A German requiem

by Philip Kerr

Paper Book, 2006

Status

Available

Publication

New York : Penguin Books, 2006.

Description

In the wreckage of postwar Berlin, PI Bernie Gunther--in his third appearance--accepts coal for payment and reluctantly takes on a case for Russian Col. Palkovich Poroshin, one of the despised "Ivans." Asked to prove black marketeer Emil Becker innocent of the death of U.S. Counterintelligence Corps Capt. Edward Linden, Gunther leaves Berlin (and his unfaithful wife) for Vienna, where the incarcerated Becker insists he had been set up while delivering SS files to Linden at the behest of a stranger named Konig. Gunther's search for Konig attracts the attention of the CIC's John Belinksky, who also believes Becker was framed. After saving Gunther from some drunken Russians, Belinsky asks Gunther to infiltrate the ranks of a super-secret group of ex-Nazis whose leader may be former Gestapo head Heinrich Muller. Obviously, the Nazi-hunting CIC wants Muller badly, but Belinsky drops a bombshell that brings into question his own role in the investigation. Unleashing a series of stunning revelations, Kerr (The Pale Criminal) discloses the reasons for the Russians' interest in Linden and for the many deaths involved in Gunther's case. Rooted in historical details, driven by a powerful narrative, this atmospheric novel traces a frightening course amid a multiplicity of ironies.… (more)

Media reviews

Lecturalia
La guerra ha terminado, pero escarbando en las ruinas del esplendor imperial de Viena, el veterano Bernie Gunther hace un descubrimiento histórico, al lado del cual las atrocidades cometidas en el pasado parecen obra de aficionados. Réquiem alemán es la tercera parte de una trilogía que
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comienza en el Berlín del año 36, narrada en la primera persona de un solitario investigador que, casi por vocación, descubre el vínculo eterno entre poderosos y criminales. No por nada acaba la trilogía con una nota sobre ciertas investigaciones independientes según las cuales, una vez terminada la guerra, el líder de la Gestapo habría pasado a trabajar como agente secreto para los servicios estadounidenses.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member JohnGrant1
The third of the series featuring Bernie Gunther. WWII has now been lost, and miraculously Bernie has survived -- miraculously because, having been co-opted into the SS, he was able to escape having to participate in that organization's crimes only by volunteering for combat. Now, a PI in Berlin
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once more, he's wondering if his wife is giving blowjobs to occupying Americans for money and gifts when he's hired by a Russian officer to try to produce the evidence that will save a convicted murderer in Vienna from the hangman's rope; the prisoner in question, the Russian's colleague in black market dealings, was also, years ago, one of Bernie's subordinates in the Kripo, so Bernie is perfectly aware of how murderous the man is. Off to Vienna Bernie goes, wondering if he'll have a marriage to come home to (this doesn't stop him from boffing any volunteers he encounters, of course), and soon he finds himself in the midst of a sea of grubby international politics as rival occupation forces jostle for ascendancy; part of the mix comprises those German war criminals who're trying to ensure they not just escape retribution but actually establish themselves in good positions in whatever new order will emerge from this chaotic melting pot.

I found this novel far more engaging than its three predecessors, with characters that were better drawn and a satisfactorily twisty plot -- this latter marred, perhaps, by a couple of marginally implausible coincidences. Even so, I may track down later titles in the series.
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LibraryThing member cygnet81
Interesting idea and much less convoluted than the last book.
LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Enjoyable like the first two, but I think this series has run it's course for me.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Bernie goes to Vienna for a lucrative contract to try and prove a former colleague didn't kill an American soldier. He becomes embroiled in the machinations of the allied powers who have divided up Vienna much as they did Berlin. A somewhat complex plot with many characters, all apparently bent on
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double-crossing each other. Not as enjoyable a read as his Brrlin set stories.
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