Hansjörg Schneider’s fourth instalment of the phenomenally successful Inspector Hunkeler crime novels, begins on a sombre and timid note. Retired Inspector Peter Hunkeler wakes up in a state of torpor in Basel’s Merian Iselin Hospital after undergoing a successful operation for the excision of a benign tumour. He shares his hospital bed with an irritatingly chirpy patient, who incidentally also happens to be an acquaintance dating back to Hunkeler’s University days. Dr, Stephan Fankhauser, Hunkeler’s constantly chattering companion is suffering from an irreversible bout of cancer. Possessed of a skeletal framework, signalling the end of days, Fankhauser is a name to be reckoned with in the corporate circuits of Basel.
Initially famous or rather infamous for his left leaning firebrand activities as a student, Fankhauser reneges on his own ideology by joining the bastion of hyper-capitalism, the Basel Volksbank before retiring as its director. A few nights before Hunkeler is to be discharged, a strange and unsettling episode occurs in the room housing the former Inspector and the retired banker. A nurse after handing over a sleeping pill to Hunkeler calmly goes over to Fankhauser’s bedside and ignoring the latter’s feeble protestations, administers an injection. Fankhauser begins gasping for breath and before Hunkeler could protest, the sleeping pill takes definite effect and Hunkeler goes into deep sleep.
The next morning Fankhauser’s bed is empty and a bewildered Hunkeler is informed that his fellow patient suffered from a massive heart attack the previous night which turned out to be fatal. Hunkeler initially attributes the nightmarish episode involving the night nurse and Fankhauser as a figment of hallucinations caused by the sleeping tablet before a series of violent crimes specifically aimed at Bankers makes him revise his position. But since Peter Hunkeler is retired and does not have any authority to either investigate a crime or pursue leads, he finds himself in a tight spot.
Hunkeler’s tranquil and uneventful retirement sojourn soon succumbs to the excitement of a major discovery. To add to his existing set of intricacies, his granddaughter Estelle manifests at his doorstep and soon Hunkeler and his trusted girlfriend Hedwig find themselves sharing an apartment with a teen, and due to some inexplicable circumstances, a goat!
The murder of Fankhauser leads Hunkeler into a labyrinth that threatens to upend the much-vaunted Swiss position of neutrality assumed throughout the course of World War II. The pristine white of Basel’s reputation suddenly assumes murky shades of grey fast threatening to culminate in a menacing coat of black. Hunkeler’s quest seems to contain a plethora of questions and not a single plausible answer. Was Fankhauser an accidental victim or a deliberate target? Why are the bankers in Switzerland being targeted specifically by people possessing a violent bent of mind?
Hunkeler’s Secret is a gripping one-sitting read that firmly establishes its author as a force to be reckoned with in the thriller genre. The narrative is exquisite and the plot tight and taut. Astrid Freuler does a capital job with the translation.
Hunkeler’s Secret – A rabbit hole worth plunging into headlong!
