The Other Side of Silence

ISBN-13: 9780399185199 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 448 str.

Philip Kerr

Opis

New York Times-bestselling author Philip Kerr's much anticipated return to Bernie Gunther, in a series hailed by The Daily Beast as "the best crime novels around today."

The French Riviera, 1956. Bernie Gunther, our sardonic former Berlin homicide dick and unwilling SS officer, is the go-to guy at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, the man you turn to for touring tips or if you need a fourth for bridge. As it happens, a local writer needs just that, someone to fill the fourth seat in a regular game that is the usual evening diversion at the Villa Mauresque. Not just any writer. Perhaps the most famous living writer in the world: W. Somerset Maugham.

And it turns out it is not just a bridge partner that he needs; it's some professional advice. Maugham is being blackmailed--perhaps because of his unorthodox lifestyle. Or perhaps because of something in his past, because once upon a time, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service, and the people now blackmailing him are spies.

As Gunther fans know, all roads lead back to the viper's nest that was Hitler's Third Reich and to the killing fields that spread like a disease across Europe. Even in 1956, peace has not come to the continent now that the Soviets also have the H-bomb and spies from every major power feel free to make all of Europe their playground.

Recenzje

Praise for Philip Kerr and the Bernie Gunther Novels

A brilliantly innovative thriller writer. Salman Rushdie
 
Philip Kerr is the only bona fide heir to Raymond Chandler. Salon.com
 
In terms of narrative, plot, pace and characterization, Kerr s in a league with John le Carré. The Washington Post
 
Every time we re afraid we ve seen the last of Bernie Gunther, Philip Kerr comes through with another unnerving adventure for his morally conflicted hero. Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
 
Just as youth is wasted on the young, history is wasted on historians. It ought to be the exclusive property of novelists but only if they are as clever and knowledgeable as Philip Kerr. Chicago Tribune
 
Kerr quantum leaps the limitations of genre fiction. Most thrillers insult your intelligence; his assault your ignorance. Esquire

A richly satisfying mystery, one that evokes the noir sensibilities of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald while breaking important new ground of its own. Los Angeles Times
 
Part of the allure of these novels is that Bernie is such an interesting creation, a Chandleresque knight errant caught in insane historical surroundings. Bernie walks down streets so mean that nobody can stay alive and remain truly clean. John Powers, Fresh Air (NPR)
 
The Bernie Gunther novels are first-class, as stylish as Chandler and as emotionally resonant as the best of Ross Macdonald. George Pelecanos
 
Kerr s stylish noir writing makes every page a joy to read. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

O autorze

Philip Kerr was the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Bernie Gunther novels, three of which Field Gray, The Lady from Zagreb, and Prussian Blue were finalists for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Kerr also won several Shamus Awards and the British Crime Writers Association Ellis Peters Award for Historical Crime Fiction. Just before his death in 2018, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. As P.B. Kerr, he was the author of the much-loved young adult fantasy series Children of the Lamp.