What do you think?
Rate this book
Bernie Gunther #11
Kalter Frieden
Französische Riviera 1956: Es ist einsam geworden um Bernie Gunther. Um sich vor seinen vielen Feinden zu verstecken, heuert er als Concierge in einem Grandhotel an der Côte d'Azur an - ein langweiliger Brotjob, aber sicher.
Als eine höchst attraktive Engländerin ihn bittet, ihr Bridge beizubringen, erfüllt er ihren Wunsch daher nur zu gern. Aber die junge Frau verfolgt ihre eigenen Pläne: Sie will über das Kartenspiel Zugang zu dem Schriftsteller W. Somerset Maugham bekommen, der ebenfalls an der Riviera lebt.
Auch Bernie lernt Maugham kennen und wird bald von ihm um Hilfe gebeten, denn der Schriftsteller wird erpresst. Bernie soll die Lösegeldübergabe übernehmen. Doch kurz vor der Übergabe wird Bernie von den Briten verhaftet und gerät zwischen die Fronten eines Friedens, der weit brüchiger ist, als sich die Allierten den Anschein geben...
Als eine höchst attraktive Engländerin ihn bittet, ihr Bridge beizubringen, erfüllt er ihren Wunsch daher nur zu gern. Aber die junge Frau verfolgt ihre eigenen Pläne: Sie will über das Kartenspiel Zugang zu dem Schriftsteller W. Somerset Maugham bekommen, der ebenfalls an der Riviera lebt.
Auch Bernie lernt Maugham kennen und wird bald von ihm um Hilfe gebeten, denn der Schriftsteller wird erpresst. Bernie soll die Lösegeldübergabe übernehmen. Doch kurz vor der Übergabe wird Bernie von den Briten verhaftet und gerät zwischen die Fronten eines Friedens, der weit brüchiger ist, als sich die Allierten den Anschein geben...
400 pages, Hardcover
First published March 29, 2016
511 people are currently reading
2454 people want to read
About the author
Philip Kerr
126 books2,016 followersPhilip 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.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 581 reviews
March 22, 2016
This is a cool thriller set in the French Riviera in the mid-50s which features writer Somerset Maugham as a victim of blackmail. Our sardonic, cynic hero (and closet romantic) is Bernie Gunther, whose exploits as a Berlin homicide detective and reluctant participant in various SS schemes during World War 2 are featured in previous entries in this series, is trying to live a quiet life as the concierge of a fancy hotel in Cap Ferrat, a peninsula between Nice and Monaco. Playing bridge is the highest level of excitement he craves. But all that changes when the town’s most famous resident, Maugham, now age 82, invites him to a bridge game and then presses him to serve as an intermediary in blackmail negotiations over some damaging photos of a naked pool party at his villa from just before the war. The infamous spy, Guy Burgess, is featured in the photos, a former MI6 and KGB double agent who did propaganda with BBC during the war and later served in sensitive sites with the Foreign Office before defecting to Russia in 1951. That Maugham served a long time with MI6, starting with running a network of agents in Petrograd in World War 1, the exposure would put him under suspicions.
It turns out that a particular nemesis of Bernie’s, Otto Hebel, is a key player in the threat, a former SS officer who caused him great personal pain and loss with blackmail schemes during the war and now serves with the brutal security force of East Germany, the Stasi. Bernie is particularly vulnerable because he is tainted with his collusion with famous war criminals of the Nazi regime and is living under false name, using papers ironically procured for him as part a deal with another former Nazi, now the current head of the Stasi. When the blackmail escalates to a larger threat to undermine confidence in British intelligence services, right when trust among its allies was critical for teamwork on dealing with the Suez Canal crisis, a lot of their spymasters show up in town with aggressive doubts about Bernie’s role. So you can see Bernie is between a rock and a hard place.
The challenge of surviving this nexus of dangerous forces actually has the effect of stirring Bernie out of a suicidal depression. Instead of running, he can’t resist acting from his growing friendship with Maugham and doing his best for a man who has a similar combination of cynical outlook and viciously playful humor. Bernie is also wakened to supreme craftiness by the murder of a friend and his deep desire to stay in Cap Ferrat due to a love relationship that blossoms with a woman working on a biography of Maugham. Though he has sworn off killing enemies, he has to find a way to achieve vengeance against Hebel, who in a long flashback to his time in Konigsberg, East Prussia, in 1945 features a suspected role for the SS agent’s greed in mistakes that led to the Russian topedo sinking of an evacuation ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, with the loss of 9,000 civilians (a real event that still stands as the largest maritime death toll in history).
The blend of historical fact and figures with an intricate and plausible espionage yarn makes this a fun ride. The attempt to portray Maugham’s personality and details of his lifestyle at his fabulous Villa Mauresque made for an extra treat. Here is a sample of some of the banter there:
A Brit asks Bernie:
Do you think he could be a Russian agent? He wouldn't be the first communist to own a fucking Picasso."
"Including Picasso".
A point where Bernie notices a the Gauguin's painting of a Tahitian woman has seven toes brings up some of Maugham's misogyny:
"You know why I bought her? To remind me how ugly I find women. ..."
I looked at the picture and nodded. "She's not my type ...That's why high heels were invented, isn't it? To stop women looking like us."
"And you wonder why your relationships go wrong? Take it from Gauguin. You can't trust Western ideals of beauty ...Every angel is really a devil. And every woman is a whore."
"Not every woman. Only the ones who ask for money."
And here we get Bernie's response to Maugham's comment the "Love is just a dirty trick that’s played on us to achieve continuation of the species.":
Love and hate, human feelings and emotion, they’re all the same God-given illusion. It’s what convinces us that we’re here and that we count for something in this universe. When we don’t. Not for a second. Everything we feel and that we think—it’s all the same cosmic joke. You should know that more than most people, Mr. Maugham. You’ve been playing God and inflicting cosmic jokes on your characters for sixty years.
The book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program and is due out on March 29th.
It turns out that a particular nemesis of Bernie’s, Otto Hebel, is a key player in the threat, a former SS officer who caused him great personal pain and loss with blackmail schemes during the war and now serves with the brutal security force of East Germany, the Stasi. Bernie is particularly vulnerable because he is tainted with his collusion with famous war criminals of the Nazi regime and is living under false name, using papers ironically procured for him as part a deal with another former Nazi, now the current head of the Stasi. When the blackmail escalates to a larger threat to undermine confidence in British intelligence services, right when trust among its allies was critical for teamwork on dealing with the Suez Canal crisis, a lot of their spymasters show up in town with aggressive doubts about Bernie’s role. So you can see Bernie is between a rock and a hard place.
The challenge of surviving this nexus of dangerous forces actually has the effect of stirring Bernie out of a suicidal depression. Instead of running, he can’t resist acting from his growing friendship with Maugham and doing his best for a man who has a similar combination of cynical outlook and viciously playful humor. Bernie is also wakened to supreme craftiness by the murder of a friend and his deep desire to stay in Cap Ferrat due to a love relationship that blossoms with a woman working on a biography of Maugham. Though he has sworn off killing enemies, he has to find a way to achieve vengeance against Hebel, who in a long flashback to his time in Konigsberg, East Prussia, in 1945 features a suspected role for the SS agent’s greed in mistakes that led to the Russian topedo sinking of an evacuation ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, with the loss of 9,000 civilians (a real event that still stands as the largest maritime death toll in history).
The blend of historical fact and figures with an intricate and plausible espionage yarn makes this a fun ride. The attempt to portray Maugham’s personality and details of his lifestyle at his fabulous Villa Mauresque made for an extra treat. Here is a sample of some of the banter there:
A Brit asks Bernie:
Do you think he could be a Russian agent? He wouldn't be the first communist to own a fucking Picasso."
"Including Picasso".
A point where Bernie notices a the Gauguin's painting of a Tahitian woman has seven toes brings up some of Maugham's misogyny:
"You know why I bought her? To remind me how ugly I find women. ..."
I looked at the picture and nodded. "She's not my type ...That's why high heels were invented, isn't it? To stop women looking like us."
"And you wonder why your relationships go wrong? Take it from Gauguin. You can't trust Western ideals of beauty ...Every angel is really a devil. And every woman is a whore."
"Not every woman. Only the ones who ask for money."
And here we get Bernie's response to Maugham's comment the "Love is just a dirty trick that’s played on us to achieve continuation of the species.":
Love and hate, human feelings and emotion, they’re all the same God-given illusion. It’s what convinces us that we’re here and that we count for something in this universe. When we don’t. Not for a second. Everything we feel and that we think—it’s all the same cosmic joke. You should know that more than most people, Mr. Maugham. You’ve been playing God and inflicting cosmic jokes on your characters for sixty years.
The book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program and is due out on March 29th.
July 11, 2017
Σταθερή αξία.
Χρήσιμες ιστορικές πληροφορίες και σε αυτό το βιβλίο. Η πιο σημαντική είναι τα εγκλήματα των σοβιετικών λίγο πριν το τέλος του πολέμου (1944-45), όταν οι Γερμανοί κάτοικοι της ανατολικής Πρωσίας έφευγαν μαζικά για την Γερμανία, λίγο πριν φτάσουν οι Ρώσοι, οι οποίοι βύθισαν υπερφορτωμένα πλοία, με μεγαλύτερο το Γκούστλοφ, με 10,000 περίπου επιβαίνοντες. Θεωρείται ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα εγκλήματα πολέμου, αν και σχετικά άγνωστο ακόμα και σήμερα. Ο καπετάνιος του υποβρυχίου Marinesko, παρασημοφορήθηκε σαν ήρωας πολέμου στη χώρα του.
Αρκετές πληροφορίες επίσης για Άγγλους κατάσκοπους της KGB.
Χρήσιμες ιστορικές πληροφορίες και σε αυτό το βιβλίο. Η πιο σημαντική είναι τα εγκλήματα των σοβιετικών λίγο πριν το τέλος του πολέμου (1944-45), όταν οι Γερμανοί κάτοικοι της ανατολικής Πρωσίας έφευγαν μαζικά για την Γερμανία, λίγο πριν φτάσουν οι Ρώσοι, οι οποίοι βύθισαν υπερφορτωμένα πλοία, με μεγαλύτερο το Γκούστλοφ, με 10,000 περίπου επιβαίνοντες. Θεωρείται ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα εγκλήματα πολέμου, αν και σχετικά άγνωστο ακόμα και σήμερα. Ο καπετάνιος του υποβρυχίου Marinesko, παρασημοφορήθηκε σαν ήρωας πολέμου στη χώρα του.
Αρκετές πληροφορίες επίσης για Άγγλους κατάσκοπους της KGB.
June 14, 2025
Bernie finds himself as a concierge at a hotel in Cap Ferat in 1956 plying a respectable living and keeping out of trouble. However, a man from Bernie's past appears and brings back painful memories, just as he finds pleasure in a game of Bridge each week. This man, and the game of Bridge lead Bernie into danger and the house of the famous writer W. Somerset Maugham. As the days go by, Bernie assists a woman who is writing a biography of Maugham whilst he becomes wrapped up in blackmail and much worse.
As ever, Philip Kerr weaves history and real characters into the plot that is both believable and very well researched.
One for fans of thrillers and for those who enjoy historical fiction, and real events such as the Cold War spy rings.
As ever, Philip Kerr weaves history and real characters into the plot that is both believable and very well researched.
One for fans of thrillers and for those who enjoy historical fiction, and real events such as the Cold War spy rings.
April 15, 2018
Ο Μπέρνι βρίσκεται στη Γαλλική Ριβιέρα και δουλεύει σε ενα ξενοδοχείο. Κάποιος παλιός του γνώριμος απο το παρελθόν, τον εμπλέκει σε μια υπόθεση εκβιασμού. Η υπόθεση δεν έχει να κάνει αποκλειστικά με τη ναζιστικη Γερμανία, παρόλα αυτά γίνονται αναφορές σε περιστατικά εκείνης της περιόδου.
Η αλήθεια ειναι οτι περίμενα περισσότερα.
3,5 αστέρια
Η αλήθεια ειναι οτι περίμενα περισσότερα.
3,5 αστέρια
April 4, 2016
I love books and there are many series that I follow, but I think that Bernie Gunther is possibly my favourite fictional character – so a new Gunther novel is a reading highlight for me. This is a series I have read, and re-read, a lot over the years and I am delighted to say that this is one of my favourite books so far.
As always, we jump around in Bernie’s life and, in this novel, it is 1956 and he is living on the French Riviera. Pushing sixty, working as a concierge at the Grand Hotel de Saint-Jean, he is nestled between Nice and Monaco and living under the assumed name of Walter Wolf. It is not an exciting life and he has taken up bridge to help stave off the thoughts of suicide that plague him, especially at night. For, with Bernie, his history is always pressing on him and those memories just never leave him alone…
Of course, many Germans must have been living under false passports at that time and Bernie’s was given to him by the deputy head of the Stasi. However, when a guest checks in under the name Harold Heinz Hebel, Bernie immediately recognises him as Harold Hennig – fomer Captain in the SD and a known blackmailer. Indeed, blackmail is central to this novel, as Bernie is introduced to the author, W. Somerset Maugham, who asks Bernie (or Mr Wolf…) for help as he is being blackmailed himself.
In this novel, we will travel back to 1938 and 1945 as well as an exciting and involved story set firmly in 1956. The author invokes the world of W. Somerset Maugham (also a favourite author of mine) wonderfully well. This storyline also involves the Cambridge spy ring and we have the involvement of Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt. Kerr juggles the different threads so well, including a side story involving the theme of playing bridge, plus the beautiful Anne French, who is pressing Bernie to introduce her to Maugham, as she wants to write a biography of the reclusive writers life.
Although saddened to reach the end of this novel, I was thrilled to read that there will be another in the series, planned for next year. I look forward to meeting up with Bernie Gunther once again and reading more of his adventures. Wry, clever, pragmatic, intelligent and resourceful – I hope that, wherever and whenever, we meet him again that he will continue to thrill his many followers.
As always, we jump around in Bernie’s life and, in this novel, it is 1956 and he is living on the French Riviera. Pushing sixty, working as a concierge at the Grand Hotel de Saint-Jean, he is nestled between Nice and Monaco and living under the assumed name of Walter Wolf. It is not an exciting life and he has taken up bridge to help stave off the thoughts of suicide that plague him, especially at night. For, with Bernie, his history is always pressing on him and those memories just never leave him alone…
Of course, many Germans must have been living under false passports at that time and Bernie’s was given to him by the deputy head of the Stasi. However, when a guest checks in under the name Harold Heinz Hebel, Bernie immediately recognises him as Harold Hennig – fomer Captain in the SD and a known blackmailer. Indeed, blackmail is central to this novel, as Bernie is introduced to the author, W. Somerset Maugham, who asks Bernie (or Mr Wolf…) for help as he is being blackmailed himself.
In this novel, we will travel back to 1938 and 1945 as well as an exciting and involved story set firmly in 1956. The author invokes the world of W. Somerset Maugham (also a favourite author of mine) wonderfully well. This storyline also involves the Cambridge spy ring and we have the involvement of Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt. Kerr juggles the different threads so well, including a side story involving the theme of playing bridge, plus the beautiful Anne French, who is pressing Bernie to introduce her to Maugham, as she wants to write a biography of the reclusive writers life.
Although saddened to reach the end of this novel, I was thrilled to read that there will be another in the series, planned for next year. I look forward to meeting up with Bernie Gunther once again and reading more of his adventures. Wry, clever, pragmatic, intelligent and resourceful – I hope that, wherever and whenever, we meet him again that he will continue to thrill his many followers.
March 12, 2016
Readers who aren’t familiar with Bernie Gunther have missed out on a classically cynical detective living in a time and place where there is much to be cynical about. Those who have read Philip Kerr’s engaging series know that, if nothing else, Gunther has served as an engaging tour guide to life in Germany during the years that the Nazi party was in power.
In this eleventh book in the series, one war is over and another, colder war has begun. Kerr’s Berlin gumshoe is in hiding, changing his name and career. Life is hard when you are forced to hide out on the French Riviera, working as concierge at a hotel for the soon-to-be-called jet set. Try as he might, though, trouble soon finds Bernie. British author and former intelligence operative W. Somerset Maugham, living nearby is being blackmailed and wants Gunther to coordinate the payoff. This brings him into contact with an old nemesis, Harold Henning, with whom he has crossed paths before with tragic consequences. From there, the story evolves into a twisted tale of Byzantine spycraft, involving acronymous agencies from multiple countries. Gunther, ever the rogue agent, is deeply in trouble and has to rely on all of his skills to make it to the end alive.
It might be wise to wear a neck brace when reading this book. I’m still not sure if this is a story of double agents, triple agents, quadruple agents, or something even more Machiavellian. Bottom line, I loved it.
Be advised, this book is part of a series that does have a significant back story with recurring characters. For this reason I assigned this a series rating of 3.5* and recommend you consider starting the series at the beginning. Bernie Gunther first appears in the Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem trilogy.
*[Some people insist on reading series in order starting at the beginning. I believe that this is absolutely necessary with some series and unnecessary in others. In my reviews I assign books in a series a score of one to five in which the higher score denotes increased importance of reading the book in order. A series with returning villains, an ongoing story arc, and evolving family dynamics will rate higher than one where the plot in each book is totally unrelated to the others. As an example, a Nancy Drew book would be a one. There is no evolving story arc. Nancy hasn’t grown any older in fifty years and, face it, Ned is never going to propose to her. The Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, is a five. Reading the trilogy in order is essential to fully understanding and appreciating the story. One book picks up right where its predecessor leaves off and Fellowship of the Ring contains information that readers of The Two Towers really need to know. Besides, Tolkien originally wrote it as a single volume.]
** review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
-5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
-4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
-3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
-2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
-1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
In this eleventh book in the series, one war is over and another, colder war has begun. Kerr’s Berlin gumshoe is in hiding, changing his name and career. Life is hard when you are forced to hide out on the French Riviera, working as concierge at a hotel for the soon-to-be-called jet set. Try as he might, though, trouble soon finds Bernie. British author and former intelligence operative W. Somerset Maugham, living nearby is being blackmailed and wants Gunther to coordinate the payoff. This brings him into contact with an old nemesis, Harold Henning, with whom he has crossed paths before with tragic consequences. From there, the story evolves into a twisted tale of Byzantine spycraft, involving acronymous agencies from multiple countries. Gunther, ever the rogue agent, is deeply in trouble and has to rely on all of his skills to make it to the end alive.
It might be wise to wear a neck brace when reading this book. I’m still not sure if this is a story of double agents, triple agents, quadruple agents, or something even more Machiavellian. Bottom line, I loved it.
Be advised, this book is part of a series that does have a significant back story with recurring characters. For this reason I assigned this a series rating of 3.5* and recommend you consider starting the series at the beginning. Bernie Gunther first appears in the Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem trilogy.
*[Some people insist on reading series in order starting at the beginning. I believe that this is absolutely necessary with some series and unnecessary in others. In my reviews I assign books in a series a score of one to five in which the higher score denotes increased importance of reading the book in order. A series with returning villains, an ongoing story arc, and evolving family dynamics will rate higher than one where the plot in each book is totally unrelated to the others. As an example, a Nancy Drew book would be a one. There is no evolving story arc. Nancy hasn’t grown any older in fifty years and, face it, Ned is never going to propose to her. The Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, is a five. Reading the trilogy in order is essential to fully understanding and appreciating the story. One book picks up right where its predecessor leaves off and Fellowship of the Ring contains information that readers of The Two Towers really need to know. Besides, Tolkien originally wrote it as a single volume.]
** review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
-5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
-4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
-3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
-2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
-1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
May 5, 2020
Ο Philip Kerr επιστρέφει με μια ακόμα περιπέτεια του αγαπημένου μας ήρωα, του Μπέρνι Γκούντερ, και μας παρασύρει σε ένα ακόμα συναρπαστικό ταξίδι πίσω στον χρόνο.
Βρισκόμαστε στη Γαλλική Ριβιέρα του 1956. Ο Μπέρνι ζει εκεί με ψεύτικο όνομα και εργάζεται ως υπάλληλος στο Γκραντ Οτέλ, το διάσημο ξενοδοχείο της Κυανής Ακτής. Περνάει τις μέρες του δουλεύοντας, παίζοντας μπριτζ και ελπίζοντας πως θα καταφέρει να μείνει μακριά από επικίνδυνες καταστάσεις που μπορούν να του προκαλέσουν προβλήματα.
Όταν γνωρίσει τον διάσημο συγγραφέα Σόμερσετ Μομ, θα συνειδητοποιήσει πως οι μέρες της ηρεμίας του ανήκουν στο παρελθόν. Σε μία από τις επισκέψεις του στην περιβόητη βίλα του, ο Μομ θα του αποκαλύψει πως έχει πέσει θύμα εκβιασμού και θα του ζητήσει τη βοήθειά του. Το αντικείμενο με το οποίο τον εκβιάζουν είναι μια άκρως ενοχοποιητική φωτογραφία μιας ομάδας γκέι αντρών, που για πολλούς λόγους δεν πρέπει να δει το φως της δημοσιότητας. Το παρελθόν χτυπάει για μία ακόμα φορά την πόρτα του Μπέρνι, αφού αποδεικνύεται πως ο εκβιαστής, ο Χάρολντ Χένιχ, είναι ένας παλιός του γνώριμος· ένας άντρας τον οποίο μισεί θανάσιμα, αφού ευθύνεται για τον χαμό της γυναίκας που αγαπούσε και χιλιάδων άμαχων Γερμανών.
Ο Μπέρνι αρχικά θα διστάσει, όμως το μικρόβιο του ντετέκτιβ ξυπνάει μέσα του το ενδιαφέρον για την υπόθεση, ενώ το προσωπικό του μίσος για τον Χένιχ και ο έμμεσος εκβιασμός της αποκάλυψης της πραγματικής του ταυτότητας θα τον κάνουν τελικά να μπλεχτεί για τα καλά σ’ αυτήν την υπόθεση. Όμως τίποτα δεν είναι όπως φαίνεται, και ο Μπέρνι θα ανακαλύψει πως πίσω από αυτήν την υπόθεση εκβιασμού κρύβεται κάτι άλλο, πολύ μεγαλύτερο και απείρως πιο επικίνδυνο. Για μια ακόμα φορά θα πρέπει να χρησιμοποιήσει όλη την εξυπνάδα, την πονηριά και το αστυνομικό του δαιμόνιο προκειμένου να καταφέρει να σώσει τη ζωή του, που βρίσκεται ξανά σε θανάσιμο κίνδυνο…
Και αυτό το βιβλίο του Philip Kerr ακολουθεί τη γνωστή –και επιτυχημένη– συνταγή που συναντούμε σε όλα τα βιβλία της σειράς με τον Μπέρνι Γκούντερ: γερές δόσεις αστυνομικού νουάρ, μπόλικο μυστήριο, γενναιόδωρες ποσότητες ιστορικού παρελθόντος, καυστικού χιούμορ, κόρτε και, φυσικά, αρκετοί μπελάδες που δεν λένε να αφήσουν σε ησυχία τον ήρωά μας. Ο Μπέρνι συνεχίζει να είναι ο ίδιος άνθρωπος που έχουμε συνηθίσει να συναντάμε κάθε φορά· απολαυστικός, είρωνας, καχύποπτος, βασανισμένος από τους προσωπικούς του δαίμονες και πάντα σε επιφυλακή, μιας και τα πολιτικά του φρονήματα ανέκαθεν του χάριζαν περισσότερους εχθρούς απ’ ότι φίλους, κυνικός και αιώνιος γυναικάς, πάντα έτοιμος να διακινδυνεύσει τα πάντα για μια όμορφη γυναίκα που θα αποτελέσει το αντικείμενο του πόθου του.
Η διαφορά εδώ είναι πως τα flashback/αναπολήσεις του Μπέρνι δεν εστιάζουν στη ‘σκληρή’ περίοδο της Ναζιστικής Γερμανίας ή στις μάχες κατά τη διάρκεια του Β’ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου, αλλά σε ένα κεφάλαιο της προσωπικής ζωής του Μπέρνι, μιας περιόδου την οποία κρατάει καλά φυλαγμένη μέσα στην καρδιά του και που τον στοιχειώνει ακόμη, μια δεκαετία μετά. Επίσης, το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο αποτελεί το πιο κοσμοπολίτικο της σειράς. Βρισκόμαστε σε ένα τοπίο ειδυλλιακό, τη Γαλλική Ριβιέρα, και μπορεί ο Μπέρνι να είναι ένας απλός υπάλληλος ξενοδοχείου και να εξακολουθεί να διατηρεί τις κυνικές του απόψεις για τον πλούτο και όλους όσους τον επιδεικνύουν απροκάλυπτα, όμως δεν μπορεί να μη θαυμάζει την ομορφιά που βρίσκεται παντού γύρω του. Μέσα από τις λέξεις και τις σκέψεις του ήρωά του, ο Kerr περιγράφει με ρεαλιστικό λυρισμό τα τοπία, τους ανθρώπους, τα κτίρια, την πλανεύτρα και γοητευτική ατμόσφαιρα που επικρατούσε σ’ αυτό το προνομιούχο κομμάτι γης στα μέσα της δεκαετίας του ’50.
Σε κάθε βιβλίο ο Μπέρνι Γκούντερ συναντά αρκετούς ανθρώπους· κάποιοι από αυτοί αποδεικνύονται σύμμαχοι, άλλοι εχθροί, ενώ κάποιοι αποτελούν κομμάτια του παρελθόντος που επιστρέφουν στο παρόν για τους δικούς τους σκοπούς· ή απλά γιατί έτσι το θέλησε η Μοίρα. Στην «Άλλη πλευρά της σιωπής», ανάμεσα σε άλλους, θα συναντήσει τον σπουδαίο συγγραφέα Γουίλιαμ Σόμερσετ Μομ. Ο Kerr, γνωστός για την εμμονή του στην έρευνα και την ιστορική λεπτομέρεια, δημιούργησε ένα ρεαλιστικό πορτραίτο του συγγραφέα, του κοινωνικού περίγυρού του, του σπιτιού του, της ζωής του στην Κυανή Ακτή. Πληθωρικός, ιδιόρρυθμος, ομοφυλόφιλος που δεν διστάζει να υποστηρίξει τις επιλογές του σε μια εποχή όπου ακόμα και η υπόνοια αποτελούσε μέγα σκάνδαλο, ο Μομ αποδεικνύεται αντάξιος συμπαίκτης του Μπέρνι σ’ αυτήν την λογοτεχνική παρτίδα, καταφέρνοντας να αναδείξει την προσωπικότητά του και να κλέβει ώρες ώρες την παράσταση από τον αγαπημένο πρωταγωνιστή. Ίσως το ότι δεν πρόκειται για κάποιο υπαρκτό πρόσωπο που ανήκε στον περίγυρο του Χίτλερ να του δίνει έξτρα πόντους συμπάθειας, όμως κυρίαρχο ρόλο παίζει νομίζω η εκρηκτική του προσωπικότητα από μόνη της.
Κοσμοπολίτικο, ταξιδιάρικο, συγκινητικό, συναρπαστικό και νοσταλγικό, το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελεί έναν ακόμα επιτυχημένο κρίκο της αλυσίδας που ονομάζεται ‘Μπέρνι Γκούντερ’ και δικαιώνει τόσο το είδος του νουάρ και τον συγγραφέα του, όσο και όλους εμάς που το περιμέναμε με τρελή ανυπομονησία!
Η άποψή μου για το βιβλίο και στο site "Book City": Η άλλη πλευρά της σιωπής
Βρισκόμαστε στη Γαλλική Ριβιέρα του 1956. Ο Μπέρνι ζει εκεί με ψεύτικο όνομα και εργάζεται ως υπάλληλος στο Γκραντ Οτέλ, το διάσημο ξενοδοχείο της Κυανής Ακτής. Περνάει τις μέρες του δουλεύοντας, παίζοντας μπριτζ και ελπίζοντας πως θα καταφέρει να μείνει μακριά από επικίνδυνες καταστάσεις που μπορούν να του προκαλέσουν προβλήματα.
Όταν γνωρίσει τον διάσημο συγγραφέα Σόμερσετ Μομ, θα συνειδητοποιήσει πως οι μέρες της ηρεμίας του ανήκουν στο παρελθόν. Σε μία από τις επισκέψεις του στην περιβόητη βίλα του, ο Μομ θα του αποκαλύψει πως έχει πέσει θύμα εκβιασμού και θα του ζητήσει τη βοήθειά του. Το αντικείμενο με το οποίο τον εκβιάζουν είναι μια άκρως ενοχοποιητική φωτογραφία μιας ομάδας γκέι αντρών, που για πολλούς λόγους δεν πρέπει να δει το φως της δημοσιότητας. Το παρελθόν χτυπάει για μία ακόμα φορά την πόρτα του Μπέρνι, αφού αποδεικνύεται πως ο εκβιαστής, ο Χάρολντ Χένιχ, είναι ένας παλιός του γνώριμος· ένας άντρας τον οποίο μισεί θανάσιμα, αφού ευθύνεται για τον χαμό της γυναίκας που αγαπούσε και χιλιάδων άμαχων Γερμανών.
Ο Μπέρνι αρχικά θα διστάσει, όμως το μικρόβιο του ντετέκτιβ ξυπνάει μέσα του το ενδιαφέρον για την υπόθεση, ενώ το προσωπικό του μίσος για τον Χένιχ και ο έμμεσος εκβιασμός της αποκάλυψης της πραγματικής του ταυτότητας θα τον κάνουν τελικά να μπλεχτεί για τα καλά σ’ αυτήν την υπόθεση. Όμως τίποτα δεν είναι όπως φαίνεται, και ο Μπέρνι θα ανακαλύψει πως πίσω από αυτήν την υπόθεση εκβιασμού κρύβεται κάτι άλλο, πολύ μεγαλύτερο και απείρως πιο επικίνδυνο. Για μια ακόμα φορά θα πρέπει να χρησιμοποιήσει όλη την εξυπνάδα, την πονηριά και το αστυνομικό του δαιμόνιο προκειμένου να καταφέρει να σώσει τη ζωή του, που βρίσκεται ξανά σε θανάσιμο κίνδυνο…
Και αυτό το βιβλίο του Philip Kerr ακολουθεί τη γνωστή –και επιτυχημένη– συνταγή που συναντούμε σε όλα τα βιβλία της σειράς με τον Μπέρνι Γκούντερ: γερές δόσεις αστυνομικού νουάρ, μπόλικο μυστήριο, γενναιόδωρες ποσότητες ιστορικού παρελθόντος, καυστικού χιούμορ, κόρτε και, φυσικά, αρκετοί μπελάδες που δεν λένε να αφήσουν σε ησυχία τον ήρωά μας. Ο Μπέρνι συνεχίζει να είναι ο ίδιος άνθρωπος που έχουμε συνηθίσει να συναντάμε κάθε φορά· απολαυστικός, είρωνας, καχύποπτος, βασανισμένος από τους προσωπικούς του δαίμονες και πάντα σε επιφυλακή, μιας και τα πολιτικά του φρονήματα ανέκαθεν του χάριζαν περισσότερους εχθρούς απ’ ότι φίλους, κυνικός και αιώνιος γυναικάς, πάντα έτοιμος να διακινδυνεύσει τα πάντα για μια όμορφη γυναίκα που θα αποτελέσει το αντικείμενο του πόθου του.
Η διαφορά εδώ είναι πως τα flashback/αναπολήσεις του Μπέρνι δεν εστιάζουν στη ‘σκληρή’ περίοδο της Ναζιστικής Γερμανίας ή στις μάχες κατά τη διάρκεια του Β’ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου, αλλά σε ένα κεφάλαιο της προσωπικής ζωής του Μπέρνι, μιας περιόδου την οποία κρατάει καλά φυλαγμένη μέσα στην καρδιά του και που τον στοιχειώνει ακόμη, μια δεκαετία μετά. Επίσης, το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο αποτελεί το πιο κοσμοπολίτικο της σειράς. Βρισκόμαστε σε ένα τοπίο ειδυλλιακό, τη Γαλλική Ριβιέρα, και μπορεί ο Μπέρνι να είναι ένας απλός υπάλληλος ξενοδοχείου και να εξακολουθεί να διατηρεί τις κυνικές του απόψεις για τον πλούτο και όλους όσους τον επιδεικνύουν απροκάλυπτα, όμως δεν μπορεί να μη θαυμάζει την ομορφιά που βρίσκεται παντού γύρω του. Μέσα από τις λέξεις και τις σκέψεις του ήρωά του, ο Kerr περιγράφει με ρεαλιστικό λυρισμό τα τοπία, τους ανθρώπους, τα κτίρια, την πλανεύτρα και γοητευτική ατμόσφαιρα που επικρατούσε σ’ αυτό το προνομιούχο κομμάτι γης στα μέσα της δεκαετίας του ’50.
Σε κάθε βιβλίο ο Μπέρνι Γκούντερ συναντά αρκετούς ανθρώπους· κάποιοι από αυτοί αποδεικνύονται σύμμαχοι, άλλοι εχθροί, ενώ κάποιοι αποτελούν κομμάτια του παρελθόντος που επιστρέφουν στο παρόν για τους δικούς τους σκοπούς· ή απλά γιατί έτσι το θέλησε η Μοίρα. Στην «Άλλη πλευρά της σιωπής», ανάμεσα σε άλλους, θα συναντήσει τον σπουδαίο συγγραφέα Γουίλιαμ Σόμερσετ Μομ. Ο Kerr, γνωστός για την εμμονή του στην έρευνα και την ιστορική λεπτομέρεια, δημιούργησε ένα ρεαλιστικό πορτραίτο του συγγραφέα, του κοινωνικού περίγυρού του, του σπιτιού του, της ζωής του στην Κυανή Ακτή. Πληθωρικός, ιδιόρρυθμος, ομοφυλόφιλος που δεν διστάζει να υποστηρίξει τις επιλογές του σε μια εποχή όπου ακόμα και η υπόνοια αποτελούσε μέγα σκάνδαλο, ο Μομ αποδεικνύεται αντάξιος συμπαίκτης του Μπέρνι σ’ αυτήν την λογοτεχνική παρτίδα, καταφέρνοντας να αναδείξει την προσωπικότητά του και να κλέβει ώρες ώρες την παράσταση από τον αγαπημένο πρωταγωνιστή. Ίσως το ότι δεν πρόκειται για κάποιο υπαρκτό πρόσωπο που ανήκε στον περίγυρο του Χίτλερ να του δίνει έξτρα πόντους συμπάθειας, όμως κυρίαρχο ρόλο παίζει νομίζω η εκρηκτική του προσωπικότητα από μόνη της.
Κοσμοπολίτικο, ταξιδιάρικο, συγκινητικό, συναρπαστικό και νοσταλγικό, το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελεί έναν ακόμα επιτυχημένο κρίκο της αλυσίδας που ονομάζεται ‘Μπέρνι Γκούντερ’ και δικαιώνει τόσο το είδος του νουάρ και τον συγγραφέα του, όσο και όλους εμάς που το περιμέναμε με τρελή ανυπομονησία!
Η άποψή μου για το βιβλίο και στο site "Book City": Η άλλη πλευρά της σιωπής
February 14, 2017
So, that was the 11th Bernie Gunther! I do not read many thrillers, but will always read a Bernie Gunther. They are well researched, full of real historical persons and you get treated to truly witty wise-cracks, so what else would you wish for in a historical thriller.
Contrary to the other Bernie thrillers, which can move through the 1930th, '40th and halfway '50th in one story, it is the first one which had only one flashback to Bernie's life in Nazi Germany and in particular the timeframe when the Russians are approaching at the beginning of 1945. For the rest, the entire story of the book is set at the Cote d'Azur in 1956. As usual, Bernie's past is catching up on him in the person of a former SS officer who caused Bernie much harm in the war. The story evolves around Somerset Maugham. I always enjoy how Philip Kerr chooses his main characters for his Bernie books. Who would ever thought Bernie would be a house guest of Somerset Maugham! Maugham is a very enjoyable persona, a splendid man in a splendid mansion, delivering his devious views on mankind in a constant flow of words. There are some very excentric officers of MI5 and MI6 to enjoy as well. Bernie survives, but barely, as he always does. He is not getting any younger and is more weary in this novel, but another Bernie novel has been announced, so I am confident he will be forced into trouble again. I will patiently await his further exploits.
Contrary to the other Bernie thrillers, which can move through the 1930th, '40th and halfway '50th in one story, it is the first one which had only one flashback to Bernie's life in Nazi Germany and in particular the timeframe when the Russians are approaching at the beginning of 1945. For the rest, the entire story of the book is set at the Cote d'Azur in 1956. As usual, Bernie's past is catching up on him in the person of a former SS officer who caused Bernie much harm in the war. The story evolves around Somerset Maugham. I always enjoy how Philip Kerr chooses his main characters for his Bernie books. Who would ever thought Bernie would be a house guest of Somerset Maugham! Maugham is a very enjoyable persona, a splendid man in a splendid mansion, delivering his devious views on mankind in a constant flow of words. There are some very excentric officers of MI5 and MI6 to enjoy as well. Bernie survives, but barely, as he always does. He is not getting any younger and is more weary in this novel, but another Bernie novel has been announced, so I am confident he will be forced into trouble again. I will patiently await his further exploits.
October 29, 2017
Η πιο κοσμοπολίτικη περιπέτεια του αγαπημένου μας Μπέρνι. Λάτρης των ιστορικών αναφορών και της σχολαστικής έρευνας ο Κερρ μας δίνει ένα ακόμα δυνατό βιβλίο με όλα εκείνα τα στοιχεία που μας έκαναν να αγαπήσουμε τα βιβλία και τον κεντρικό του ήρωα, Αυτή τη φορά η ιστορία μας δε μεταφέρεται στα χρόνια της ναζιστικής Γερμανίας όπως μέχρι τώρα μας είχε συνηθίσει αλλά δέκα χρόνια αργότερα. Ένας πόλεμος έχει τελειώσει και ένας νέος Ψυχρός πόλεμος έχει ξεκινήσει ενώ νέοι χαρακτήρες έρχονται να προστεθούν στο προσκήνιο και να τον βγάλουν από τα βαρετά και μοναχικά του βράδια μακριά από την αστυνομική δράση. Καλογραμμένο, κοσμοπολίτικο, άκρως διαβασμένος για ακόμα μια φορά Φιλιπ Κερρ. Ένα βιβλίο που ξεχωρίζει και μας θυμίζει γιατί αγαπάμε τόσο πολύ τον Μπερνι. Εις αναμονή της νεας του περιπέτειας.
October 28, 2019
The French Riviera, 1956. Bernie Gunther, using the name and passport of Walter Wolf provided by Stasi boss Erich Mielke, is the concierge at the Grand Hôtel Cap Ferrat. Elisabeth, his third wife, has left him to return to Berlin, which deep down, he misses more than her.
I miss being a cop when the Berlin police still meant something good. But mostly I miss the people, who were as sour as I am. Even Germans don’t like Berliners, and it’s a feeling that’s usually reciprocated.
Now in his late fifties, Gunther considers ending it all, his life has little meaning and his spare time passes playing bridge, until a man from his past, Harold Hennig, one-time Nazi and blackmailer, arrives at the hotel under the name Harold Hebel. Hebel’s mark this time is the famous writer W Somerset Maugham, owner of the Villa Mauresque, and one-time spy for British intelligence, living in exile as homosexuality in England is a criminal offence. His nephew Robin invites Gunther to the villa for dinner and to play bridge, and he soon finds himself a pawn in a dangerous game.
Hebel is demanding a large amount of money for the negative of a compromising photograph of Maugham with several men, cavorting in the pool at the villa, and other items including a taped interview with a notorious spy. Maugham agrees to pay to avoid embarrassment to the British establishment, with Gunther acting as go-between. But who is Hebel's paymaster?
What did it matter to me what this Burgess fellow had said about the British SIS on the tape? I’d never much cared for the English. In two wars against Germany I’d seen how they were capable of fighting to the last American…
As the story unfolds, Gunther reveals to Somerset Maugham his own dealings with Hennig, with hints at looted artworks, but soon a veritable "who’s who" of the spy scandals that rocked Britain in the fifties and sixties emerges.
“Art historians make good spies,” said Maugham. “In art as in life, things are never quite what they seem.”
Author Philip Kerr seamlessly weaves Somerset Maugham and the identities of the Cambridge 5 into the life of his fictitious character, drawing on real people and tragic events, which saw the loss of the woman Bernie loved in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). Throw in a femme fatale working all the angles and it takes Bernie Gunther at his devious best to come out - if not on top - still alive, to bring justice and revenge.
Verdict: riveting reading.
I miss being a cop when the Berlin police still meant something good. But mostly I miss the people, who were as sour as I am. Even Germans don’t like Berliners, and it’s a feeling that’s usually reciprocated.
Now in his late fifties, Gunther considers ending it all, his life has little meaning and his spare time passes playing bridge, until a man from his past, Harold Hennig, one-time Nazi and blackmailer, arrives at the hotel under the name Harold Hebel. Hebel’s mark this time is the famous writer W Somerset Maugham, owner of the Villa Mauresque, and one-time spy for British intelligence, living in exile as homosexuality in England is a criminal offence. His nephew Robin invites Gunther to the villa for dinner and to play bridge, and he soon finds himself a pawn in a dangerous game.
Hebel is demanding a large amount of money for the negative of a compromising photograph of Maugham with several men, cavorting in the pool at the villa, and other items including a taped interview with a notorious spy. Maugham agrees to pay to avoid embarrassment to the British establishment, with Gunther acting as go-between. But who is Hebel's paymaster?
What did it matter to me what this Burgess fellow had said about the British SIS on the tape? I’d never much cared for the English. In two wars against Germany I’d seen how they were capable of fighting to the last American…
As the story unfolds, Gunther reveals to Somerset Maugham his own dealings with Hennig, with hints at looted artworks, but soon a veritable "who’s who" of the spy scandals that rocked Britain in the fifties and sixties emerges.
“Art historians make good spies,” said Maugham. “In art as in life, things are never quite what they seem.”
Author Philip Kerr seamlessly weaves Somerset Maugham and the identities of the Cambridge 5 into the life of his fictitious character, drawing on real people and tragic events, which saw the loss of the woman Bernie loved in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). Throw in a femme fatale working all the angles and it takes Bernie Gunther at his devious best to come out - if not on top - still alive, to bring justice and revenge.
Verdict: riveting reading.
November 12, 2019
Ένα καταπληκτικά γραμμένο ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα, για μια άγνωστη στο ευρύ κοινό ναυτική τραγωδία. Με αφορμή αυτή, ξετυλίγεται ένα μαγικό κουβάρι κατασκοπίας και προδοσιών, από τον υπέροχο Kerr!!
Συστήνεται ανεπιφύλακτα!
Συστήνεται ανεπιφύλακτα!
March 17, 2017
From mid-October 2016 through to early January 2017 I read all eleven of the Bernie Gunther series - at least until April 2017 when the 12th instalment, 'Prussian Blue’, is due to be published.
An unpleasant blackmailer named Harold Heinz Hebel, who Bernie encountered back in 1938, and then during the winter of 1944/45, who we learn about in flashback, is the catalyst for another absorbing and surprising tale. The present day narrative takes place in 1956 with Bernie working at a hotel on the French Riviera.
Bernie’s involvement in the blackmail case continues his dark, brooding character development. Pushing 60 years of age he already considers himself a dead man. His dark philosophising is truly the stuff of legend. Can it get any worse? Oh yes. Even when you’re down there’s the chance of a few more painful kicks.
There are rich rewards for anyone who follows Bernie through this series and these continue in 'The Other Side of Silence’. This time out it's Burgess and Maclean, or at least a tape of Burgess talking to KGB officers which incriminate W. Somerset Maugham and, more significantly, the British intelligence services. Bernie's interactions with Maugham are one of the many pleasures of this novel.
Wonderful, as always. I eagerly await 'Prussian Blue’.
An unpleasant blackmailer named Harold Heinz Hebel, who Bernie encountered back in 1938, and then during the winter of 1944/45, who we learn about in flashback, is the catalyst for another absorbing and surprising tale. The present day narrative takes place in 1956 with Bernie working at a hotel on the French Riviera.
Bernie’s involvement in the blackmail case continues his dark, brooding character development. Pushing 60 years of age he already considers himself a dead man. His dark philosophising is truly the stuff of legend. Can it get any worse? Oh yes. Even when you’re down there’s the chance of a few more painful kicks.
There are rich rewards for anyone who follows Bernie through this series and these continue in 'The Other Side of Silence’. This time out it's Burgess and Maclean, or at least a tape of Burgess talking to KGB officers which incriminate W. Somerset Maugham and, more significantly, the British intelligence services. Bernie's interactions with Maugham are one of the many pleasures of this novel.
Wonderful, as always. I eagerly await 'Prussian Blue’.
March 6, 2016
For readers who anxiously await each new installment in the Bernie Gunther series, grab some quiet time and just start reading this one, but have your seatbelt buckled because you are going on a corkscrew twisty ride. Readers new to the series can certainly begin here, I'm not going to tell you not to, but you need to understand that Bernie has a huge amount of backstory and this author loves to bring back characters from several books back and it might get a little confusing. In this story Bernie is really, really bored. So bored with his life that he goes so far as to try to end it. I say he couldn't have been very serious in the first place to have failed so completely. However, that was good news for me - and you.
Imagine living on the French Riviera and being bored. Most of us would have a hard time contemplating that but then Bernie has lived a life chock full of life threatening and death defying experiences so he doesn't look at things the same way you or I might. He's is his position as concierge of the Grand Hotel du Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, it's 1956, he's changed his name to Walter Wolf, nobody knows about his past in Germany during World War II, he has found a regular group to play bridge with, all is not well but he's getting along. Then, looking across the hotel lobby he spots someone from his past and everything changes in the blink of an eye. That's the last time you will ever be completely certain in this novel that there isn't another plot twist waiting in the next paragraph.
Filled with absolutely fascinating information concerning the British Intelligence community during World War II and how they interacted with first the Germans and now (in 1956) with the Russians - with the Americans lurking on the periphery - this novel is almost a history lesson of how these systems came to impact the war. Secrets don't remain secret because someone always has access to the information to use as blackmail against a target to make them do exactly what you want. Somerset Maugham and his nephew Robin play a large role in this story along with other true historical figures from the times. The double crosses come at a race-track-fast rate. Bernie is even more moody and depressed in this novel than in others. Maybe he will learn at some point to stay clear of the type of woman he gravitates toward? There is a murder which Bernie solves almost in an off-hand manner without having the criminal brought to justice. Later in the novel he explains his thinking of the difference between revenge and vengeance and that's all it took for me to cheer Bernie's decision at the conclusion of the novel.
The feeling of being in this place at this time is wonderfully shored up with mentions of Bernie seeing the yacht of Aristotle Onassis moored in the harbor. Somerset Maugham receives an invitation to the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly in Monaco. All kinds of neat little tidbits are scattered throughout the book to place you firmly in the location and the time frame. Positively recommended for readers who want to know more about World War II from the viewpoint of those who did the day-to-day dirty work for their respective governments. Plus, it just happens to be a darn good reading experience too.
I received this novel through the Amazon Vine Voices program, NetGalley and Penguin Group.
Imagine living on the French Riviera and being bored. Most of us would have a hard time contemplating that but then Bernie has lived a life chock full of life threatening and death defying experiences so he doesn't look at things the same way you or I might. He's is his position as concierge of the Grand Hotel du Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, it's 1956, he's changed his name to Walter Wolf, nobody knows about his past in Germany during World War II, he has found a regular group to play bridge with, all is not well but he's getting along. Then, looking across the hotel lobby he spots someone from his past and everything changes in the blink of an eye. That's the last time you will ever be completely certain in this novel that there isn't another plot twist waiting in the next paragraph.
Filled with absolutely fascinating information concerning the British Intelligence community during World War II and how they interacted with first the Germans and now (in 1956) with the Russians - with the Americans lurking on the periphery - this novel is almost a history lesson of how these systems came to impact the war. Secrets don't remain secret because someone always has access to the information to use as blackmail against a target to make them do exactly what you want. Somerset Maugham and his nephew Robin play a large role in this story along with other true historical figures from the times. The double crosses come at a race-track-fast rate. Bernie is even more moody and depressed in this novel than in others. Maybe he will learn at some point to stay clear of the type of woman he gravitates toward? There is a murder which Bernie solves almost in an off-hand manner without having the criminal brought to justice. Later in the novel he explains his thinking of the difference between revenge and vengeance and that's all it took for me to cheer Bernie's decision at the conclusion of the novel.
The feeling of being in this place at this time is wonderfully shored up with mentions of Bernie seeing the yacht of Aristotle Onassis moored in the harbor. Somerset Maugham receives an invitation to the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly in Monaco. All kinds of neat little tidbits are scattered throughout the book to place you firmly in the location and the time frame. Positively recommended for readers who want to know more about World War II from the viewpoint of those who did the day-to-day dirty work for their respective governments. Plus, it just happens to be a darn good reading experience too.
I received this novel through the Amazon Vine Voices program, NetGalley and Penguin Group.
May 22, 2016
Another tale from the Bernie Gunther adventures and as his author writes them in no chronological order this one takes place in 1956 in the South of France. Bernie is a concierge in a French Hotel, made me watch Richard E Grants "hotel secrets" episode about the fantastic hotels in the South of France, to give me a feeling for the surroundings.
Bernie gets invited by the great W. Somerset Maugham and gets thrown into his world because the great writer gets blackmailed by a Nazi that twice made a damaging impression or trespass in Gunthers life. That said we get two stories of Gunthers experiences with this man that are moments from a Nazi Germany that give new insight for people into matters of WWII that are generally not that well known. This time the man has decided to blackmail the writers private life which involves a lot of his homosexual lifestyle which was not accepted in those days and could still get you landed in jail or worse. How many homosexuals did die in the Nazi concentration camps?- Like a lot of groups in Germany and occupied territories that were not considered the moral norm they were gathered and slaughtered or used as a working force.
Gunther gets involved in the murky world of spies this time as well and his role is the one of sacrificial lamb which he has no clue of until it is way to late. Bernie has got himself tangled into the Cambridge spy-ring and the games spies seem to be up to.
Will Bernie's survivor skills get him through this adventure when it seems that his wartime history will not leave him in peace.
Another great tale of postwar Europe in which we can feel the cold war becoming more of a reality and a Europe only a decade away from a devastating war. A well written period piece and a splendid story about Bernie Gunther. looking forward to the next installment: Prussian Blue. Wondering at what time in history this Gunther tale takes place.
Bernie gets invited by the great W. Somerset Maugham and gets thrown into his world because the great writer gets blackmailed by a Nazi that twice made a damaging impression or trespass in Gunthers life. That said we get two stories of Gunthers experiences with this man that are moments from a Nazi Germany that give new insight for people into matters of WWII that are generally not that well known. This time the man has decided to blackmail the writers private life which involves a lot of his homosexual lifestyle which was not accepted in those days and could still get you landed in jail or worse. How many homosexuals did die in the Nazi concentration camps?- Like a lot of groups in Germany and occupied territories that were not considered the moral norm they were gathered and slaughtered or used as a working force.
Gunther gets involved in the murky world of spies this time as well and his role is the one of sacrificial lamb which he has no clue of until it is way to late. Bernie has got himself tangled into the Cambridge spy-ring and the games spies seem to be up to.
Will Bernie's survivor skills get him through this adventure when it seems that his wartime history will not leave him in peace.
Another great tale of postwar Europe in which we can feel the cold war becoming more of a reality and a Europe only a decade away from a devastating war. A well written period piece and a splendid story about Bernie Gunther. looking forward to the next installment: Prussian Blue. Wondering at what time in history this Gunther tale takes place.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2017
My 2 stars reflect the tedious experience I had reading the novel - but take them with a grain of salt. I am not a fan of noirish, hard-boiled, tough-guy, spy thrillers. So if this is a genre you enjoy, you may like "The Other Side of Silence." Plus, as a wise Goodreads friend commented, it doesn't make sense to start with #11 in a series: because I’ve missed “20 years of chronological character development, beginning in 1936-37, and thousands of pages of backstory progression."
The novel had too much exposition and not enough action. It was about a complicated blackmail plot against W. Somerset Maugham, which became more and more convoluted, involving multiple characters and countries and time periods... and I just didn’t care. Bernie Gunther left me cold along with his view of women: "she looked smart in her double-breasted naval uniform, blond and buxom, which is just the way I like them” and of lovemaking: "she was bent over in front of me like the keenest entomologist." Really?
I did learn (or-relearn) a new word from Phillip Kerr that summarizes my reading experience of “The Other Side of Silence.” Sepulchral.
The novel had too much exposition and not enough action. It was about a complicated blackmail plot against W. Somerset Maugham, which became more and more convoluted, involving multiple characters and countries and time periods... and I just didn’t care. Bernie Gunther left me cold along with his view of women: "she looked smart in her double-breasted naval uniform, blond and buxom, which is just the way I like them” and of lovemaking: "she was bent over in front of me like the keenest entomologist." Really?
I did learn (or-relearn) a new word from Phillip Kerr that summarizes my reading experience of “The Other Side of Silence.” Sepulchral.
April 4, 2016
This is a brilliant, erudite and lucid thriller with a weary Gunther as Walter Wolf working as a hotel concierge in the South of France. This is the first book I have read of the series and it works as a standalone. We encounter Gunther trying to commit suicide but thankfully failing. His wife has left him to return home. Gunther finds himself helping W. Somerset Maugham, a writer and one time spy, who is being blackmailed by an old and loathed foe of Gunther, Harold Henning. He has a photograph which has Maugham with Guy Burgess, and others in compromising acts in a gay sex orgy party.
However, nothing and no-one is as they seem. The blackmail plot turns out to be more complex and far reaching than first envisaged, there is a bigger target than just Maugham. It appears that the British Intelligence Services would prefer not to have their gross incompetence aired in public and more specifically to the Americans. There are tapes which suggest there are a greater number of traitors who are leaking state secrets to Russia. Gunther's bridge partner is murdered and he begins a sexual relationship with Anne French. French is writing a biography of Maugham and wants Gunther to get her access to the notoriously reclusive Maugham. In a tale littered with heightened tension, Gunther discovers that he does want to live and draws on his phenomenal gift for getting out of exceedingly tight corners and handling the deepest betrayals.
Philip Kerr has an unerring eye for this historical period, like the Cambridge Spy Ring and British Intelligence and its failures, to spin a superb atmospheric Cold War tale of spies and intrigue. The piece de resistance is the cynical and world weary Gunther. His dark humour and history make him at ease with dealing with Maugham and the grim world he lives in. This twisted and beguiling tale located in actual history and real characters is superb and has the feel of credible authenticity. A memorable and compelling read which i recommend to others. Many grateful thanks to Quercus for an ARC via netgalley.
However, nothing and no-one is as they seem. The blackmail plot turns out to be more complex and far reaching than first envisaged, there is a bigger target than just Maugham. It appears that the British Intelligence Services would prefer not to have their gross incompetence aired in public and more specifically to the Americans. There are tapes which suggest there are a greater number of traitors who are leaking state secrets to Russia. Gunther's bridge partner is murdered and he begins a sexual relationship with Anne French. French is writing a biography of Maugham and wants Gunther to get her access to the notoriously reclusive Maugham. In a tale littered with heightened tension, Gunther discovers that he does want to live and draws on his phenomenal gift for getting out of exceedingly tight corners and handling the deepest betrayals.
Philip Kerr has an unerring eye for this historical period, like the Cambridge Spy Ring and British Intelligence and its failures, to spin a superb atmospheric Cold War tale of spies and intrigue. The piece de resistance is the cynical and world weary Gunther. His dark humour and history make him at ease with dealing with Maugham and the grim world he lives in. This twisted and beguiling tale located in actual history and real characters is superb and has the feel of credible authenticity. A memorable and compelling read which i recommend to others. Many grateful thanks to Quercus for an ARC via netgalley.
October 7, 2016
I seem to be in the minority here but I can't get on with this book and have decided not to finish at 65% (so many books, too little time).
I like Bernie and find him funny and interesting but the story involves wayyyyy too many characters.
Set in a really interesting period/place and with plenty of spy shennanigans but it just descended into a list of who's who and who did what in the war that I became completely flumoxed...then bored.
Such a shame as all the elements are there for a book I would enjoy.
It could be it was particularly hard to follow on audio (and Bernie has a strong American accent which didn't seem to fit) so if you're going to give it a try go for a real book so you can go back and remember who everyone is!
I would consider starting at the beginning of this series in book format (I think this is number 11) as I do like Bernie and maybe it would be clearer from the beginning?!?
I like Bernie and find him funny and interesting but the story involves wayyyyy too many characters.
Set in a really interesting period/place and with plenty of spy shennanigans but it just descended into a list of who's who and who did what in the war that I became completely flumoxed...then bored.
Such a shame as all the elements are there for a book I would enjoy.
It could be it was particularly hard to follow on audio (and Bernie has a strong American accent which didn't seem to fit) so if you're going to give it a try go for a real book so you can go back and remember who everyone is!
I would consider starting at the beginning of this series in book format (I think this is number 11) as I do like Bernie and maybe it would be clearer from the beginning?!?
Read
September 22, 2017Άψογος,οπως παντα,Φιλιπ Κερ.
June 25, 2020
About 2/3 of the way through this book, I thought, "wow, finally a semi-lighthearted Bernie Gunther book." Without spoiling anything, I will say that I was wrong.
Still, this is easily the funniest of the Bernie Gunther books I've read, with the lightest touch. Don't worry, nothing really good happens or happened to Bernie in this one either, but he manages to get a quantum of solace, to borrow, in the correct context, from Ian Fleming.
Still, this is easily the funniest of the Bernie Gunther books I've read, with the lightest touch. Don't worry, nothing really good happens or happened to Bernie in this one either, but he manages to get a quantum of solace, to borrow, in the correct context, from Ian Fleming.
April 6, 2016
The weakest Bernie Gunther novel yet. The plot stretches credulity and the final third, with its hectic and disjointed resolution, seems forced. Perhaps it's time for Kerr to put ol' Bernie out to pasture?
February 26, 2018
Η τριλογία του Βερολίνου μου άρεσε πολύ και αγάπησα τον Μπέρνι και τον κυνισμό του. Μετά από τόσες όμως περιπέτειες νομίζω ότι άρχισε να γίνεται κουραστικός και να μεταμορφώνεται σε έναν σύγχρονο σούπερ ήρωα που καμμία γυναίκα δεν μπορεί να του αντισταθεί ακόμη και σε προχωρημένη ηλικία, ενώ ταυτόχρονα κανένας δεν μπορείνα συγκριθεί μαζί του σε εξυπνάδα και διορατικότητα.Νομίζω ότι μάλλον ήλθε η ώρα ο Κερ να συνταξιοδοτήσει τον ήρωα του πριν τον απομυθοποιήσει εντελώς. Κατά τ’ άλλα η ιστορία είναι καλή και ο συγγραφέας για μία ακόμη φορά καταφέρνει να μπλέξει με επιτυχία τον μύθο με ιστορικά γεγονότα.
April 19, 2016
I have read all ten previous books in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, and this may well be the most brilliant and my favorite. The writing is topnotch, even better than usual, and the heavily ironic Berlin-style humor is hot and heavy coming out of Bernie's mouth.
If you've read all his previous misadventures, then you understand how he got so jaded and depressed. He has every right to feel that way. In fact, in the early pages of this book, he even recounts that he tried suicide. How he is still standing beats me...and I fear for his future--I am afraid he will end soon. He is in his early sixties in this book, set in 1956 in the French Riviera. While some reviewers didn't like the absence of Hitler-era detail, I loved how the brilliant, well-researched author Philip Kerr shows the aftermath of the Nazi regime. Bernie is a former Berlin policeman who was used by the Nazis and pressed into doing their bidding, flung into the gulag by the Soviets after World War II, and escaped with the aid of a sinister old acquaintance (who becomes the real-life East German head of the Stasi, Erich Mielke. Find his photo on Wikipedia.com and shiver from the evil shooting out his eyes at you, not kidding). In this book Bernie "hides out" as a concierge at a swish French hotel, tangles with famed British author Somerset Maugham, and runs into Cold War spies from both sides, getting squished in the middle. Of course there is his usual dalliance with a femme fatale--one who may or may not be just what she seems.
If I could give this book more stars, then I surely would. And I do not even like noir as a rule, and this historical thriller reeks of it...it is world-weary and wonderfully well done. There is a phrase "Prussian blue" worked into the conclusion, and after that, the end papers note to readers says that the next Bernie Gunther book is called PRUSSIAN BLUE and publishes in 2017. I believe the text gives us a tiny hint of what we can expect, and as usual, I suspect it will not be pretty. Poor, sad Bernie Gunther. I want him to go on forever so I can wallow in Philip Kerr's historical research and complex plots.
If you've read all his previous misadventures, then you understand how he got so jaded and depressed. He has every right to feel that way. In fact, in the early pages of this book, he even recounts that he tried suicide. How he is still standing beats me...and I fear for his future--I am afraid he will end soon. He is in his early sixties in this book, set in 1956 in the French Riviera. While some reviewers didn't like the absence of Hitler-era detail, I loved how the brilliant, well-researched author Philip Kerr shows the aftermath of the Nazi regime. Bernie is a former Berlin policeman who was used by the Nazis and pressed into doing their bidding, flung into the gulag by the Soviets after World War II, and escaped with the aid of a sinister old acquaintance (who becomes the real-life East German head of the Stasi, Erich Mielke. Find his photo on Wikipedia.com and shiver from the evil shooting out his eyes at you, not kidding). In this book Bernie "hides out" as a concierge at a swish French hotel, tangles with famed British author Somerset Maugham, and runs into Cold War spies from both sides, getting squished in the middle. Of course there is his usual dalliance with a femme fatale--one who may or may not be just what she seems.
If I could give this book more stars, then I surely would. And I do not even like noir as a rule, and this historical thriller reeks of it...it is world-weary and wonderfully well done. There is a phrase "Prussian blue" worked into the conclusion, and after that, the end papers note to readers says that the next Bernie Gunther book is called PRUSSIAN BLUE and publishes in 2017. I believe the text gives us a tiny hint of what we can expect, and as usual, I suspect it will not be pretty. Poor, sad Bernie Gunther. I want him to go on forever so I can wallow in Philip Kerr's historical research and complex plots.
May 31, 2016
Previously I used to wait in anticipation for the next Bernie Gunther book by Philip Kerr. No longer. The Other Side of Silence is the 11th novel of Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series. I was quite disappointed. The cynical attitude and dark wit is sadly weak or missing. In his earlier books, when Philip Kerr was writing about the horror of life under the Nazis, he excelled. But he has lost his touch. Having read, many years ago, the major novels and most of the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham, I was initially intrigued by his life and his life style. I had no idea and knew little about Maugham. It is not that I am going to give up on Philip Kerr and I will likely try his next novel Prussian Blue. I will give The Other Side of Silence 2 stars primarily because of what I learned about Maugham, not because of the convoluted plot surrounding British Intelligence. That is frightfully boring.
April 29, 2021
What can you say about a book that's full of far-fetched coincidences, hardly does justice to its setting (the French Riviera) and seems to borrow a key idea from a Le Carre novel?
I can say that if it's a Bernie Gunther novel, all such shortcomings are trivial. I've explored Gunther mostly on Audible, and was delighted to get an audio book after a longish time. The narrator does a great job, as usual. Gunther's coolness, unique voice () are still in evidence at 60. And, as one expect, his presence of mind comes to his rescue when things look dire...
A couple of things stood out for me in this work. Firstly, the insertion of Somerset Maugham's character, with a lot of biography that I had no clue about. Of course Gunther has no problems hobnobbing with the Maugham and the bosses of British intelligence. In the last book I listened to, he was at ease with the Perons in Argentina, and his hand roamed some interesting places. Secondly, while Kerr was always faithful to his character's voice, in this book he surpassed himself with a Gunther jibe about the British that floored me .
As this reviewer puts it, "Mr. Kerr's short cuts hardly matter". He forgets to mention this mostly applies to Bernie Gunther fans, for whom this book is a feast. For others, opinions may vary...
I can say that if it's a Bernie Gunther novel, all such shortcomings are trivial. I've explored Gunther mostly on Audible, and was delighted to get an audio book after a longish time. The narrator does a great job, as usual. Gunther's coolness, unique voice () are still in evidence at 60. And, as one expect, his presence of mind comes to his rescue when things look dire...
A couple of things stood out for me in this work. Firstly, the insertion of Somerset Maugham's character, with a lot of biography that I had no clue about. Of course Gunther has no problems hobnobbing with the Maugham and the bosses of British intelligence. In the last book I listened to, he was at ease with the Perons in Argentina, and his hand roamed some interesting places. Secondly, while Kerr was always faithful to his character's voice, in this book he surpassed himself with a Gunther jibe about the British that floored me .
As this reviewer puts it, "Mr. Kerr's short cuts hardly matter". He forgets to mention this mostly applies to Bernie Gunther fans, for whom this book is a feast. For others, opinions may vary...
October 24, 2025
This book is part of a long series about fictional German detective Bernie Gunther. The books start, I think, in 1920s Berlin and go through WW2 and into the 1950s.
This one is set in 1956 in the south of France where Gunther has ended up working in a hotel in Cap Ferrat. He becomes embroiled in helping famous author, Somerset Maugham, in dealing with being blackmailed for his homosexuality. It’s all tied up with Russian infiltration of MI5 and Russian agents such as Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt.
It’s atmospheric and has lots of fascinating historical information.
I have previously read one of his novels set just after WW2 in Vienna and Berlin. There was lots of violence and it was very dark. I much preferred this one.
This one is set in 1956 in the south of France where Gunther has ended up working in a hotel in Cap Ferrat. He becomes embroiled in helping famous author, Somerset Maugham, in dealing with being blackmailed for his homosexuality. It’s all tied up with Russian infiltration of MI5 and Russian agents such as Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt.
It’s atmospheric and has lots of fascinating historical information.
I have previously read one of his novels set just after WW2 in Vienna and Berlin. There was lots of violence and it was very dark. I much preferred this one.
May 11, 2016
I love Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels like pizza -- the best and the worst pizza are still pizza, my favorite food. I have now read all eleven novels -- and I think you have to read them in order -- and "The Other Side of Silence" is one of the better. Set in the Riviera and Germany both before and after WWII, the subject is blackmail and the addition is the fictional characterization of the famed English gay novelist and spy Somerset Maugham. The Painted Veil"The Painted Veil" is one of my favorite books and was made into an underappreciated movie with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. Although I don't want to fight with blurbs, which may have been taken out of context, Salon's Jonathan Ames makes the bogus bold statement that "Philip Kerr is the only bona fide heir to Raymond Chandler Raymond Chandler." Yes, his Bernie Gunther is a hard-boiled detective but the early books were marred by Chandleresque prose that tried to hard. Long ago, Kerr hit his stride. I love Chandler, don't get me wrong. But Kerr has outgrown his infatuation to write really fine prose, like this passage when an aging yet still virile Gunther has just been dumped by the femme fatale with whom he's fallen in love: "In a way I'd seen it coming and been stupid enough to ignore what my keener senses had already told me. Not that it really counted for very much in the scheme of things. It was nothing more than just another tragedy in a long line of tragedies of the kind Bernie Gunther was already well used to. If anyone had the constitution to take it on the chin, that person was him, I told myself. Maybe that's what all human ordinary life amounts to. One tragedy heaped on top of another like sharp gray layers of shale." Great writing -- and notice the first-person narrator shifting into a third person reference to himself to show how disconnected he is to his own external identity. He is, at this time, living under an assumed name and trying and failing to achieve some sort of stability that will forever elude him. Unlike Chandler, Kerr's books are heavily researched and rich with WWII history (in that way he is like Alan Furst Alan Furst). Chandler's weren't historical fiction. And, given Kerr's eleven books that shift back and forth and time, we have seen Gunther struggle with personal and historical events -- including Hitler and the rise and fall of Nazism -- over many decades. If there is one thing, from a novelist's perspective, that annoys me in the style is Kerr's overuse of dialog for exposition -- characters often talk with Kerr holding the microphone too close, and the exchanges go on for too long when prose would have been more natural. But that's a writer's quibble. This is an enjoyable and interesting read, and if you're a Kerr addict like me, you pre-order. If you're just starting out on this wonderful road, begin here with The Berlin Noir trilogy: Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem. And, if you just can't get enough, skip over to the great historical spy novelist Alan Furst, where it's less important to read in order. One of my favorites is The Polish Officer or Night Soldiers.
May 10, 2016
The Other Side Of Silence
We were cautioned on the book's cover not to race through
this story.
I didn't.
It was important to me because it was my first Bernie Gunther.
Yeh, I know, where have I been living?
I'm pleased to have been sent an ARC and very willing to express
my thoughts.
Bernie is a character that came to life on the pages.
His life is like a tapestry with inherent flaws fully exposed.
Among other things, I found him witty, cynical, sarcastic, satirical
and yet in some way lovable.
The plot was indeed a "viper's nest" and spoke to me of times and places that were unfamiliar to me.
So it was also a learning experience.
I'm looking forward to Prussian Blue
4 ★
We were cautioned on the book's cover not to race through
this story.
I didn't.
It was important to me because it was my first Bernie Gunther.
Yeh, I know, where have I been living?
I'm pleased to have been sent an ARC and very willing to express
my thoughts.
Bernie is a character that came to life on the pages.
His life is like a tapestry with inherent flaws fully exposed.
Among other things, I found him witty, cynical, sarcastic, satirical
and yet in some way lovable.
The plot was indeed a "viper's nest" and spoke to me of times and places that were unfamiliar to me.
So it was also a learning experience.
I'm looking forward to Prussian Blue
4 ★
July 31, 2017
Μια χαρά νουαράκι από το ευλογημένο ανίψι του μέγιστου Raymond Chandler.
Περισσότερα, προσεχώς, στην bookpress.gr
Περισσότερα, προσεχώς, στην bookpress.gr
August 22, 2018
Every time I read a new Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther novel, I'm thinking 'this has to be the best one so far.'It happened again with The Other Side of Silence. Several times. I have a special place in my all time top books of all time by Philip Kerr, for Field Grey, and The Other Side of Silence is now going right up there with it. Along with...well, just about all of them let's be honest. It really is an idiotic idea to try and rank them, to try and say one is better than the other. Better wordsmiths than me have had a better go at it than I ever could.
The plot isn’t quite as polished and slick as Field Grey, but that’s no bad thing as it gives Philip Kerr some room to investigate Bernie’s character and show us something of what makes Bernie tick, under the wisecracks and the slick, witty remarks. Here, what seems to make Bernie tick, is his remembrances of Königsberg back in 1944 - 1945 in what was in those days still East Prussia. As my interest in that particular area, that is now mostly Poland and a bit of Russia and maybe some other eastern European states has been well and truly piqued over the last few years or so, this hit home. Part of the plot revolves around a plot to remove the legendary Tsar of Russia's Amber Room, back to Germany. But that isn't even the biggest part of the plot of this wonderful book. That revolves around blackmail, Germans blackmailing, Somerset Maugham being blackmailed, Russsian spies, the Cambridge four (or was it five or six? Or more?), and wether or not the head of the British Secret Service was or wasn't a Russian spy for several decades. How does he do it? And all inside 340 pages - absolutely brilliantly, is the only answer.
By now, after so many years and so many incredibly good books, it is, I sometimes feel, a surprise to have to realise that Bernie isn’t actually a real person! That he wasn’t alive in the middle of the 20th Century. Strange feeling that. But a very good one.
The Book Blog: Speesh Reads
The Facebook Page: Speesh Reads
The Speesh Reads Pinterest Board for The Other Side of Silence: Speesh Reads Pinterest
The plot isn’t quite as polished and slick as Field Grey, but that’s no bad thing as it gives Philip Kerr some room to investigate Bernie’s character and show us something of what makes Bernie tick, under the wisecracks and the slick, witty remarks. Here, what seems to make Bernie tick, is his remembrances of Königsberg back in 1944 - 1945 in what was in those days still East Prussia. As my interest in that particular area, that is now mostly Poland and a bit of Russia and maybe some other eastern European states has been well and truly piqued over the last few years or so, this hit home. Part of the plot revolves around a plot to remove the legendary Tsar of Russia's Amber Room, back to Germany. But that isn't even the biggest part of the plot of this wonderful book. That revolves around blackmail, Germans blackmailing, Somerset Maugham being blackmailed, Russsian spies, the Cambridge four (or was it five or six? Or more?), and wether or not the head of the British Secret Service was or wasn't a Russian spy for several decades. How does he do it? And all inside 340 pages - absolutely brilliantly, is the only answer.
By now, after so many years and so many incredibly good books, it is, I sometimes feel, a surprise to have to realise that Bernie isn’t actually a real person! That he wasn’t alive in the middle of the 20th Century. Strange feeling that. But a very good one.
The Book Blog: Speesh Reads
The Facebook Page: Speesh Reads
The Speesh Reads Pinterest Board for The Other Side of Silence: Speesh Reads Pinterest
October 10, 2017
I am in awe each time I finish one of these Bernie Gunther books, this one no exception. Though I read them out of order, it does not seem to spoil my enjoyment. That's the way they become available to me from my library.
This one has rather a lot of material on the art of blackmail. "Now I've heard everything. Blackmailers recommending detectives. Or ex-detectives. It sounds an awful lot like a salmon recommending a good poacher." I enjoyed the descriptions and "Bernie history" pertaining to Konigsberg where he enjoyed trips to the zoo as a child and recalled "riding on the back of the elephant and seeing the bears....the Park was the last word in modern luxury; at least it was until almost two hundred RAF Lancaster bombers turned up on two consecutive nights at the end of August 1944 and bombed the city to bits. Almost every building to the south of Adolf-Hitler-Platz, including the famous castle and the cathedral where Kant was buried, were destroyed or damaged." And it got worse. I learned of the sinking of a ship where over nine thousand souls were lost.
The action in this book finds Bernie working under assumed identity as concierge at the Grand Hotel on the French Riviera. I should say it starts off finding him in the depths of depression after his third wife has left him and his attempt at asphyxiation fails when the car he sits in runs out of gas. Yes, this favorite character takes the art of cynicism to a new level and makes you smile in the darkest times.
We are also treated to some wonderful scenes and plot devices featuring Somerset Maugham, a new friend of Bernie's on the Riviera.
Great Read!
This one has rather a lot of material on the art of blackmail. "Now I've heard everything. Blackmailers recommending detectives. Or ex-detectives. It sounds an awful lot like a salmon recommending a good poacher." I enjoyed the descriptions and "Bernie history" pertaining to Konigsberg where he enjoyed trips to the zoo as a child and recalled "riding on the back of the elephant and seeing the bears....the Park was the last word in modern luxury; at least it was until almost two hundred RAF Lancaster bombers turned up on two consecutive nights at the end of August 1944 and bombed the city to bits. Almost every building to the south of Adolf-Hitler-Platz, including the famous castle and the cathedral where Kant was buried, were destroyed or damaged." And it got worse. I learned of the sinking of a ship where over nine thousand souls were lost.
The action in this book finds Bernie working under assumed identity as concierge at the Grand Hotel on the French Riviera. I should say it starts off finding him in the depths of depression after his third wife has left him and his attempt at asphyxiation fails when the car he sits in runs out of gas. Yes, this favorite character takes the art of cynicism to a new level and makes you smile in the darkest times.
We are also treated to some wonderful scenes and plot devices featuring Somerset Maugham, a new friend of Bernie's on the Riviera.
Great Read!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 581 reviews