'The Hangman's Daughter' by Oliver Pötzsch
i finished this book a few weeks ago after I saw it was the #1 Kindle book Bestseller and thought I should check it out. I haven't read an historical fiction book in a while so I thought it would be a good change of pace for me. As always, here's a summary:
"Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead—marked by the same tattoo—the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos.
Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town’s physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed.
A brilliantly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller, The Hangman’s Daughter is the first novel from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan."
Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town’s physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed.
A brilliantly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller, The Hangman’s Daughter is the first novel from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan."
The book was actually pretty good! I found the beginning to be a tad slow, but of course in a story like this you have to have a little exposition (not everyone's and AP Euro nerd like me). I thought the novel was just going to be another one of your typical witch hunt novels, and this is what it seemed like as I continued with the book, but it changed much to my surprise. After the torturing of the "witch" begins, the plot starts to turn and there is an underlying story line with what the characters call the "Devil." Suddenly the book has become sort of like a murder mystery with Jacob Kuisl in pursuit of the Devil. The novel leads you on a ride deep into the caverns of the earth and leaves you breathless towards the end. By the time I had finished the book I was ecstatic. The author was able to take various different genres of books and mix them into one bone-chilling mystery. I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes murder mysteries or historical fiction.
You can purchase the book from Amazon HERE.
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