Finished listening to Babylon Berlin, and despite not expecting much from the book initially, I must say it ended up being somewhat of a disappointment. Too much in the story is just left to chance: someone shot, missed, but hit something else – Deus ex Machina at its finest. Or worst.
Maybe I’d give TV series a try, but certainly not the next book in the series.
The book certainly has some interesting ideas. Rath ends up accidentally shooting a man who’s been following him. Then he’s put on the case of investigating that same murder. Moreover, he discovers that his buddy has killed another cop who was secretly working for the Political Police, and now that buddy tries to frame Rath. It’s not brilliant by any means, but it’s better than standard “noir” “an alcoholic cop shaking a mob boss” theme.
It’s interesting to unpack how TV series are different from the book.
Charlotte in the book is referred to as “Charlie”, while in the TV series she’s called “Lotte”. In the book, she’s quite successful, and doing a work of an investigator, despite being a stenographer. In the series, she’s struggling to pay her rent with an one-off job at the police station.
Rath is immediately introduced as a “shaker”, having to rely on laundaum to stay in the police. In the book, he’s an occasional drinker, but not much else.
There’s a comic episode in the series which wasn’t present in the books: Rath and Lotte get the photos of their investigations mixed together. Rath works in Vice, and Lotte works in Homicide, so they have to sort together through pornography and murdered victims photos.