I think I may have read one of his before – a trilogy called 'Berlin Noir', many years ago. This was long and ponderous at times, but a pretty good thriller.
Set parallel in 1939 and 1956 involving Bernie Gunther, an ex-policeman in Berlin. In the 1939 section, he is sent from Berlin to Hitler’s house in Berchetsgarden (sp) to track down a murderer, in advance of a visit by Hitler.
Very good on the tension between the urbane Berliner’s and the Nazis who, it appears, were basically a southern German phenomenon.
The corruption around the Berchetsgarden is equally phenomenal, led by Martin Bormann – a lot of real characters feature.
The 1956 section sets Gunther on the run from the GDR, with some characters from 1939 reappearing as members of the East German Stasi. Both plots strands end cleverly (but rather pointlessly) in the same caves near a town on the Franco-German border.
A good beach read, really.
留言