River Clyde by Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward

Today its over to Mandie who is sharing her thoughts on River Clyde, book five in the Chastity Riley series by Simone Buchholz. This is a definite must read series for me and you can read my thoughts on the book here. Here’s what the book is all about:

About the Book

Mired in grief after tragic recent events, state prosecutor Chastity Riley escapes to Scotland, lured to the birthplace of her great-great-grandfather by a mysterious letter suggesting she has inherited a house.

In Glasgow, she meets Tom, the ex-lover of Chastity’s great aunt, who holds the keys to her own family secrets – painful stories of unexpected cruelty and loss that she’s never dared to confront.

In Hamburg, Stepanovic and Calabretta investigate a major arson attack, while a group of property investors kicks off an explosion of violence that threatens everyone.

As events in these two countries collide, Chastity prepares to face the inevitable, battling the ghosts of her past and the lost souls that could be her future and, perhaps, finally finding redemption for them all.

Breathtakingly emotive, River Clyde is an electrifying, poignant and powerful story of damage and hope, and one woman’s fight for survival.

Mandie’s Thoughts

River Clyde is the fifth Chasity Riley book published by Orenda Books and once again Simone Buchholz has produced a story that will challenge her readers with her quirky style. Chasity and her friends are all still recovering from the events that took place in Hotel Cartagena and they have all beenaffected in different ways. Normally I would say that you can read the books in isolation however for this book I would recommend that you at least read Hotel Cartagena first just so that you can understand some of what happens.

After receiving a letter advising her that she has inherited a house from a relative Chastity decides to go to Scotland to see it for herself and maybe learn about the woman who had died. Whilst she is there she finds herself in the company of someone she meets by chance who has a link to her family and gives her an insight into the person that she was. Despite Chastity clearly wanting to escape her life there is still flashes of the character we have come to enjoy and it was nice to see a bit more of the person behind the professional persona of the past

Whilst there is still a crime element to this book with Stepanovic and Calabretta involved in investigations into arson and murder it does seem this time that the book focuses more on the personal lives of all the characters therefore giving it a different vibe than the ones before as we get to see how they are coping with loss. What you have to decide is if the mystical elements are down to grief, PTSD or something else altogether.

I am not going to lie when I say that the 3 almost separate storylines in the book did at times leave me a little confused at first but as I settled in, it did kind of make sense that the once close group had fractured and telling their stories were reflected as such.

About the Author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street and Hotel Cartagena all followed in the Chastity Riley series, with River Clyde out in 2022. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

About the Translator

Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having always been an avid reader and enjoyed word games and puzzles, she discovered a flair for languages at school and went on to study modern languages at the University of East Anglia. She spent the third year working as a language assistant at two grammar schools in Saaebrücken, Germany. During her final year, she realised that she wanted to put these skills and passions to use professionally and applied for UEA’s MA in Literary Translation, which she completed in 2002. Her published translations include Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang and Red Rage by Brigitte Blobel, and she is a Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.