After putting away the head of the Albanian mafia in Hamburg, Homicide Detectives Thomas Ritter and Motz Beck are confronted with a bloody war to control the local drug trade in the mobster’s absence. First an Albanian courier is shotgunned to death at the edge of Hamburg Harbor. Then a Hells Angel gets the same treatment on the Alster River. As the bodies pile up, Ritter and Beck are forced to work with an organized crime expert, a burned-out narcotics agent with his own drug issues. Before long, they suspect that their new partner is working for one of the rival gangs.
Sarda’s standout Hamburg-set police procedural, the twisty and hard-edged followup to One-Way Ticket, throws readers right into the middle of a brutal gang war between an Albanian Mafia gang and Hells Angel bikers, with returning detectives Motz and Ritter caught between the cartels as they search for the killer who has been slaughtering cops throughout Europe. That’s Laura Wesselman, returning from the previous book, who here escapes from police custody in a scene that exemplifies Sarda’s brand of bold action, and leaves a trail of bodies in her wake as she attempts to take the Hells Angel gang down herself.The bloody intensity keeps up as Motz and Ritter dig into the case, with Sarda bringing welcome life to his cast, creating heroes readers will root for, while still feeling drawn in by villains like Wesselman, whose painstakingly restored 1970 Dodge Charger, now driven by Motz, connects her to the leads. Sarda’s perspective shifts add to the tension. Wesselman’s point-of-view chapters, charged with potential violence, will have thriller fans anticipating whatever horrors she’ll dare next, while the investigation itself, written with an eye for tradecraft and telling detail, finds the intrepid Motz and Ritter facing crime leaders for intel, breaking down torture and murder methods, and striving to get ahead of the next murder, even as they suspect one of their own is connected to the gangs.
Sarda’s choice not to put his leads front and center extends to opening the novel with a high-ranking cop gunning down a drug dealer in a strip club, the scene bleak and vivid. Readers new to the series are encouraged to start with the first book, though Sarda takes pains to bring new readers up to speed—and to keep returning readers from getting too comfortable. A strong sequel and a pitch-dark noir pulsing with action in its own right, Bad Cop will keep thriller readers engaged and eager for more.
Takeaway: This hard-edged Hamburg noir procedural continues Sarda’s striking series.
Great for fans of: Philip Kerr, Simone Buchholz.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
