I will be honest: I wish this book had a second author.
I have read this book in Italian, but I had the chance to take a look at the German version, therefore I feel pretty confident in saying that the style is quite boring, predictable for a crime novel.

Same goes for the characters: quite basic, easily relatable, prototype that hardly ever get to be more than that.

BUT
the atmosphere is great. I love Berlin, I love the 20s and I especially love Berlin in the 20s and the care used to rebuild the city at the time shows despite everything and really hits you.
I even forgive the slightly stereotyped plot because of its clever usage of conspiracy theories of the time and prejudices common among the population.

I will probably give a chance to the second book, namely because this was a first attempt and I am hoping Volker Kutscher got better in the mean time.