Monday demos, legal disputes, desperate appeals from plagued residents, countless TV and newspaper reports: since its commissioning, the new northwest runway has changed life in and around Frankfurt - and often not for the better. The economic importance of Frankfurt Airport for the entire Rhine-Main region is beyond question. But the price that many residents have to pay for it is too high not to have to look for a more tolerable alternative. In view of the considerable increase in aircraft noise and the destructive consequences of so-called wake turbulence, it is more than understandable that those affected should revolt in this way against those responsible in business and politics. This whole controversy, with all its explosiveness, provides the perfect material for the sixth mission of Inspector Rauscher, which is now available with Gerd Fischer's latest novel "Fliegeralarm".
Actually, Inspector Andreas Rauscher wanted to marry his girlfriend Elke in peace and harmony and then enjoy his well-deserved vacation. But then, even before he can pronounce the word of consent, he is called away from the altar to Bockenheim for an alleged suicide attempt. Then a cut-off ear turns up with a letter of confession demanding an end to aircraft noise. But whose ear is it? And is the suicide attempt of the young woman from Bockenheim somehow connected to it? And who is the woman who, shortly before her fall, had explicitly asked for Inspector Rauscher? And will Elke ever be able to forgive him for leaving her at the altar? Rauscher is in for some turbulent days, the starting point of which stretches back to the demonstrations around Runway West in 1987.
"Fliegeralarm" is a very entertaining whodunit that uses a cleverly constructed story to mix fact with fiction and spices the whole thing up with a fair amount of local color. Rauscher's fondness for Ebbelwoi alone - which, with this surname, he was practically born with - is likely to bring an amused smile to the faces of many Frankfurt residents. But also the very descriptive, but also not too intrusive descriptions of places ensure that the novel is given its very own Frankfurt flair.
Why the novel works really well, however, is the way in which Fischer here combines facts about aircraft noise with a fictional story to exciting reading material. In doing so, he succeeds very vividly in making the strain that the never-ending noise exerts on the affected residents comprehensible even for those readers who do not live in the direct flight path. Even if the consequences of this may be somewhat exaggerated (which is absolutely necessary for a crime story), the whole thing seems extremely realistic and also somehow depressing.
The fact that the story, despite an already quite clear positioning, repeatedly tries to illuminate both sides and that the arguments in favor of the northwest runway are also incorporated, contributes to the positive overall impression of this Frankfurt crime story. In any case, Fischer has found a very balanced tone, which on the one hand gives the book a certain thematic explosiveness and thus also a pleasant depth, but which never lets the story become a pure political issue, but always puts the entertainment value right up front. And this "Fliegeralarm" is entertaining in any case. So if you want to deal with the topic of aircraft noise in a different way, if you like thrillers with local Frankfurt color or if you already liked the first books about Inspector Rauscher, you should definitely pick this one up. Recommendable
An article by Frankfurt-Tipp
