The Spring of Kasper Meier - Ben Fergusson

Chasing demons

It's 1945 and someone is killing soldiers in Berlin. That might not sound terribly surprising, but the war is supposed to be over at this stage. These killings however seem to be connected to the atrocities that occurred in Berlin as Russian and allied troops arrived in the city and divided it up into French, Russian, British and American sectors, and soldiers from all those nations are being lured, ambushed and executed by an unknown killer.

What has this to do with Kasper Meier? Like most Berliners who survived the war, he keeps alive doing small favours, trading goods and information for scarce basic provisions and medical supplies on the black market. Kasper Meier knows the benefits of lying low and minding your own business, but a young woman, Eva Hirsch - a rubble girl working on one of the clearing teams of Frau Beckmann - has approached him using blackmail to obtain information on a British pilot they are looking to find. As if that's not enough leverage, Meier is also harassed continually by Frau Beckmann's terrifying twins.

The Spring of Kasper Meier works well on a number of levels. The ruined Berlin of 1945 serves as a fine backdrop for a thriller, the military control and zones making movement and travel difficult and risky - particularly for anyone dealing in stolen and black market goods. There are however other unknown dangers and Ben Fergusson does well to relate them to Kasper Meier's position. Considering his background and experiences, he has every reason to be wary and necessarily resourceful.

Ultimately, The Spring of Kasper Meier manages bringing the personal and the historical elements together well to tackle bigger issues of the complexities of morality and individual actions during very extreme times. In this post-war devastation it's more than just being a fight for survival or a settling of scores ('"My nephew died of pneumonia this winter. Christmas Eve. Never got to see 1946" - "He didn't miss much", said Kasper'), it's about confronting the personal demons that have been awakened and let loose in such savage times and finding a way to live with them.

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