Lena Hach's children's thriller “What Wanda Wants”

Wanda is used to trouble. Trouble with her father, trouble at school. Or better: in the schools, because she attended some of them. As soon as she arrived at the new one, she immediately sat in the principal's room, who told her not to get herself into anything again. Wanda couldn't care less about principal monologues like this one. She does her thing anyway. But she still wants to make a good impression because she has a plan that she doesn't need teachers who are out to get her to implement: she wants to break into the villa at the city park. But she can't do it alone. She needs a team.

Despite all the tension, Lena Hach's crook story “What Wanda Wants” is more the story of a friendship than the story of this break-in. She talks about how Wanda makes five classmates who previously had nothing to do with each other into a group. There's the master, who everyone at school knows but – until Wanda comes along – doesn't seem to have any close friends, Kai, the cool, good-looking athlete with the expensive branded clothes, Lynn, the socially critical artist, Schulze, who is above all his inconspicuousness stands out, and the loner Desiree. Each and every one of them has a talent. It's Wanda who recognizes it. And she understands what the novel doesn't reveal, at least at the beginning.

Because “What Wanda Wants” doesn’t tell you a lot. Hach leaves blank spaces and room to imagine the rest of the story yourself. Readers soon know Wanda's plan. And they quickly guess what the villa the group is supposed to break into is all about. Other questions remain unanswered. What exactly happened between Wanda and her father, other than him being, well, an asshole? Where is Wanda's mother, whose last name she shares? And why did Wanda get expelled from so many schools?

This uncertainty adds to the tension. But it also has a substantive reason. Hach's book is also about prejudices of all kinds and how they can deceive us. Before they get to know each other better, the characters in “What Wanda Wants” don’t really know who they are actually looking at. Only gradually does it become apparent how wrong some of their assumptions about each other were: Kai isn't the cool guy he pretends to be, and Desiree doesn't like being alone as much as she pretends. And the master doesn't take his separation as lightly as he claims. Wanda's strength is observation. To look behind the facade of your classmates and not be deceived by appearances. Perhaps she does this so well because she reveals so little about herself. Of all the characters, she, the main character, remains the most enigmatic.

In many places, Hach's crime novel is reminiscent of Erich Kästner's books: there is the colorful clique like in “Emil and the Detectives”, who steal here themselves, but are on the morally right side. And there is both a cheeky young girl like Pünktchen, who is apparently neglected by her rich father, and a boy like Anton, who neglects school to look after his sick mother. In these passages that deal with Kai's story, Hach no longer just hints: “Can anyone guarantee you that your father won't abandon you and your mother from one day to the next? That your mother gets a job that pays properly? Or that people with less qualifications aren't always preferred over others just because they're white? I don't think so!” This clarity wouldn't have been necessary, as it's clear early on that Kai isn't the heartless chav that everyone thinks he is.

Apart from the social criticism that “What Wanda Wants” conveys, the novel is an exciting burglary story that is made very entertaining by various bankruptcies and mishaps. Because when you're making plans, it's like anything else in life: nothing always goes exactly the way you thought it would.

Lena Hach: “What Wanda wants”. Novel. Mixtvision publishing house, Munich 2023. 192 pages, hardcover, €16. From 11 years