Der Zeichner Der Finsternis (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
After being given the book Ashes as a gift, I became intrigued by Ilsa J Bick’s other books. I have already read Drowning Instinct and The Sin Eater’s Confession so I was aware that the main character wasn’t going to be your normal everyday teenager but Christian really is as far from this as any kid could possibly be.Although I have the physical book I listened to the audio book edition on my commute to and from work and found that although it was a bit slow to start with as the storyline progressed and we got further into the mystery surrounding Winter’s past I was hoping for traffic delays so that I could listen to more each day.This book is set in Winter Wisconsin and having now read 3 of the books by this author I am seriously concerned for all teenagers that live in Wisconsin. They seem to be seriously screwed up! Our main character is Christian Cage, a 15 year old kid who lives with his Uncle Hank, the town sheriff. Everyone in town thinks that Christian is a weird kid (and to be totally honest he really is). Christian loves to draw but not your usual type of stuff, he draws his mother’s eyes all over his bedroom wall and some other really disturbing stuff. The story begins with Christian waking up one morning to find that as well as having a really bizarre dream, he has been drawing in his sleep. As the day progresses we learn that he not only drew on his bedroom wall but also biked out to a barn out of town (in his sleep) and painted wolf’s eyes and a Nazi slogan on the barn wall.This starts off a serious of disturbing dreams for Christian and he discovers that back in the 40’s a murder took place in that same barn. After being given a history assignment on local history he decides to investigate the murder more.Christian has an ability to connect with other people through his art and is rumoured to have caused the death of his 1st grade teacher and his aunt because of this talent. He has somehow connected with someone that witnessed this murder and along the way helps solve a couple of mysteries as well as a part of Winter’s history that has either been forgotten or covered up.This story really builds as it goes along and although I did solve the mysteries before they were revealed it was still really good and although everything gets wrapped up neatly it certainly doesn’t have what most would call a “happy ending” although I do wonder if it really was a happy ending for Christian? I enjoyed this book over-all and never got bored with reading it. I loved the way that the history of this small town tied in with the mysteries and crime. I also love Bick's descriptions. She did a great job of describing the character's sensations so that I could feel them and be drawn (no pun intended..you'll get it if you've read it) into the book. However, there was something to be desired. I think the culmination and leading up to that could have been better. It was a little slow, and then the ending was very unexpected and didn't have a good reasoning behind it.
What do You think about Der Zeichner Der Finsternis (2000)?
could have been more nuanced but I will give the it was an original idea
—melita
It is a little hard to understand at first but it has a great ending.
—bob
