Research

by Philip Kerr

The rolling strip across the bottom of the screen shouts the news:

BESTSELLING NOVELIST JOHN HOUSTON’S WIFE FOUND MURDERED AT THEIR LUXURY APARTMENT IN MONACO.

Houston is the richest writer in the world, a book factory publishing many bestsellers a year – so many that he can’t possibly write them himself. He has a team that feeds off his talent; ghost writers, agents, publishers. So when he decides to take a year out to write something of quality, a novel that will win prizes and critical acclaim, a lot of people stand to lose their livelihoods.

Now Houston, the prime suspect in his wife’s murder, has disappeared. He owns a boat and has a pilot’s licence – he could be anywhere and there are many who’d like to find him.

First there’s the police. If he’s innocent, why did he flee? Then again, maybe he was set up by one of his enemies. The scenario reads like the plot of one of Houston’s million-copy-selling thrillers…

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Audiobook, Suspense, Contemporary

400 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2014

About the author

Philip Kerr was a British author. He was best known for his Bernie Gunther series of 13 historical thrillers and a children's series, Children of the Lamp, under the name P.B. Kerr.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful on every level. Phoned in. Two nasty, misogynistic men showing off their "literary" knowledge while writing potboilers for men who don't read. Oddly enough, Kerr could have learned some lessons about writing readable prose from his cynical protagonist - and from James Paterson, upon whom the character of the greedy, nasty protagonist John Houston was clearly modelled. The surprise ending was no surprise; I saw it coming from about page 3, and both protagonists were utterly unlikeable. Shame on you, Philip.

[Rosana Adler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irregular.

Hasta cerca de la mitad, cuando todavía no sé sabe lo que ha pasado, la lectura mantiene el interés, y eso que el protagonista en primera persona se recrea en lo que relata, desde la relación con el otro escritor hasta sus conversaciones con los policías. Las referencias literarias y cinematográficas, aunque muchas veces están relacionadas con lo que cuenta, se pueden hacer algo pesadas por lo abundantes.

Aunque saber quién ha cometido el crimen pueda ser un giro más o menos impactante, resulta algo prematuro: queda la mitad de la novela, en la que ya casi nada sorprende, en la que los personajes hacen lo más obvio, que se alarga en exceso, con algunos pasajes incluso demasiado detallados, morbosamente, para lo que cuenta.

La parte relacionada con el mundo literario, aunque no aporta novedades respecto a otras novelas que hablen del mismo tema, resulta entretenida e interesante, desde ver la producción de obras como un negocio a desear escribir algo más personal.

Los dos personajes principales, que alternan sus voces (a veces no se nota mucha diferencia entre ellas) y versiones en primera persona, no resultan muy agradables, por distintos motivos, aunque hay un momento en que se cambia la percepción de cada uno.

Bien escrita, algo larga, entretenida.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two of the characters in this book, both writers of trash thrillers, spend quite a bit of time talking in derogatory terms about their readers - male, don't read much, like some violence and sex.
It's clear they done like their readers much.
I'm not sure that Philip Kerr likes his readers much either, as he exhibits a lot of the traits employed by his characters, except that he throws in other athors' names and quotes, with occasional long words, perhaps to convince us he and we are a better class of writer and reader than those in this book.
If you like hard-nosed, hard-boiled, hard-hearted characters and hard, cold sex , this may by for you. Women exist in this world to be screwed or killed. Nothing like love here.
It's not for me. I borrowed it because the title 'Research' promised something a bit out of the ordinary. A better title would have been 'Revenge'or 'Hatred' if you're going to stick with one word of two syllables.
So why two stars and why did I finish it? Because the story winds into some unexpected places and I am putting off a potential text book review (which will not find its way on to Goodreads). I have marked Kerr's Berlin Noir to read because I'm interested in Berlin, but I wont even try it for a long time yet.

[Ross Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels and have also recently enjoyed his Scott Manson trilogy of novels, concerning the football manager turned detective but 'Research' is one of Kerr's 'stand alone' novels and very good it is too.
John Houston is one of the biggest selling authors on the planet but he has a group of unknown authors, known as the 'atelier', who work for him and write the novels based on the outlines and research he gives them. When Houston's wife if found murdered in his Monaco apartment, Houston becomes the prime suspect and goes on the run. He turns to his oldest friend and the closest of the 'ateliers', Don Irvine, to assist him avoid arrest by the Police and the two of them go on a 'road trip' of sorts.
The novel is told through the eyes of both these protagonists and as the story slowly unfolds we learn what an unlikeable pair of rogues they really are. The novel if full of literary references, some quite obvious, while others were a bit more obscure. About halfway through the story, Kerr drops a 'bombshell' of a twist and from thereon in Irvine's true character and motive are revealed.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, as Kerr writes with a disparaging view on novelists, the publishing world and even us the lowly reader ! It's also very funny, full of black humour and it also has a very English/British feel to the whole thing.
I can't wait for Kerr's next novel which I think is another in the Bernie Gunther series.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel although it turned into something a little different than expected. A very good read with a great premise, this is very much a character piece over and above any kind of mystery – whilst there is somewhat of a mystery element it is mostly a rather intriguing look at friendship and consequences.

John Houston has disappeared leaving behind a murdered wife. The police are attempting to track him down as their prime suspect and his friends are endlessly speculating whilst most also assume his guilt – except for one. Who sticks with the idea that John Houston is innocent, and agrees to help him.

This had a terrific “Hitchcock” feel to it throughout, I almost wonder if the author was paying homage , in all honesty for me it was like one of the Hitchcock films but on the page. It just flows along beautifully, has some great interaction and dialogue and the author gives a real depth to the characters, which makes the whole thing highly readable. Add to that a little ironic view of the publishing industry and it is fun as well as often intense.

Overall an enjoyable read, highly entertaining.

Happy Reading Folks!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Friedrich Nietzsche was fond of 'Eze, and it's easy to see why. Perched on a rock fourteen hundred feet above sea-level, 'Eze is built around the ruins of a twelfth-century castle and commands perhaps the best view of anywhere on the Cote d'Azur, which probably went to Nietzsche's head; either way it's just the kind of high and magical place to write some unreadable German nonsense about God and the philosophical importance of having goblins around you."

"...I hated London. The place was full of miserable people who were always moaning about the weather, or the bankers, or Europe, or this government, or the last government; Cornwall wasn't any better: that was just moaning with a fucking fleece on."

Philip Kerr is still my favourite crime writer with a killer sense of humour (oh god, lousy pun).

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed. The blurb seemed intriguing but the book was poorly written (the first half was too dependent on dialogue to move plot) and the characters were shallow and self-absorbed. Kerr doesn't have much respect for women and he objectifies all of his female characters. The meta-literature element was also tedious. He literally reminds us that a key element of crime thriller is likeable characters, but fails to execute.

[Paul O'Reilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Exceptionally unsympathetic protagonists, clunky and unrealistic plotting, and bad writing. Totally disappointed, given how much I like the Bernie Gunther novels.

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wildly fun novel that stabs at the book and publishing world and even has time to take a swipe at book reviewers like ourselves.

I reckon Kerr had a great time writing this one and it was amazing to me looking at the reviews for the book that people hadn't picked up on some of the things he satirised. He writes about Houston's need for likeable characters in his novels whilst himself writing a dual first person narrative about two despicable and unlovable characters.

Kerr plays up the clichés and b - plot making things as far fetched as possible and makes the novel feel as though it could have been written by committee or by someone else as is the case with Houston's novels. He litters the text with literary quotes and references as a sort of nudge nudge wink wink for those who can see what is really going on.

Ultimately you have to be in on the joke to really enjoy the novel, but I must say that I for one am enjoying Kerr's non - Gunther novels as he seems to just be embracing the fun of writing. I'll probably give January Window a go soon. It sounds as absurd and as fun as this one.

[Peter Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmmm…

Research is the first book by Philip Kerr that i have read after having read the complete Bernie Gunther series.

The characters in this are not well drawn, perhaps a bit superficial. While the plot is “different”.

It’s one of those books that starts out well and goes downhill from there.

If you are a keen Bernie Gunther reader you might find this stand-alone novel a little ordinary.

Regards,
Peter

[Kate Vane · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Houston is a prodigiously productive thriller writer. Now his wife has been shot at their luxury apartment in Monaco and he is on the run. It sounds like the plot of one of his thrillers. His atelier – the group of ghostwriters who write his thrillers to his specification – meet to discuss the implications. One of them, Don Irvine, is convinced John will contact him for help. Meanwhile the Monaco police are pursing their own lines of enquiry.

This is a very clever book. It gives you a thriller while also deconstructing the thriller genre. As each character considers his next step (and they are all ‘he’, we’re definitely talking male gaze here), they see it through the prism of a crime novel. There are also literary references littered throughout the story as the characters indulge in intellectual one-upmanship (and I mean ‘man’). The workings of the publishing industry are laid bare.

The characters are all deliciously obnoxious. If you want your protagonists to be heroes or role models or friends, then this is not the book for you. Houston is vulgar and boorish. The ghostwriters are affluent by most people’s standards (Irvine owns comfortable properties in Putney and Fowey) but see themselves as hard done by in comparison to Houston. He flaunts all the clichés of excessive wealth – fast cars, luxury homes, an absurdly large watch…

But while Houston mocks his readers for their low literacy levels and addiction to predictable plotting, and views his books as ‘product’, he also researches them impeccably and is fastidious in his editing of the ghosts. There is both mockery of Houston’s factory approach and a respect for the craft. You could argue this ambiguity extends to his readers too – he is, after all, giving them what they want.

I had a couple of reservations. I felt the plot relied overly on the naivety of one of the characters. I kept expecting a further twist that didn’t come. Having said that, the end was thought-provoking. The book also needed a decent edit. There are a few clunky repetitions which could easily have been smoothed away. (Houston would have been on it.) Given that the cover screams ‘international bestseller’ I’m sure the budget could have taken it.

Overall, though, it’s a funny and well-paced thriller, especially if you’re interested in the history of crime fiction as a form.

This review first appeared at https://katevane.wordpress.com/

[Vlady Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometime ago I read Philip Kerr’s book, ‘If the Dead Rise Not’. It was three times too long, overloaded with details, and while the beginning promised one thing, it delivered something else.

It was an award-winning book.

So when I saw Philip Kerr’s, ‘Research’, at the library, I was of two minds. Remembering ‘If the Dead Rise Not’. I wasn’t sure I wanted to wade through another self-indulgent book.

And ‘Research’, what sort of title was that? We all know what research is, and a book about it, even if it is fiction, doesn’t sound like lively reading. Even the cover was more bland than not. On the other hand, the blurb on the back cover wasn’t bad.

‘Research’ is a book about writers. Rich writers. Sprinkled throughout are titles of books and names of authors and their idiosyncrasies. There’s the most popular one about Hemingway’s habit of standing while writing his books. I’ve always wondered how he did that. Did he bend down from his substantial height to do that, or did he have an extremely high table.

Then there’s the prolific authors who keep a stable of writers who do the grunt work – whatever that is. And we even learn about award-winning authors and commercially viable authors. Apparently these don’t necessarily coincide. I remember reading another book when an author discovered that his book won an award and his reaction was, ‘Well, there’s the kiss of death’. It seems readers and judges look for different things in a book.

Bad news for authors who hope to make millions with their beloved manuscript. It sees that even if at last you find a publisher to publish your book and gets it into a bookstore, its success is not guaranteed – unless you’re a great salesperson yourself and have the odd thousands of dollars to throw at it before sending it out into the world.

Apart from learning a lot about what goes into a successful book, ‘Research’ is a well plotted, and very readable murder mystery, with plenty of twists and turns right to the end.

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pues terminado y después de un primer intento fallido al leer la primera parte, decidí hacer una pausa y retomarla unos días después y en compañía.
La verdad es que no sé muy bien qué decir, ¿me ha gustado? No mucho, la verdad, quizá tenía en mente la serie de Bernie Gunther y esperaba algo parecido, un asesinato por resolver, varios candidatos y un personaje principal, John Houston, escritor famoso de novela de misterio que vende libros por millones en todas las lenguas, llega un momento en que entre la promoción de las novelas, la documentación, los viajes, la prensa… el tiempo no le da para escribir y tampoco le gusta mucho eso de sentarse delante de un teclado y desarrollar una novela por lo que contrata a una serie de escritores para que hagan el trabajo en negro.
Houston es un ser egoísta, despiadado, que solo le interesa lo que puede conseguir con dinero, grandes casas, mujeres hermosas, coches despampanantes, lujos…
En un momento determinado toma una decisión que le traerá consecuencias duras y solo cuenta con el apoyo de uno de sus colaboradores que lleva años trazando un plan para vengarse.
La novela está repleta de citas de escritores conocidos, de referencias a obras que casi todos hemos leído en algún momento de nuestra vida lectora y eso se puede tomar o bien como una ironía del autor o como un lastre.
Quizá lo mejor sea el final, la vida que se ve obligado a llevar el escritor famoso, escribir tramas para que otros las desarrollen y conviertan en superventas, pero esta vez con el nombre del que ha escrito la novela.
Entretenida y con varias sorpresas que le dan vida a una historia algo anodina y bastante superficial.
Le pongo tres estrellas por los maravillosos momentos que me hizo pasar con su serie de Bernie Gunther

[Marta entre libros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mucho había oído hablar de Philip Kerr, pero nunca había leído un libro suyo. De su serie de Bernie Gunther he oído hablar maravillas, pero me apetecía embarcarme en otra serie. Así que he probado con este thriller.
✒️
El resultado es una buena novela,a la que le falta algo para ser redonda.
✒️
Nos encontramos con John Houston, el escritor que más libros vende del mundo. Pero lo de escritor hay que decirlo con reparo, pues se limita a crear tramas y tramas que en su taller de "negros" desarrollan y dan forma. Esto ha hecho que pueda publicar varios libros al año y que todos se conviertan en un claro éxito de ventas. Pero su personalidad caprichosa no tiene límite y de repente decide cerrar este taller El Atelier y con ello desmontar el negocio gracias al que vivían muchas personas. Al poco tiempo su mujer aparece asesinada. ¿Casualidad o no? Lo iremos averiguando.
✒️
La historia está contada por dos narradores Don Irvine, uno de sus "negros" y amigo desde hace años de Houston y por este mismo.
✒️
Con un arranque un tanto lento, a partir de la segunda, pero sobre todo de la tercera parte, la historia cogerá velocidad y el resultado será una trama retorcida que te mantendrá en vilo.
✒️
Como defectos, ese el inicio tan lento. Y luego una continua alusión a escritores famosos, con sus correspondientes citas, mucha marca de lujo... Que no aportan gran cosa y sí te sacan de vez en cuando de la lectura.
✒️
En general, es un buen libro en el que la crítica al mercado editorial actual está muy presente.
@marta.entre.libros

[Craig Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, what a thriller! I took a little break from '12 Rules for Life' as I wanted to read something a little more engaging (or realistically, easier) and this hit the spot.

I've read a bunch of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series and I love them. They're so good that I'm deliberately rationing them because there's a finite amount of them. This was the first non-Bernie book of his I've read and I wasn't at all surprised that I really enjoyed it.

It's a tale of revenge, murder, set-ups and intrigue among a group of thriller writers. The protagonist turns out to be deliciously nasty, but still likeable, and the plot comes thick and fast. It's a little meta being a thriller about thriller writers, but I quite like that stuff when it's well done. And this was well done.

Not perfect, but highly enjoyable and highly recommended.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a change of theme and pace from Kerr's usual work. This is a fun holiday read - with sly digs at prolific authors (and their ghost writers), the publishing industry, the super-rich, Monaco and Geneva, and pretty much anything else that takes his fancy. My theory is that this was the novel that Kerr wrote during his downtime, to relax, while he was writing other things. If you read it as a parody of a James Bond type thriller (albeit with two elderly men on the run instead of a glamorous James Bond) and if you ignore the rather objectifying view of women - again, I ascribe this to the characters in midlife crisis rather than to the author, perhaps I'm being too kind here - then it's a funny, exciting read. It had the feel of a TV series to it, with some ridiculously narrow escapes.

[Colin David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Bernard Gunther series (great research) and here we have a fun book about a mega successful author and how he achieves success using ghosts. One of the ghosts starts to haunt him and is a lot of fun, set in the high octane world of Monaco. Kerr "bookmarks" just about every good novelist around with appropriate quotes. Good light read for the holidays.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book!
Maybe it's the type of style I'm into these days, but I find a book with no clear protagonist fascinating. The two narrators are horrible, shallow, egotistical men who quite frankly I despise, but I find this really adds to the book.
The ending frustrates me a little, but I really enjoyed the plot development throughout.

[Belinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like Philip Kerr's stuff but this was really hard work. There was nothing but unrelenting narration from yet another self-centred white middle-aged man. I have reached my lifetime quota of books where ageing middleclass men reflect on how hard done by they are by life.

[Liam Pavey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, with a plot that has clearly been well thought out and developed, with a plot twist that I didn't see coming at all! Over excessive use of literary references though, which were also incredibly niche. Action packed thriller.

[Fred Pegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only at P.200 but already gripped by the twists of this mystery-Kerr does it again.

[Paul Hargreaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of bad reviews here..........did they read the book? :)

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad and boring. This shows a set up not unlike Patterson, in that an 'author' outlines plots and a stable of hacks from the publishers write them anonymously. However that's not even relevant, except that the narrator, an unpleasant man who eats foie gras, is one of the hacks. Stupidly he chats away to a news writer during a boozy lunch in London after the famous author goes missing, presumed to have killed his wife in Monaco. The newsman naturally writes up his story including lots of quotes, and that is the last time this makes sense.

Copious swearing, endless drinking, no character you'd actually invite into your home and an obsession with namechecking countries, conflicts, persons, brand names, brand names, more brand names. If you left out all the names and swearing the book would be half the length. This is a lot of stupidity thinly disguised as a plot. And a cold murder or two near the end. Garbage.

This is an unbiased review.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Kerr's 'Bernie Gunther' books (or most of them), but this is trash and worse, it knows it's trash. It's best read as a satire of certain novelists (James Patterson...) and their readers, and its characters regularly pause to take aim at other writers and their books. The main protagonists are spiteful misogynists obsessed with vulgar luxury, so there's no emotional centre to the book (as there usually is with the Gunther novels). Their Cialis-fuelled sex suggests their obsession with manliness is built on uncertain foundations. It's as if, late in a too-short life, Kerr decided to say what he thought about some of his contemporaries and the literary world. I hope it made him feel better, because the splenetic arrogance of it all, not to mention bouts of intellectual showboating, makes for a disheartening experience.
As a satire of male grandiloquence, or of 'shopping and fucking' airport fiction, or even of its own genre, it draws blood sometimes. As an analysis of male relationships though, or the killer within, it isn't a patch on Highsmith's Ripley. 'Strangers on a Train' gets dismissed at one point, but Highsmith was incalculably better at getting inside a twisted mind than Kerr was. Overall, a book that leaves a sour taste, failing alike in conception, execution, and style.

[Ainhoa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al principio conocemos “el atelier”, un cuarteto de escritores que trabajan para John Houston desarrollando las ideas que éste les da y las pautas que les va marcando. Los libros escritos por los cuatro socios son un éxito, pero Houston, con otros planes en mente, un buen día, decide cerrar “el atelier” dejando a los cuatro novelistas sin trabajo. Poco después, Orla, la mujer de Houston, aparece muerta en su cama de Mónaco con una bala en la cabeza. Vincent Amalric, inspector de «la Suretè Publique» viaja a Londres para entrevistarse con los miembros del cuarteto de escritores.
La primera parte muuuy lenta. Luego mejora pero el final decepcionante. No lo recomiendo

[Nona · Rating 1 out of 5]

This would be one of the worse books I have ever taken off the shelf. (Audio Book in this instance)
Appalling characters, no understandable story, and disgusting use of foul language. It's as though this writer Philip KERR wants to use the book as a vehicle for profanity use.
A complete and utter waste of space.
I probably listened to the first chapter then had the audio on as I moved about and in the end never got to the end of the second chapter before I turned it off.
Would never recommend even to my worst enemy.

[Alejandro Sánchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐
Floja, floja. Empecé a leerla con ganas y me estaba gustando, pero entre tantas referencias culturales que desconocía e interminables encogimientos de hombros de los personajes, perdí el hilo y dejaron de importarme lo que les pudiera pasar a los personajes. Demasiadas conversaciones vacías. Prefiero no decir nada de la trama. No está mal, pero es que no me ha llegado.
No sé si es cosa mía, pero es la peor que he leído de Philip Kerr. Y me pregunto si se la hubieran publicado si siguiera vivo. Por suerte tengo sus otras novelas para disfrutar.

[Alfonso de Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

La trama está bien, es interesante, aunque previsible; se sabe quién es el asesino, a la manera de Rogelio Ackroid, aún antes de que el propio Philip Kerr nos lo diga, cosa que sucede más o menos a la mitad del libro. El problema es que en algún momento, al introducir la primera persona, no se sabe muy bien quien de los dos personajes fundamentales está hablando y eso hace que de repente la trama quede un poco difusa. De ahí mis tres estrellas. Por lo demás, el libro se lee de tirón. Excelente para haber sido comprado en el metro en un kiosco de libros de ocasión.

[Wilte · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Houston is a very famous and rich writer. He lives with his Irish wife Orla in Monaco (“monty”). When she is found death he flees and asks Don Irvine for help. Irvine is ex-military and one of Houston’s ghost writers from the “atelier” (the workshop with writers who turn Houston’s outlines into books).

Interesting plot, quite meta with writers talking about writers and readers. Also pretty misogynistic; all women are hookers or bitches. Really hot fit-girls are constantly on the look out to have sex with old, loaded men twice their age.