Crime/Detective  |  English sample translation available

This detective novel transports readers to the bleak outskirts of the former mining town of Ostrava, where the body of a murdered man is discovered. Although the clues immediately point to a strange local man, the investigators begin to gradually untangle a complicated web of people from all walks of life. On the one side there is the modern ‘elite’ represented by businessman Daniel Gavla and politician Jana Bittnerová, on the other the gambler Pavel with his sister and father. Even though it may appear that the only link between these characters is their more or less successful treading on the fine line of legality, the reader soon begins to suspect that they are connected by much more. The story is also enriched by a narrative which goes back to pre-war times and reveals not only the background of the detective plot but also how easily a person can become a victim of anger, historical events and forgotten miscarriages of justice.

Children of Anger is Nela Rywiková’s (b. 1979) second detective novel after her successful debut House No. 6 (Dům číslo 6, Host, 2013), which is also set in the peripheries of Ostrava. František Cinger wrote for the newspaper Právo that “In her debut, Rywiková has managed to prove her talent, portray original characters, move the plot forwards in short chapters and thereby produce a portrait of both the area and the people.” The same goes for her latest novel.

Praise

“The style and social setting of Nela Rywiková’s dark and harsh detective novel (…) resembles Scandinavian crime fiction. The author is from Ostrava and knows the environment she is describing well.”

— Alena Slezáková, MF DNES