If The Dead Rise Not

Kerr, Philip

ISBN 10: 144500142X ISBN 13: 9781445001425

Publisher: Isis Audio Books, 2010

Synopsis

Berlin 1934. The Nazis have been in power for just 18 months but already Germany has seen some unpleasant changes. Forced to resign as a homicide detective, Bernie is now house detective at the famous Adlon Hotel. The discovery of two bodies involves Bernie in the lives of two hotel guests. One is a beautiful journalist intent on persuading America to boycott the Berlin Olympiad; the other is a German-Jewish gangster who plans to use the Olympics to enrich himself. As events unfold, Bernie uncovers a vast labour and construction racket designed to take advantage of the huge sums the Nazis are prepared to spend to showcase the new Germany to the world.

About this title

About the Author

Philip Kerr is the author of many novels, but perhaps most important are the five featuring Bernie Gunther A Quiet Flame, The One from the Other, and the Berlin Noir trilogy (March Violets, The Pale Criminal, and A German Requiem). He lives in London and Cornwall, England, with his family.

From Booklist

When we last saw Bernie Gunther, the Weimar Germany police detective and, later, reluctant SS officer in World War II had worn out his welcome in postwar Argentina (A Quiet Flame, 2009). Now it’s 1954, and Kerr’s cynical Chandlerian crime-solver has landed in Cuba, attempting to stay under the radar of those who consider him a Nazi war criminal. But Kerr is well aware that the heart and soul of his celebrated series remain in 1930s Berlin, where Weimar decadence sang its swan song to the rhythm of Brownshirts marching in lockstep. So, as he did in A Quiet Flame, Kerr combines the postwar story with a flashback to Bernie’s Berlin heyday. This time it’s 1934, and the Nazis are gearing up for the 1936 Olympics. Bernie falls headlong for American Jewish reporter Noreen Charalambides and agrees to help her promote a U.S. boycott of the Olympics by telling the real story about the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews. The plan falls apart, of course, leaving Bernie with a broken heart and Noreen on a boat for the States. Flash-forward to Havana, where Bernie runs into Noreen in a bookstore and quickly finds himself in another mess, this one involving American gangsters, Cuban rebels, and Noreen’s frisky daughter. There’s more than enough succulent atmosphere here for two novels, one for each setting. Both stories and both locales deserve star billing and seem a bit shortchanged without it. Still, there’s so much to enjoy here that it seems churlish to complain. On any continent, in any decade, no one does melancholy better than Bernie Gunther, and melancholy, after all, is the hard-boiled mystery fan’s emotion of choice. --Bill Ott

Edition details

• Publisher: Isis Audio Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 144500142X
• ISBN 13: 9781445001425
• Binding: MP3 CD