A thrilling tale about life in Easter Europe during the cold war ( )

This is the second in a series of post-WW2 detective novels set in Eastern Europe. I liked the first one but couldn't finish more than a third of Confession. Zero pace and suspense. Meandering, no direction. Nearly a third of the way into the book the narrator (the main detective) says something like we had no cases on so I helped (my colleague) do his shopping or something like that. This was typical, too many prosaic details and diversions that added nothing to a non-existent plot. I only stuck with it for a third of the way in because I enjoyed the first in this series. But the author needs to engage me with some suspense and a sense of direction. As it was, the detectives seemed to have about 3 different cases that didn't look like going anywhere. In one case, a diplomat's missing wife was found and the narrator, learning that she really wanted to leave her husband, kindly paid her way out of his own pocket so she can return to Russia. In spite of this not being very credible, you have to ask: so what? My experience of the first third of this novel is that it is more of a month-in-the-life of a police detective than an actual story with a plot. ( )

This was a very impressive story. It shows that Steinhauer knows the Eastern Europe history of the cold war very closely. While the first book in this series during and after WWII plays describes this part of the mid fifties. As before it comes to spying in the highest circles. Neither the police nor the intelligence service is exempt. The big brother Russia flexes its muscles and monitors the activities of other countries of Eastern Europe. The Russian spies have the feeling that they had a free hand and cover up their murders and killed police officers other nations who come too close. Ferenc tries again this time not only to protect his wife and daughter as well as his closest friends in the police station and he brings himself in great danger.
Besides the great crisis in Hungary is mentioned. During these tragic weeks, many Hungarians fled to the West. I myself have friends who participated this flight. Although they are now almost 60 years living with us, this tragic chapter of her life is always in them. ( )

The book is just as much about exploring life in 1956 Eastern Europe as it is about the crimes that get solved. The action devoted to solving the crimes is of equal importance to other aspects of daily life for the policemen. This is the second in the series, set in a fictional Eastern European, Soviet satellite country, each set in a subsequent decade. I read the first (The Bridge of Sighs) recently, and enjoyed it alot. This one was just as enjoyable, and I plan on finishing the series soon.
The local homicide police force is again the focus of the book. The main character from the first novel is still there, and plays a role, but the starring role this time goes to Forenc Kolyeczar, who was also in the first book. He has published a novel since them, which gives him entree to the local artistic community, but is dealing with writers' block at the start here. He is also dealing with a shaky marriage, relations with his wife are very strained; he is sleeping on the couch; his wife is out most nights supposedly with a girlfriend, but Ferenc suspects that she is spending time with one of his co-workers, Stephan.
The world of art plays a large role, in that the victims of the crimes that must be solved are involved in the local art scene, one was a curator, the other an artist and the third the artist's ex-wife.
A Soviet KGB officer has been assigned to work out of the office, which creates a lot of tension, beyond that already present due to a local state security cop who works with them. During this time, there is a slight loosening of central control on life. Many political prisoners are released, and there are demonstrations in Budapest and in Poland. But the Hungarian Spring is crushed during the time period covered here.
But despite the slight easing of repression, there is still official surveillance and intimidation. And this affects every aspect of life. “When you know you are being watched, every movement takes on great significance. My stumbling walk down the corridor to the bathroom had been on a stage, with a crowd of thousands watching. Bent over the bowl, there was laughter, and when nothing came, hoots and catcalls. I was never alone, and never would be.” (169)
People still live in fear of getting a notice to report to Yalta Blvd, the Ministry of State Security headquarters, for a “document check”, which usually results in the person's imprisonment or worse. Although people listen to the American broadcasts, describing protests in other countries and their violent suppression, or other state atrocities, eventually the transmission is blocked with a sudden loud whine, and you must make sure to change the channel to an official station before you turn the radio off. ( )

The Confession, Olen Steinhauer's second novel set in an unnamed post-war Eastern European country, is a complex multi-layered work - part police procedural, part erotic romance, part noir mystery, part reflection on totalitarian excesses. That's a lot to fit into 326 pages, but Steinhauer deftly manages to pull it off.

Set in 1956, The Confession centers on Ferenc Kolyeszar, a member of a state police unit (the People's Militia) in the Capital, but also an author with connections to the underground literary community. Neighboring Hungarians are experimenting with freedom and pulling away from Moscow until that revolt is brutally repressed. During sympathetic protests in the Capital, the commissar-like Russian Kaminsky puts the police unit in the uncomfortable and unfamiliar role of repressor. Ferenc is less than fully cooperative.

At the same time, Ferenc's partner pursues a seemingly fruitless investigation of an apparent suicide with links to the art world while another member of the unit digs into the unsolved murder of a colleague who had been investigating a rape and murder that others would as soon left alone. Ferenc's own investigation of the disappearance of the beautiful young wife of a powerful industrialist takes an unexpected turn.

Ferenc's marriage is failing and he suspects his police partner is cuckolding him. He takes to heavy drinking and spending nights away from home. Multiple pressures build on Ferenc until he takes some decidedly rash actions.

Steinhauer pulls the various strands of the story together. His close examination of the brutality inside a forced labor camp for political prisoners is both chilling and brilliant. The closing forty pages were as good an ending as I have read in quite some time - a 'wow'. Highly recommended. ( )