Reviews and praise for Beton Rouge:
Take a fascinating and oh so readable journey into the darker side of life, where you need to be able to see in the dark to have an understanding of it.
[…] The chapter headings are little lightning bolts of fabulous. Simone Buchholz, with Rachel Ward as translator, creates in less than 200 pages the most taut, incredible intensity. I adore her writing as it takes you
into the misty half world between lyrical beauty and raw, grim necessity. Beton Rouge is a killer read, original, unusual and yet I felt that a part of it, in fact a part of Chastity, lodged itself deeply within my soul,
it’s quite simply fabulous.
- Liz Robinson (Love Reading)- Above all, just sit back and enjoy the jazz-inspired language and riffs, the jumps and turns from personal to political to criminal. There are so many sparkling
observations dotted across every paragraph, sentences that simply beg to be read twice. […]
This book is to crime thriller what jazz music is to classical. With plenty of dry humour and a good old dash of despair, Simone Buchholz is an unconventional, refreshing new voice.
- Crime Fiction Lover - This is all delightfully noir, a mood Buchholz gleefully plays up in the writing (and that Ward adeptly conveys in her deeply readable translation)
with Chastity left doubtful about her future, brooding on her past and living, really, like her new colleague, very much in the present.
An excellent book, deeply moody, atmospheric and evocative.
- Blue Book Balloon (blog) - Buchholz’s rhythmic style, which encompasses short, staccato sentences and some quite poetic evocations of melancholic Hamburg and the southern
Germany hinterland, sets the tone for the book.
Classy, smartly written and extremely visual, I can’t recommend Beton Rouge enough. It’s quite frankly wonderful. Especially with some good jazz. And a single malt.
- The Literary Shed (blog) - I think that Beton Rouge is not a brief novel, it’s a TARDIS. When you open this novel at the first page you can only wonder at the cavernous breach in
time and space that you just tripped into. It instantly reaffirmed the opinion I formed last year when I read Blue Night, that this is a special series of noir novels, destined to become a classic crime series.
[…]
Sharp as a switchblade and pretty bloody cool. This is noiry, noir and I love it. […]
Congratulations to Rachel Ward, her translation demonstrates a sympatico with the author.
- NB Magazine - Beton Rouge positively fizzes with linguistic chutzpah, convivial characters and the best chapter titles ever. I want a beer with Chastity Riley!
#queenofkrimi
- Graeme Macrae Burnet (Novelist. Author of 'The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau', Man Booker shortlisted 'His Bloody Project' and 'The Accident on the A35'.) @GMacraeBurnet - Hamburg author Simone Buchholz’s crime writing is like a straight shot of top-shelf liquor: smooth yet fiery, packing a punch, with no extraneous
ingredients watering things down. […] The writing, like the main characters, is razor-sharp, seasoned with dry humour and has a real sense of energy throughout.
- New Zealand Listener Crime Roundup, May 4, 2019