The Man from Berlin

July 28, 2014
McCallin’s debut novel takes place in 1943 Sarajevo, a city that, in the midst of WWII, is ethnically, religiously, and politically divided. German military intelligence officer Capt. Gregor Reinhardt is assigned the thankless task of partnering with a thuggish local policeman on a hurried investigation into the murders of a well-connected beautiful Yugoslavian activist/filmmaker and another German officer. McCallin’s plot is engaging, involving multiple intrigues, deceits, and trickery. But it’s his internally conflicted protagonist that distinguishes the novel. Veteran narrator Lee provides the large cast of characters with an apparently endless variety of German and Serbo-Croatian speech patterns, all dramatically animated. But he takes special care to enrich Reinhardt’s accented speech with an initial disinterested weariness that eventually hardens into a resolve that justice must be served. Along the way, there are subtle touches—a hint of whimsy when the captain recalls the pleasure of dancing with the vibrant filmmaker, and, later, a breathlessness prompted by the fear that the investigation may be taken away from him. No chance. A Berkley paperback.

May 27, 2013
Set in 1943 Sarajevo, McCallin’s well-wrought debut, the first in a new series, highlights the complexities of trying to be an honest cop under a vicious, corrupt regime. The murders of Lt. Stefan Hendel, a German military intelligence officer, and Marija Vukic, a Croatian journalist, pose a considerable challenge for Capt. Gregor Reinhardt, an Abwehr counterintelligence officer partnered with a member of the Sarajevo police force. The killer or killers shot the lieutenant before savagely stabbing Vukic to death. Since the truth behind the murders could prove embarrassing to the Nazis, Reinhardt is under considerable pressure to find a scapegoat and close the case. Inevitably, he clashes with dangerous people, including a former colleague from his days in the Berlin Kripo. The ending sets up the sequel nicely, and if McCallin isn’t at the level of a Philip Kerr, his work will provide intelligent diversion for WWII crime fans. Agent: Peter Rubie, FinePrint Literary Management.