What do you think?
Rate this book
Douglas Brodie #3
Pilgrim Soul
It's 1947 and the worst winter in memory: Glasgow is buried in snow, killers stalk the streets - and Douglas Brodie's past is engulfing him.
It starts small. The Jewish community in Glasgow asks Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman turned journalist, to solve a series of burglaries. The police don't care and Brodie needs the cash. Brodie solves the crime but the thief is found dead, butchered by the owner of the house he was robbing. When the householder in turn is murdered, the whole community is in uproar - and Brodie's simple case of theft disintegrates into chaos.
Into the mayhem strides Danny McRae - Brodie's old sparring partner from when they policed Glasgow's mean streets. Does Danny bring with him the seeds of redemption or retribution? As the murder tally mounts, Brodie discovers tainted gold and a blood-stained trail back to the concentration camps. Back to the horrors that haunt his dreams. Glasgow is overflowing with Jewish refugees. But have their persecutors pursued them? And who will be next to die?
It starts small. The Jewish community in Glasgow asks Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman turned journalist, to solve a series of burglaries. The police don't care and Brodie needs the cash. Brodie solves the crime but the thief is found dead, butchered by the owner of the house he was robbing. When the householder in turn is murdered, the whole community is in uproar - and Brodie's simple case of theft disintegrates into chaos.
Into the mayhem strides Danny McRae - Brodie's old sparring partner from when they policed Glasgow's mean streets. Does Danny bring with him the seeds of redemption or retribution? As the murder tally mounts, Brodie discovers tainted gold and a blood-stained trail back to the concentration camps. Back to the horrors that haunt his dreams. Glasgow is overflowing with Jewish refugees. But have their persecutors pursued them? And who will be next to die?
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2013
57 people are currently reading
494 people want to read
About the author
Gordon Ferris
34 books137 followersI was born on Rabbie Burns' day in the small industrial town of Kilmarnock, in the West of Scotland. My mother took it as a sign of impending literary fortune. Naturally enough, I ignored her, despite writing being the only thing I loved [after rugby and the fairer sex].
I took the long way round to becoming an author. I've been a computer programmer and an executive in the UK Ministry of Defence, and a consultancy partner in the banking division of Price Waterhouse. Maybe that's where I got my interest in guns and crooks for my post war crime novels set in Glasgow and London.
I'm enormously proud of my Brodie Quartet but I'm now expanding my reach by writing contemporary thrillers. The first product of this broadening out is MONEY TREE now published on Amazon kindle [paperback to follow].
I took the long way round to becoming an author. I've been a computer programmer and an executive in the UK Ministry of Defence, and a consultancy partner in the banking division of Price Waterhouse. Maybe that's where I got my interest in guns and crooks for my post war crime novels set in Glasgow and London.
I'm enormously proud of my Brodie Quartet but I'm now expanding my reach by writing contemporary thrillers. The first product of this broadening out is MONEY TREE now published on Amazon kindle [paperback to follow].
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
onhold
September 18, 2017Description: It's 1947 and the worst winter in memory: Glasgow is buried in snow, killers stalk the streets - and Douglas Brodie's past is engulfing him.
It starts small. The Jewish community in Glasgow asks Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman turned journalist, to solve a series of burglaries. The police don't care and Brodie needs the cash. Brodie solves the crime but the thief is found dead, butchered by the owner of the house he was robbing. When the householder in turn is murdered, the whole community is in uproar - and Brodie's simple case of theft disintegrates into chaos.
Into the mayhem strides Danny McRae - Brodie's old sparring partner from when they policed Glasgow's mean streets. Does Danny bring with him the seeds of redemption or retribution? As the murder tally mounts, Brodie discovers tainted gold and a blood-stained trail back to the concentration camps. Back to the horrors that haunt his dreams. Glasgow is overflowing with Jewish refugees. But have their persecutors pursued them? And who will be next to die?
5* The Hanging Shed
4* Bitter Water
CR Pilgrim Soul
It starts small. The Jewish community in Glasgow asks Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman turned journalist, to solve a series of burglaries. The police don't care and Brodie needs the cash. Brodie solves the crime but the thief is found dead, butchered by the owner of the house he was robbing. When the householder in turn is murdered, the whole community is in uproar - and Brodie's simple case of theft disintegrates into chaos.
Into the mayhem strides Danny McRae - Brodie's old sparring partner from when they policed Glasgow's mean streets. Does Danny bring with him the seeds of redemption or retribution? As the murder tally mounts, Brodie discovers tainted gold and a blood-stained trail back to the concentration camps. Back to the horrors that haunt his dreams. Glasgow is overflowing with Jewish refugees. But have their persecutors pursued them? And who will be next to die?
5* The Hanging Shed
4* Bitter Water
CR Pilgrim Soul
January 15, 2016
This is the 3rd book in the Douglas Brodie series, and in my opinion the best so far. It has a darker, more sombre feel to it, not surprising given some of the subject matter that it deals with. It begins simply enough, with Brodie taking on a bit of investigative work on behalf of Glasgow's Jewish community. They have been beset by a series of burglaries, and despite reporting them to the Police, the Police seem reluctant to follow things up. The scenes are played out in the winter of 1947, a notoriously harsh winter, with power cuts and coal shortages.
Brodie soon tracks down the thief, and from there events spiral ever downwards, and things Brodie had hoped were buried come back to haunt him. After being coerced by Sam, amongst others, he signs up for a temporary commission back in the Army, so that he can assist in the Post War trials being held in Hamburg. These trigger off his bouts of PTSD. Nothing is over glamorised, or trivialised, and everything written is pertinent to the storyline. There is still plenty of action going on, not least when Danny McRae arrives on the scene to help out.
The writer has carefully taken known facts and has woven them into the fabric of the plot line. The writer's choice of characters enhances the story, and the characters of Brodie and Sam seem that much more real with the way that they interact throughout.
I would like to continue reading this series, but with the introduction of Danny McRae, I now have to dig his own books out to get a sense of how and where he actually fits in.
Brodie soon tracks down the thief, and from there events spiral ever downwards, and things Brodie had hoped were buried come back to haunt him. After being coerced by Sam, amongst others, he signs up for a temporary commission back in the Army, so that he can assist in the Post War trials being held in Hamburg. These trigger off his bouts of PTSD. Nothing is over glamorised, or trivialised, and everything written is pertinent to the storyline. There is still plenty of action going on, not least when Danny McRae arrives on the scene to help out.
The writer has carefully taken known facts and has woven them into the fabric of the plot line. The writer's choice of characters enhances the story, and the characters of Brodie and Sam seem that much more real with the way that they interact throughout.
I would like to continue reading this series, but with the introduction of Danny McRae, I now have to dig his own books out to get a sense of how and where he actually fits in.
August 16, 2013
Great writing. Quite interesting that I recently finished Ratlines - along the same 'line' as this book, albeit from an Irish standpoint with Stuart Neville. Two books same line same time what a coincidence? Can't wait for more of this character. Amazing how you get attached to them.
April 29, 2013
I really loved the flawed protagonist, Brodie. This is his third appearance and I think his most interesting. The series would make a brilliant TV show.
July 2, 2017
Pilgrim Soul is set in Glasgow and Hamburg in the cold winter of 1947. It charts journalist Douglas Brodie’s investigation into a string of burglaries affecting the city’s large Jewish community, the possible presence of former Nazis in the city, and his participation in war crimes trial in Hamburg having previously been involved in earlier trials when in the British army. There’s much to like about the story. Brodie is an engaging character with an interesting back story. There is a strong sense of place and time, with a nice portrait of Glasgow and its social context. The story is well contextualised with respect to the war crimes trials, including the inclusion of some real life Nazi criminals. The plot, for the most part, is well crafted and interesting, and there’s a strong, steady pace. For the first two thirds of the book it was a solid five star read, despite one obvious telegraphed plot device. What unsettled the book for me, was the arrival of Brodie’s old, pre-war fellow policeman, Danny McRae. Pilgrim Soul is the third book in the Brodie series, as well as the third in the McRae series. In my view, the intersection of the two series was a problem for two reasons. First, the plotline and denouement attached to McRae creates one too many twists that felt overly contrived and unnecessary. The story would have stood perfectly well on its own without McRae being involved. Second, I’ve not read the previous two McRae books, only the Brodie ones, but I now have a fairly full precis of what happens, including their resolutions that’ll probably ruining any mystery to those books if I read them. Nonetheless, Pilgrim Soul was an entertaining and interesting read.
March 20, 2017
I enjoyed the previous books in this series but this is a masterpiece. It is still set mostly in post war Glasgow, very evocatively described, but instead of gangsters Brodie is dealing with escaped Nazis and the Jewish community. Mr Brodie covers a lot of ground in this novel - Nazi escape lines, Cold War politics, war crimes and trials, Zionist terrorism in the run-up to the founding of Israel, anti-semitism and the changing face of Glaswegian Jewery. It is all blended seamlessly into a compulsive but sad and dark tale. I couldn't put it down and really recommend it as well researched, thought provoking, exciting read.
February 3, 2020
For the most part, this was a fast-paced and exciting book. I like the setting as I don't read that many books based in Scotland and the characters were well- developed. At first, I was bothered by the detour the plot took to Germany, but I realized it was necessary. The numerous twists and turns kept me gasping in surprise. I'm certainly up to reading another Douglas Brodie novel. The only negative part was that some of the events in the book didn't line up with the actual historical events. Otherwise I would've given it 5 stars.
November 15, 2023
Great story from post-WW2 Glasgow. Strongly recommended.
August 18, 2014
Darkest places of the soul… 5 stars
The first two novels in the Douglas Brodie series were very good noir thrillers – fast-paced, explosive and full of black humour. This one is very different and takes the Brodie series to another and much darker level.
Brodie is asked to investigate a spate of burglaries in Glasgow’s post-war Jewish community. But when the burglar is found murdered it gradually becomes clear that there is a connection that leads back to the horrors of the concentration camps – horrors that Brodie has been trying to forget since his role as interrogator of war criminals after the war.
Ferris handles this dark and difficult subject with a great deal of sensitivity and humanity. The details he gives of some of the dreadful acts that were carried out in the camps are kept to the minimum necessary for the development of the story – Ferris carefully avoids the use of gratuitous detail. Instead he concentrates on how these events are still affecting his characters, including a very moving portrayal of what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. As I read, I couldn’t help but think of the men of my father’s generation, the ones who came back – a generation who mainly bottled up their feelings about their war experiences, who talked of the camaraderie of war but not the horrors, and I felt that in some way Ferris was giving these men a voice that the stiff-upper-lip culture of the time had perhaps denied them.
But although the subject matter means that this book is much darker than the previous ones, this is also a first-rate, tightly plotted thriller – well-paced, plenty of action and still with room for occasional flashes of humour. Brodie’s relationship with Sam is developed further and Danny McRae, hero of Ferris’ other series, plays a part in this one too. In a previous review, I compared Gordon Ferris to Ian Rankin. This book leads me to compare him to Reginald Hill, an author who could give his readers intelligently light entertainment in one book then take them to the darkest places of the human soul in the next. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the Brodie books but this one also moved me deeply - highly recommended.
The first two novels in the Douglas Brodie series were very good noir thrillers – fast-paced, explosive and full of black humour. This one is very different and takes the Brodie series to another and much darker level.
Brodie is asked to investigate a spate of burglaries in Glasgow’s post-war Jewish community. But when the burglar is found murdered it gradually becomes clear that there is a connection that leads back to the horrors of the concentration camps – horrors that Brodie has been trying to forget since his role as interrogator of war criminals after the war.
Ferris handles this dark and difficult subject with a great deal of sensitivity and humanity. The details he gives of some of the dreadful acts that were carried out in the camps are kept to the minimum necessary for the development of the story – Ferris carefully avoids the use of gratuitous detail. Instead he concentrates on how these events are still affecting his characters, including a very moving portrayal of what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. As I read, I couldn’t help but think of the men of my father’s generation, the ones who came back – a generation who mainly bottled up their feelings about their war experiences, who talked of the camaraderie of war but not the horrors, and I felt that in some way Ferris was giving these men a voice that the stiff-upper-lip culture of the time had perhaps denied them.
But although the subject matter means that this book is much darker than the previous ones, this is also a first-rate, tightly plotted thriller – well-paced, plenty of action and still with room for occasional flashes of humour. Brodie’s relationship with Sam is developed further and Danny McRae, hero of Ferris’ other series, plays a part in this one too. In a previous review, I compared Gordon Ferris to Ian Rankin. This book leads me to compare him to Reginald Hill, an author who could give his readers intelligently light entertainment in one book then take them to the darkest places of the human soul in the next. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the Brodie books but this one also moved me deeply - highly recommended.
February 3, 2013
I feel so fortunate in my reading as I have just realised that this is the 4th 5* book that I have read in succession.
I have read the earlier books by this author and prefer those in the Douglas Brodie set to the pair that feature Danny McRae. The former are more 'Private Eye who-dun-its' to the latter cold war thriller.
Not only does the author skillfully bring the genres together in Pilgrim Soul but he also has the heroes of the two series working together in this tense murder/spy/war thriller.
Whatever your preferred type of reading, you will probably find it in this novel.
I spotted one of the 'answers' reasonably early on but never suspected the 'biggie'.
I have read the earlier books by this author and prefer those in the Douglas Brodie set to the pair that feature Danny McRae. The former are more 'Private Eye who-dun-its' to the latter cold war thriller.
Not only does the author skillfully bring the genres together in Pilgrim Soul but he also has the heroes of the two series working together in this tense murder/spy/war thriller.
Whatever your preferred type of reading, you will probably find it in this novel.
I spotted one of the 'answers' reasonably early on but never suspected the 'biggie'.
July 13, 2020
This is the first book I’ve read by Gordon Ferris. The first because I’d aim to read others. It’s the third in a series with Douglas Brodie as the main character, and also the third with Danny McRae, though he is a minor character in this story set in Glasgow just after the war, with Douglas Brodie being a reporter asked by the Jewish community to investigate some thefts and The plot twists out from there.
I liked the start, a reporter, ex policeman, ex soldier, helping a friend to investigate a burglary, but then when he tracks down the thief he finds him dead, and the story balloons out from being about burglary and murder, to Nazi hunting, Jewish statehood, CIA and layers of government agencies all finding their feet after the war.
Brodie started out for me, not having read the previous three stories, as an alcohol fuelled reporter Doing the best he can for a friend. I misread him as a typical dysfunctional hero, trying to find his way with a successful girlfriend and a new career. Somehow within the story he evolves into action man. He started out as Colombo and morphed into Bruce Willis’s John McClane. It became a bit like a boys own adventure.
There seems to be lots of drinking, a slight sense of the risky Glasgow of 1946, goodies and baddies. I’ll give the earlier novels a spin when I can
I liked the start, a reporter, ex policeman, ex soldier, helping a friend to investigate a burglary, but then when he tracks down the thief he finds him dead, and the story balloons out from being about burglary and murder, to Nazi hunting, Jewish statehood, CIA and layers of government agencies all finding their feet after the war.
Brodie started out for me, not having read the previous three stories, as an alcohol fuelled reporter Doing the best he can for a friend. I misread him as a typical dysfunctional hero, trying to find his way with a successful girlfriend and a new career. Somehow within the story he evolves into action man. He started out as Colombo and morphed into Bruce Willis’s John McClane. It became a bit like a boys own adventure.
There seems to be lots of drinking, a slight sense of the risky Glasgow of 1946, goodies and baddies. I’ll give the earlier novels a spin when I can
July 12, 2018
I love the Ferris books because I always learn some history I knew nothing about. Brodie's life seems to be settling down until Sam has to go to Germany to help with the trials. When she returns, she ask Brodie if he will return to help with the original files in compiled. Before he can decide, the army brings him back to the army to help with the trials. Also, his friend Isaac asks that he take a case from his Jewish friends to find out who is robbing the Jewish people when they go to Synagogue. When Brodie gets involved in the case, he finds more than he expects. High level Nazis are escaping punishment by escaping to Scotland and then on to Canada, America and South America. Couldn't put the book down.
May 2, 2020
it is 1947 and Douglas Brodie is still writing for the Glasgow Gazette, after turning down an offer to return to the police force. Sam, his land lady, and sometimes lover, is working on prosecuting some war crimes in Hamburg, and Brodie has been asked to assist a group of Jew’s to investigate some burglaries. At the end of the war he had interrogated many of the Nazi’s about their crimes, and now he has been requested to assist in interrogating more Nazi’s waiting for trial in Hamburg, to see if he can get any information about those that have escaped, and the rat lines running through Scotland, especially through Glasgow, helping them get to South America. His nightmares return, and he is struggling.
July 14, 2021
This book reviews a very dark time in history; the period just after WW-II and the efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. The author, in his end notes, presents the historical facts unpinning his work, including material regarding Nazis in Scotland and the "rat lines" along which they travelled from Germany, to Scotland and points further west, with the aid of the CIA. America was interested in capturing as many German scientists and engineers along with medical professionals as they could in order to capitalize on their experience and expertise; think Werner Von Braun and the other rocketeers. It didn't matter whether or not they were Nazis, only that they could help us to defeat the new enemy, the Soviet Union.
November 24, 2022
L’histoire qui rejoint la fiction, la période de l’après-guerre, le terrible hiver de 47 et la pénurie, un ancien flic / militaire devenu journaliste / enquêteur, des Juifs volés après avoir été persécutés, des criminels nazis en fuite… On remplace Glasgow (qui n’apparaît cependant le plus souvent que par ses noms de lieux) par Berlin et on pourrait facilement se croire chez Philip Kerr.
Et c’est bien là tout le problème : le style est ici moins fluide, l’intrigue moins prenante, le héros moins attachant, les punchlines moins percutantes… Tout comme Kerr, donc, mais tout en « moins » !
Tiens, ça m’a donné envie de relire "La trilogie berlinoise"...
Et c’est bien là tout le problème : le style est ici moins fluide, l’intrigue moins prenante, le héros moins attachant, les punchlines moins percutantes… Tout comme Kerr, donc, mais tout en « moins » !
Tiens, ça m’a donné envie de relire "La trilogie berlinoise"...
May 10, 2024
The blurb on the front cover proclaims "The new Ian Rankin" (Daily Mail). I don't know if Ian Rankin has endorsed this, or gets some kind of commission, but it is quite a high bar to set for someone new to this author, though I've read several of Ian Rankin's books. For the first 2/3 of the book the momentum of the plot seemed to roll along briskly, and I was well immersed in the characters. All set to give, probably, a 4* rating. But in the last 1/3 of the book I got bored and rather lost interest. Maybe my attention span was wilting. I finished the book, but was underimpressed in the latter stages, so dropped my rating to 3*
January 3, 2020
A rip-roaring read set against post-war war crimes trials, an emerging state of Israel and the rendition of nazis to the Americas. A perfect sequel to both Bitter Water and The Unquiet Heart this acts as the final Danny McRae story (though he is very much a special guest star) and the third in the Douglas Brodie Glasgow Quartet.
Very enjoyable and when read immediately following The Unquiet Heart which was written three novels prior but is chronologically contiguous, it shows the development as a writer that Ferris has gone through.
Very enjoyable and when read immediately following The Unquiet Heart which was written three novels prior but is chronologically contiguous, it shows the development as a writer that Ferris has gone through.
April 27, 2020
The Brodie series are some of the best books I’ve read and are up there with authors such as Peter May, Michael Robotham and Ian Rankin. This the third Brodie book is probably the best. Again based after the end of WW2, his once again re conscripted back into the Army to attend trials in Hamburg but also to seek information about the Rat Lines the Nazis used to escape Germany one of which runs through Glasgow where murders are happening. One not to miss but you need to read all his books (McRae & Brodie) in sequence
July 3, 2020
Enthralling
Do you get an empty feeling when you finish a book that you just couldn't put down?
That's the feeling that I have right now.
This was the best of the three Douglas Brodie books that I have read so far and I would have been devastated if it had been the last.
Fortunately there is one more in the series. I can't recommend these books highly enough. Read them, you won't be disappointed.
Do you get an empty feeling when you finish a book that you just couldn't put down?
That's the feeling that I have right now.
This was the best of the three Douglas Brodie books that I have read so far and I would have been devastated if it had been the last.
Fortunately there is one more in the series. I can't recommend these books highly enough. Read them, you won't be disappointed.
September 27, 2022
Superb
A thrilling read right from the beginning to the end. It had all the components of a brilliant plot. It had me captivated from the commencement. Thereafter, the participants all had their own schemes to work out. I didn’t like the profanity’s and swearing therefore four stars awarded. Saying that, it was a marvellous read. Thank you.
A thrilling read right from the beginning to the end. It had all the components of a brilliant plot. It had me captivated from the commencement. Thereafter, the participants all had their own schemes to work out. I didn’t like the profanity’s and swearing therefore four stars awarded. Saying that, it was a marvellous read. Thank you.
June 11, 2017
Douglas Brodie #3. A good tale about the escape line for German war criminals through Scotland. Glasgow has a high Jewish population and initially hired Brodie to help solve several burglaries amongst the Jewish community. 3.5 to 4 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2023
Glasgow’s Jewish community asks Brodie to solve some burglaries and sets off a chain of events that threatens his mental and emotional well-being. This book is very upsetting if you are not aware of the atrocities committed on those in concentration camps.
June 4, 2017
Good on post war Glasgow but characters becoming tired
January 12, 2020
Good read, good perspective.
March 10, 2021
The third Douglas Brodie thriller set in postwar Glasgow is gritty, gripping and replete with the nightmare legacy of the Third Reich.
December 28, 2021
A real page turner, brilliant
A great find, couldn't out it down, only negative, I finished it. So on to his next one to enjoy
A great find, couldn't out it down, only negative, I finished it. So on to his next one to enjoy
June 17, 2024
....and, the third.
December 9, 2024
Not very bad, not very good, honest effort
March 10, 2013
Brodie is back. It's 1947, a few months after his last escapade in Bitter Water with a gang of vigilantes in Glasgow, and the policeman turned army officer turned reporter is asked to help a group of Jewish residents who are being routinely burgled, while the police basically turn a blind eye. This is a bit of private sleuthing he takes on to supplement his paltry income as a journalist and he quickly finds out that local hard nut Paddy Craven is behind the break-ins. But when Craven and the pawn-shop owner who revealed his identity to Brodie both turn up dead, our hero realises he has grabbed 'a string and found a tiger at the end of it'.
From there Gordon Ferris spins a huge story of conspiracy and war crimes, involving fleeing Nazis, Israeli hit squads and the worst winter of the Twentieth Century. His great skill is in evoking the snowbound setting of Glasgow and world-changing events, while creating distinctive characters in the foreground. All of it played out in a thriller at breakneck pace.
So, we learn that Ellen Jacobs, a young Jewish woman in fear of her life after the spate of murders, was making jewellery for Craven, but she suspects the stolen gold he was bringing her to melt and refashion was from the fillings of concentration camp victims. When Ellen is also murdered by a man called Dragan, the same brute who killed Craven, Brodie discovers that the killer was also burgled by Craven and that he was a former SS guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp. Glasgow, it turns out, may be part of a rat line for escaped Nazis on their way to South America.
Brodie is then recruited by MI5 to investigate these ratlines, a painful duty that means he must travel to frozen Hamburg for war crime trials with his 'landlady', advocate Samantha Campbell, with whom he lives and is in love. This is traumatic for the former major, now promoted to lieutenant colonel, forcing him to relive the horrors of the Belsen trials, during which he had to interrogate the murderers of men, women and children who lacked any remorse.
Brodie's struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and the way he relies on an old service friend, Danny, for support is a potent theme in Pilgrim Soul.
None of which detracts from the excellent action and tension of the story. While the violence is bloody and frequent, and the evil depicted quite shocking, Gordon Ferris writes with heart. His description of a modest Christmas for Brodie, Samantha and Brodie's mother is tender, a reminder of normality amid the violence.
He also creates an indelible portrait of Glasgow at this time. Here's Brodie visiting a pawn shop. 'I stood across the street peering through the dirty windows at lines of shelves displaying the mementoes of a thousand lives. Some of the treasures would have been there for years, surety on a loan that was never repaid, of a broken life that never quite got mended. Symbols of little failures, burst dreams and ruptured marriages.'
A terrific blending of history and fiction that conjures an unforgettable thriller.
From there Gordon Ferris spins a huge story of conspiracy and war crimes, involving fleeing Nazis, Israeli hit squads and the worst winter of the Twentieth Century. His great skill is in evoking the snowbound setting of Glasgow and world-changing events, while creating distinctive characters in the foreground. All of it played out in a thriller at breakneck pace.
So, we learn that Ellen Jacobs, a young Jewish woman in fear of her life after the spate of murders, was making jewellery for Craven, but she suspects the stolen gold he was bringing her to melt and refashion was from the fillings of concentration camp victims. When Ellen is also murdered by a man called Dragan, the same brute who killed Craven, Brodie discovers that the killer was also burgled by Craven and that he was a former SS guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp. Glasgow, it turns out, may be part of a rat line for escaped Nazis on their way to South America.
Brodie is then recruited by MI5 to investigate these ratlines, a painful duty that means he must travel to frozen Hamburg for war crime trials with his 'landlady', advocate Samantha Campbell, with whom he lives and is in love. This is traumatic for the former major, now promoted to lieutenant colonel, forcing him to relive the horrors of the Belsen trials, during which he had to interrogate the murderers of men, women and children who lacked any remorse.
Brodie's struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and the way he relies on an old service friend, Danny, for support is a potent theme in Pilgrim Soul.
None of which detracts from the excellent action and tension of the story. While the violence is bloody and frequent, and the evil depicted quite shocking, Gordon Ferris writes with heart. His description of a modest Christmas for Brodie, Samantha and Brodie's mother is tender, a reminder of normality amid the violence.
He also creates an indelible portrait of Glasgow at this time. Here's Brodie visiting a pawn shop. 'I stood across the street peering through the dirty windows at lines of shelves displaying the mementoes of a thousand lives. Some of the treasures would have been there for years, surety on a loan that was never repaid, of a broken life that never quite got mended. Symbols of little failures, burst dreams and ruptured marriages.'
A terrific blending of history and fiction that conjures an unforgettable thriller.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews