Good morning, Berlin. It’s 7.35 AM. And you’re listening to your biggest nightmare.
This morning a dangerous psychopath is playing an old game with new rules. He’s taken six people hostage at Berlin’s leading radio station.
Every hour, a telephone will ring somewhere in Berlin. Maybe it will be in your house. Or your office. And if you can’t play the game, a hostage will die.
Renowned police psychologist Ira Samin is rushed to the scene, where she is forced to negotiate live on air.
With the nation listening, the kidnapper makes his sole demand: find his fiancee and bring her to the station.
But she is dead. Burnt to a crisp in a devastating car accident eight months ago.
Facing an impossible demand and a police commander who seems hell-bent on keeping secrets, Ira must race against the clock to resolve one of the hardest negotiations of her career.
All the while, somewhere in Berlin… a telephone is ringing.
From the outside, there is something mesmeric about a hostage situation. It feels almost voyeuristic. We’re repelled but transfixed in the same breath. Classic movies like The Taking of Pelham 123, Dog Day Afternoon and Inside Man capture that rabbit in the headlights reaction we all have. We don’t want to look but we’re powerless to resist. Amok by Sebastian Fitzek manages exactly the same feat.
Every good thriller deserves a jaded, washed-out protagonist who, though an expert in their field, they are a complete dumpster fire as a human being. Amok has Ira Samin. I should probably add a bit of a trigger warning at this point. Ira’s backstory revolves around an inexplicable suicide and this does feature quite heavily in the plot. The personal trauma Ira is trying to deal with haunts her at every turn. Being thrust back into the high-pressured environment of a siege is most definitely not the best way to heal mental scars. Trying to save lives while pondering her own mortality does make Ira a fascinating character to follow. Her nervous energy, sometimes bordering on mania, means you’re never sure which way the character is going to jump. Troubled characters are always far more interesting than their flawless counterparts. Ira is living right on the edge of her own existence. It makes Amok feel like we are experiencing hostage negotiation without the aid of a metaphorical safety net. Talk about a riveting narrative.
The scenes where Ira and the kidnapper interact are particularly effective. You can almost feel as the power shifts from one side of the conversation to the other and then back again. Like a game of chess where the two players are trying to out manoeuvre one another seven or eight turns ahead.
If a tense standoff between the kidnapper and the authorities isn’t enough action for you, then fear not. Expertly woven throughout events a larger conspiracy begins to reveal itself. Who is trying to stop Ira from doing her job? Why is it so important the outcome of the siege has to end a certain way? These extra puzzles add a welcome additional depth to what is already a deliciously taut story.
I really enjoyed Amok. This is a lean, white-knuckle action thriller that grabs you by the throat and steadfastly refused to let go. I hope there will be more Ira Samin novels in the future. I’d happily read them all and still demand more.
Amok is published by Head of Zeus and is available now.
My musical recommendation to accompany Amok is the soundtrack to the action movie Triple 9 by Atticus Ross. It has just the right amount of tension and urgency that pairs perfectly with the tone of the novel.
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