THE BUNKER by Andrea Maria Schenkel

Published by Quercus

Translated from the German by Anthea Bell.

Not a new novel, but when I saw this neat little book and took a quick read of the blurb and the first couple of pages, I was hooked.  Essentially a two person act, with Monika the central character being snatched away and kept locked up for reasons she believes must be linked to a crime set in the time of her childhood, and her captor as the other character, this is a taut and powerful tale well told as it switches from one perspective to the other alternately with interspersed details of hospital treatment to person/s unknown as the story is told between them.

Clocking in at under 180 pages, it manages to be a book I’ll likely remember a lot longer than many weightier books I’ve read this year and, whilst the subject matter may be fairly well trodden territory, BUNKER manages to make everything seem fresh – disturbingly so.

On the strength of this read I went straight out and purchased a copy of THE MURDER FARM, Schenkel’s first novel.  Can’t wait to read that and more of her work.

Keith