayton
- 01-10-17
Good story, killed by poor reader
Really and truly, listening to this reader almost caused me to stop listening to a good story. Like listening to Moaning Myrtle.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrea Stadtgen-Wicks
- 09-01-17
Crime-spy thriller with dark secrets
Murder thriller set in the GDR of the 70-ies. Some of it seemed very cliché and sometimes rather unbelievable. However, the eerie threat of everyone being spy and spied upon comes across well.
It was a shame the reader couldn't pronounce the frequent German terms correctly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mr. M. P. Dalton
- 04-11-16
Excellent story with a genuine feel.
Many books set in this genre seem determined to prove their authenticity. This however was a gripping story set in and shaped by the GDR but not dominated by it. I would recommend to anyone.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ann D
- 27-07-16
Brilliant! Didn't want to put it down!
What does Julia Barrie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
I have no previous experience of Julia Barrie, but I will look out for her. Her narration here is faultless.
Any additional comments?
This is an excellent book, well written, atmospheric and briskly paced. The characters are well drawn and the story highly engaging, set as it is in the dark, compelling world of Soviet East Germany. The author describes this as the first in the series of Oberleutment (Senior Police Detective) Mùller. I very much look forward to the following books. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elouise
- 01-05-23
A brilliant crescendo!
Really appreciated the parallel plots. The story is not fast paced, but definitely not boring. The end twist caught me quite offhand
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!