Otto Koke

"You wouldn't think it possible," interrupted Detective Commissioner Otto Busdorf, breaking the silence, "that we wouldn't be able to neutralize the guy. I haven't experienced anything like this in a long time. We are struggling in vain to find the perpetrator. Once we have him, know what he looks like, and know his name, the hunt begins. Here, all of that is pointless. The suspect gives us clue after clue. We know his name, we have a rough idea of his appearance. He lives among us. And yet, we can't bring him down."

For two years, while the First World War rages in Europe, up to 60 command hunters intermittently pursue the captain of the poacher gang, Franz Kleinschmidt, who brutally ravages the Tucheler Heide. Supported by a large part of the anti-German population—whether intimidated or bought off—he not only preys on wildlife but increasingly hunts his hunters, mercilessly killing several forest officials while always managing to evade their bullets.

The struggle of the hunters and foresters for life and death amidst the deep tranquility of the forest is a battle of a few companions against a criminal who will stop at nothing. Not always do the bullets of the rampaging murderer extinguish the lives of the men who are willing to give their all for the forest and its wildlife with a swift, merciful, unexpected death from ambush. Reworked in a new guise, this novelistic classic by Otto Koke promises thrilling insights into a time when poachers on one side and hunters, foresters, and police on the other side waged a brutal war against each other.