The One From The Other
Bernie Gunther Thriller 4
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- 5,49 €
Publisher Description
'One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written' LEE CHILD
Bernie Gunther has learned the hard way that it isn't possible to distinguish 'the one from the other'. The cynical P.I. sees through the deceit and hypocrisy of both friend and foe - a lifesaving skill in postwar Germany.
Munich, 1949 is home to all the backstabbing intrigue that prospers in the aftermath of war. A place where a private eye can find a lot of not-quite-reputable work: cleaning up the Nazi past of well-to-do locals, abetting fugitives in the flight abroad, sorting out rival claims to stolen goods. It's work that fills Bernie with disgust - but it also fills his sorely depleted wallet.
Then a woman seeks him out. Her husband has disappeared. She's not looking to get him back - he's a wanted man who ran one of the most vicious concentration camps in Poland. She just wants confirmation that he's dead.
It's a simple enough job. But in post-war Germany, nothing is simple...
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PRAISE FOR THE BERNIE GUNTHER SERIES
'Kerr's novels are modern classics' SIMON SEBAG-MONTEFIORE
'Pure Chandler. Powerful and impressive' OBSERVER
'Kerr leads us through the facts of history and the vagaries of human nature' TOM HANKS
'One of the greatest master story-tellers in English' ALAN FURST
'One of the most memorable and original characters' THE SUNDAY TIMES
'Bitterly, darkly funny' SUNDAY HERALD
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1949, Kerr's excellent fourth novel to feature Bernhard Gunther (after 1991's German Requiem) finds the erstwhile PI managing a failing hotel about a mile from the site of the Dachau concentration camp. After the death of his wife, Kirsten, in a mental hospital, he calls it quits and opens a private detective agency. A series of missing-Nazi cases sets Bernie on a course that becomes increasingly complicated until he's beaten to a near pulp, had his little finger chopped off and is sent to a mysterious private estate to recover. There he's drawn into a nightmare involving the American occupation and the CIA, and soon his life hangs in the balance. Kerr's stylish noir writing makes every page a joy to read ("The little mouth tightened into a smile that was all lips and no teeth, like a newly stitched scar"). Perfectly plotted, the book builds to a satisfying conclusion.
