One-Way Ticket: A Hamburg Crime Story (Hamburg Noir) Paperback – November 22, 2020

This is one of those books that, like the curate's egg, is good in parts, but not so good in other parts. My personal view is the prologue should be cut out. The writing is not good, it did not make sense to me, and the facts that it tells that are significant for the rest of the book are told later anyway. It is a means of starting with an action sequence, presumably to get a hook, but on the principle telling a prologue can't spoil, a German policeman, Lars, is fleeing on a motorbike from some bad guys. He evades them, then for no obvious reason he speeds through some rough country, falls off and impales himself on some hidden piece of rusty iron. This has very little to do with the rest of the story, it makes little sense, and I found it to be badly written. The good news is, once through this everything improves. The story is about a senior policeman Ritter who is brought in from Frankfurt to Hamburg and has to do something about said bad guys. And solve some other crime.The description of the Hamburg police is hardly flattering, but the characters fit the unflattering description. They follow police methodology reasonably well, other than for going off on their own as opposed to getting back-up. The author seems to know Hamburg, although here since I do not it may be wrong, nevertheless the background is very realistic. There are subplots regarding the seedier parts of Hamburg, particularly the St Pauli district. While some flaws remained, especially relating to almost too many subplots, I found the story quite gripping and quite entertaining.

One way ticket is a book that I really enjoyed! Peter Sarda did a great job with the plot and the characters. I tend to read books about Americans or British, but finding this one about Germans was a great experience. This has a mixture of every good ingredient a hard boiled crime novel should have, cops, gangsters and a brutal setting. I would have liked this to be a bit longer, because I finished the read too quickly for my taste. It is very well written, with interesting turns and twists that I did not expect. Dialogues were quite real, making the read much more interesting. I would recommend reading it for sure!

A very cynical look at the see you side of the famed St Pauli district of Hamburg. Some good descriptive scenes, but the plot line about internal affairs is a bit murky. I would urge readers not to plunge into the narrative before taking some time to familiarize themselves with the list of characters and terms that are found in the back of the book.

One-Way Ticket by Peter Sarda is an action packed and edge of your seat crime thriller from beginning to end.The main character is Thomas Ritter who is a homicide detective. He has just been transferred to Hamburg Germany and thinks that he has finally eluded his dangerous past in which he deviated "slightly" from following the traditional rules of being a law enforcement officer. However, in his mind, a child rapist deserves a different sort of treatment.Anyway, in his thinking what was in the past is in the past. However what lies ahead pales in comparison as now he seems to have been fully immersed into a different type of powder keg with the largest police scandal looming on the horizon.Add in the dark underbelly of life with prostitution, criminal jurisdictions, gambling, murder and drugs and you have the makings of a wonderfully written and spectacular defined plot of a no-nonsense cop who wants to be on the right side of law and order.Oh and by the way, his partner, with his mode of transportation being a chopper, has family ties to a mob boss who owns the majority of the criminal activity taking place in Hamburg.One-Way Ticket by Peter Sarda is an exciting adventure of 2 cops who seem to be crusading against the world. It is an adventuresome read and entertaining and will certainly draw the reader in as the reader roots for these heroes as they fight crime.The narrative is well-written and exciting, engaging and imaginative.

This is a must-read thriller written by Peter Sarda, who based himself on his adoptive hometown where crime was quite common. One Way Ticket revolves around two police detectives who are faced with the biggest police scandal in Hamburg, a city ruled by brutal gangsters and criminals, when a senator is found dead. Yet, the detectives suspect those who are part of the City Hall. Peter Sarda has done an amazing job in depicting Hamburg's violent underworld and in creating captivating and action-packed scenes. Every detail has been put into play for a reason. What I liked the most is the unexpected twists that have made me want to keep on reading until the very end.

I read a review before reading the book that gave some good advise. Check out the glossary for a list of characters and terms. You’ll need to know a lot of acronyms.This is a police procedural. As it takes place in a Country I haven’t been to since I was in grade school, and I’m not familiar with their laws, I can’t comment of the authenticity. It did seem plausible to me though.This seems to be at least the second in a series as the protagonists,Thomas Ritter, comes to the plot with a lot of baggage. His former boss is apparently going down for some malfeasance. We get the impression he may have done the wrong (illegal) thing for the right reason. He saved our protagonist by making it look as thought he snitched on him. The former bosses last move was too have Ritter transferred. But there must be more to it than that. Ritter makes it clear to the reader that he is playing a role. I never was completely sure why that was. It seems that Ritter is on a mission, but I never was clear what that mission was.Ritter is the typical good cop on the street, trying to do his job despite interference from the political animals higher in the department.It was a good story with a lot of action and suspense. I did find the dialogue hard to follow sometimes. I often got confused about who was saying something, or whether the phrase was just a thought never spoken.