4.5 stars

“We grew up untouched by weapons as everyone else – but for the fact that the guns were there, which changed everything. It meant there were different possibilities – possible threats, in particular. It changed the way we thought and, looking back, sometimes inclined us towards hysteria. For me, home was a place where you could get shot”

Fear is the sixth full-length novel by German journalist and author, Dirk Kurbjuweit, and the first to be translated into English. It opens with a man visiting his elderly father in prison. Hermann Tiefenthaler is serving eight years for shooting dead Dieter Tiberius, his son Randolph’s downstairs neighbour, with one of his collection of thirty weapons.

Randolph Tiefenthaler is a successful architect who is married to Rebecca, a beautiful, intelligent woman. They have two young children. When they move into their newly-purchased ground-floor apartment in Berlin, they are unaware of the basement tenant, having met only the owner of that apartment. But Rebecca says there’s something strange about him…

Randolph’s narrative (the account he is writing for his wife, of what led up to the shooting) relates the events with the benefit of hindsight. It’s a riveting tale that is easily believable, but with a twist or two at the end that certainly turns some ideas on their heads.

Kurbjuweit touches on several topical issues: gun ownership, child abuse, the power of spurious accusations to ruin a reputation, genetics vs upbringing and social inequality. His story demonstrates the effects, on thoughts, feelings and behaviour, of unremitting psychological terror, especially when the legal system seems impotent to protect law-abiding citizens.

Randolph explains: “The courtroom was almost full; the press had reported the case in detail, and largely with understanding. The greatest goodwill, I am afraid to say was expressed by the papers I didn’t normally read, but which now became my allies. A family under threat taking the law into their own hands fitted their world view, and I began to read the tabloids with new sympathy. Today I would cite this as an additional sign – along with my arrogant language and altered mindset – of the barbarism into which Dieter Tiberuis had plunged us. The crime itself, of course, was also barbaric”

This novel is flawlessly translated from German by Imogen Taylor, and it is no surprise that is has been adapted for film, television and radio in Germany. This is a gripping and thought-provoking read.