Title: Europe in Winter
Author: Hutchinson, Dave
Published by: Solaris
Year: 2016
First published: Solaris, 2016
Date reviewed: 01.17
ISBN: 978 1 78108 463 2

This book, the third in Dave Hutchinson’s ‘Fractured Europe’ series (of four, I gather) keeps up the standard set by the first two, ‘Autumn‘ and ‘Midnight‘. The action shifts from place to place, gradually digging through layers of confusion and uncertainty. The story once again revolves around Rudi, the central character of ‘Autumn’. Other characters, some old, some new, come and go. Is a character incidental or will he/she crop up later as a key player? You have to stay alert in Hutchinson’s world, and try to spot – and remember – the breadcrumbs he leaves to mark out the trail.

His style is to present you one at a time with a series of small pieces, like the bits that make up one of those three-dimensional puzzles where each odd shape is part of the finished whole. How to fit them together is far from obvious and the final solution needs a particular twist, shove and slide to lock it all together. The final twist in this book sets things up nicely for the finale (?) still to come.

But enough of the analysis. There’s plenty of action, the story moves at a good pace and is a compelling read. Hutchinson draws his main characters well, and there’s a streak of dry, cycnical humour which breaks through from time to time. Can Rudi survive with what he now knows? Which of the tantalising unresolved possibilities will turn out to be crucial? Only Book 4 can tell.