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Title: Berlin Noir: March Violets/the Pale Criminal/a German Requiem/3 Novels in 1 Volume by Philip Kerr ISBN: 0-14-023170-6 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (37 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Greatest of All Hard-Boiled Detective Novels
Comment: I've been teaching detective fiction for a decade, and I have a book on the topic coming out from Macmillan this year. For my money (as I say in my book, "The Post-Colonial Detective"), the "Berlin Noir" trilogy is the finest work of hard-boiled detection ever published (based on distinguished writing, terrific plot, and fascinating characters and setting.) I've taught all three of these novels, and the students are crazy about them. I loaned them to a friend who teaches Nazi history, and he thought they were extremely accurate. If you can get hold of a map of pre-war Berlin (the Britannica has one that is adequate), you can follow along from street to street and building to building. Kerr's novel "A Philosophical Investigation" is future detection with the philosopher Wittgenstein as an important plot element, and virtual reality murders and serial killings and a woman detective. I thought my students would hate it, but they were crazy about it, too. Read Kerr, and spread the news.
Rating: 5
Summary: "Hard boiled" German PI
Comment: This volume, which contains three complete novels, is an excellent sign that "hard boiled" detective books are still being written, even if these stories are about a decade old. I was fascinated by the setting: pre-WWII Berlin, and post-WWII Vienna, and the hero, a tough as nails anti-Nazi ex-policeman and private investigator. The plots are well-constructed, and the geographical knowledge on the part of the author gives a real sense of "being there" to the reader. In these days of troubled "anti-heroes" in this genre, it's a distinct pleasure to read a book of this caliber, and to see the efforts the author made to give a look of reality to his scenario. Even the minor characters are extremely well-drawn and believeable. Read this book; you won't be making a mistake.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent 1930 detective stories
Comment: Detective stories are by nature very cynical, but as these stories are set in Nazi Germany, the cynicism goes off the page here. Private Eye Bernie Gunther is trying to make a living in Nazi Germany and has to walk a fine line between the SS, the Party, visits to Prinz Albertstrasse (the Gestapo) and his clients.
Kerr know Nazi Germany very well, and he hits the nail on the head in depicting Nazis of all ranks. Every couple of pages, he makes just the right phrases about that period in history. Heydrich is the Reich's "Crown Prince of terror", Chamberlain is "that idiot with the umbrella" etc.
You can feel the terror of some characters whenever threatened with being sent to a "KZ" or concentration camp.
Kerr, if you're reading this, please give us some more stories of Detective Gunther.
For students of German History, I highly recommend these stories.
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Title: A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0425184234 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Dark Star : A Novel by Alan Furst ISBN: 0375759999 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 09 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0156027100 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Blood of Victory : A Novel by Alan Furst ISBN: 0812968727 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The World at Night : A Novel by Alan Furst ISBN: 0375758585 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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