Munich is notorious as the backdrop for historical events — the rise of the Third Reich, the massacre of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics — but a lesser-known tragedy dominates David Peace’s electrifying novel, “Munichs.”

It is the crash of a chartered propeller plane on February 6, 1958, immediately after a blizzard takeoff, killing 23 of the 44 passengers and crew, including members of the famous Manchester United soccer team. (After a Red Devils triumph in Belgrade, the flight stopped to refuel at the Bavarian airport.)

“Munichs” evokes the visceral moments of the accident, as well as the lingering grief cast like a shroud over both its characters and a nation whose collective mourning raises more questions than it answers.

The prose of peace grabs us by the throat from the start. The opening sequence—survivors scrambling amid the wrecked fuselage, some unharmed, others with broken bones and bruised organs—plays out with the immediacy of a nightmare or a German Expressionist film. Bill Foulkes and Harry Gregg emerge unscathed from a tangle of metal and flame, while Bobby Charlton, one of the youngest ‘boys’, suffers a laceration to his skull.

The victims are lined up and later transported to Britain in matching coffins. Hospitalized United manager Matt Busby clings to consciousness in an oxygen tent. He had built a legendary team, supported by the jolly Jimmy Murphy (back at the team’s headquarters, known as Old Trafford). These men live and breathe the sport, sustained by their devotion to each other. Peace’s love of the game shines through every chapter.

“Munichs” follows a tight timeline after that, waving through its cast. As the news spreads that muddy evening, Peace brilliantly recreates the initial disbelief and fanciful rationalizations of those affected. He deploys ellipses liberally, revealing the fractured souls of his characters, their hindsight.

His long kinetic sentences twist and turn in on themselves; his deft use of rhythm and repetition propel his narrative. He even winks at his technique: As the United community gathers to cross the Channel, “(E)airlines were already talking about flight delays, terrible weather en route, the danger, the risks they shouldn’t be taking. be said, of repetition, repetition.”

Local investigators hunt for a scapegoat. Jimmy’s companions surprise Bill and Harry at home, where they struggle with guilt and exhaustion. Bobby is reunited with his mother, Cissie, who has been fielding phone calls and being swarmed by journalists, enjoying the publicity. He backs off, “No wonder she barely said a word, not a drop of blood around here, not when she always knew best, putting on her thong, making sure she looked her best. “