Inka Parei's novel The Cold Centre begins with a man who receives a
startling call from his ex-wife. She's in the hospital, awaiting a
cancer diagnosis. His mind races as he suddenly realizes he must find
out whether she was contaminated by fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl
nuclear disaster. Quickly returning to the city, he tries to reconstruct
the events of a few days so many years ago, and he revisits and
questions his own memories of working in the chilling "cold centre"--the
air conditioning plant for the East German party newspaper. Did she come
in contact with a contaminated truck from the Ukraine? Was he a cog at
the heart of the system, failing to prevent a tragic accident? Can he
find out what happened before it's too late? He soon begins to lose
control over his days in Berlin, entering into a desperate search for
orientation over a fracture in his own life--one he has never gotten
over.
Written in Parei's characteristically precise prose, The Cold Centre
is a timely reminder of how we react to accidents--nuclear and
otherwise-- and a bleakly realistic description of East Berlin before
the Wall fell. Its tight and dizzying structure keeps readers on the
edge of their seats as the narrator tries to solve his mystery.