Recently, I have gotten my hands on one of Sebastian Fitzek’s psychological thrillers, “Walk me home”. I never read one of his books before, but this one really caught my attention.
For those of you who don’t know who Sebastian Fitzek is, he is one of the most popular German authors of psychological thrillers. Fitzek was the first German author ever to receive the European Prize for Criminal Literature. So if you like that kind of book genre, you should definitely check it out. Now, a quick summary of the book.
Walk me home is a telephone hotline, where volunteers provide service/help for people, especially women who walk alone at night. One can call the hotline number and the workers will talk and calm the person who needs help. Jules, one of the workers, has just started working for “Walk me home”. There was no critical case yet until Klara called. She assumed that she was followed by a man, not any man, but a man from the past who has assaulted her in the past. This mysterious man has drawn a date with blood on her bedroom wall. This date is said to be the day of her death, which is only a few hours away. During the phone call, Jules and Klara learn about each other’s dark past, and with every minute, they build trust. Can Jules help Klara get home safely, or will she fall into the hands of a dangerous man?
I truly think that this book is interesting, there were no dull chapters whatsoever and there were numerous unexpected plot twists. Some parts and elements were really disturbing, so if you have weak nerves, that might be difficult for you to read. I liked the fact that Fitzek mentioned an important problem in our society, namely domestic violence. It is harder to recognize, as you might think, and it is not easy for women in this case to leave their man. From the outside, Klara seems like a happy wife with a child, but no one really knows what happens behind closed doors. Although some descriptions of violence are way too detailed for my taste, but the reality is always bitterer. To some extent, it is questionable whether this topic should have been discussed in a psychological Thriller.
Another thing I liked about this book is that you never suspected who the killer was until the very end, where there was a huge plot twist (I do not want to give it away). One is led into confusion and I really liked it, this tickled my nerves for sure. The minimal character description leaves much room for interpretation and imagination.
Overall, I really like Fitzek’s writing style, he succeeds very well in building up the tension so that the reader does not want to stop reading. It is just like chocolate, you only want to eat a few pieces, but you end up eating a whole box. I would recommend this book for people who enjoy and are obsessed with crime and psychological thrillers, and those who are not afraid of an unexpected twist. I am looking forward to reading more of Fitzek’s work and getting myself into an adrenaline rush, that’s the best part of it all, isn’t it?