A Quiet Flame: A Bernie Gunther Novel

by Philip Kerr

Book Overview

In this riveting historical mystery novel from New York Times bestselling author Philip Kerr, Bernie Gunther trails a serial killer in 1950's Buenos Aires... Buenos Aires, 1950 . After being falsely accused of war crimes, Bernie Gunther--like the Nazis he has always despised--has been offered a new life and a clean passport by the Per n government. But the tough, fast-talking ex-Berlin detective doesn't have the luxury of laying low. The local police...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143116487
• ISBN13: 9780143116486
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Despicable Conspiracies!

Bernie Gunther is at it again in this 5th Bernie Gunther series novel! This famous Berlin homicide detective is investigating a 1950 case in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that's intimately connected to one large and several connected cases in 1932 Berlin. The cases in both countries are ripe with terror and information that could end Bernie's career and life. Bernie, a sleuth well-respected by his Berlin peers, is asked to investigate the murder of a young girl found with her internal pelvic organs surgically and carefully removed. It's a vicious death, commonly referred to as a "lust" murder and it's not the first one Bernie's heard about. In fact, there's an amazing amount of child prostitution, abortion and these connected murders happening, a sign to Germany's up and coming Nazi party that Germany is in need of Adolph Hitler's political victory. In fact, Bernie seems throughout the novel to go out of his way to demonstrate how deeply he despises the Nazi party tactics of brutality and death against Jews, Communists, Gypsies, homosexuals and disabled men and women, even before Hitler takes power as the leader of Germany. That seems like an amazingly large agenda for the Nazi Party but it looks like Bernie's wishes aren't going to happen. He is repeatedly warned that in the coming days his attitude could make or break his police career. A few very violent and devastatingly intimidating experiences in the course of his investigative work foreshadow what Germany will be like in the not too distant future. When Bernie gets very close to solving the mystery, he is removed from the case and thinks it's time for him to consider other career options. But years later in 1950 Argentina, Bernie's in a different situation altogether. He's been forced to join the Nazi exiles in Peron's Argentina as a purported SS officer criminal whom the Allies would love to find, bring to trial and punish. That scenario, however, seems highly unlikely, although Bernie hints at unspeakable acts he was forced to commit as a member of the SS squad. However, his fame has followed him and he is asked by President Peron and his wife, the notorious Evita, to find out who committed a similar murder to that of the Berlin case and to find a missing young girl. Bernie knows the cases are linked but doesn't realize the extent of the obstacles that will be set to thwart his search and the complications arising from other requests to find missing persons. A Quiet Flame never lags for thrilling and chilling suspense that grips the reader's attention steadily and consistently. Philip Kerr is a writer who knows precisely how to build a case, provide subplots that are minor yet just as powerfully plotted as the main conflict, and present characters with enough depth of personality that is as much of a mystery as the events under investigation. It's a rare writer who can keep this balancing act moving and vibrantly credible. Philip Kerr does all so very, very well. This is a novel you a

Somewhere, Raymond Chandler is smiling.

Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series was originally just one stand alone book. Then he wrote another. Then one more. That became the Berlin Noir trilogy. It remained so, just those 3 books, for 15 years. Fortunately Kerr decided to bring Bernie back. This latest book is the 5th in the series and Kerr is writing more. This one opens as some Nazi war criminals are fleeing to Argentina. The year is 1950 and former Berlin homicide cop Bernie Gunther is among them. He's pretending to be a doctor. Upon his arrival in Juan Peron's dictatorship Bernie decides to come clean, admitting his true identity. He is immediately drawn into a murder investigation which has eerie parallels with an old failed investigation from Germany in 1932. Bernie is charged with questioning fugitive Nazis as he seeks clues to try to solve these cases. There's the requisite beautiful woman in distress and a never-ending stream of wise cracks. Kerr (and Bernie) are in fine form here. Somewhere, Raymond Chandler must be smiling.

superb post WWII investigative thriller

In 1950 former Berlin police detective Bernie Gunther is stunned when he is accused of war crimes as he loathed the Nazis. Knowing the atmosphere is one of shoot first, he obtains haven in Argentina alongside many other Germans, almost all Nazis. In Buenos Aires he begins to start his new life when local cop Colonel Montalban asks him to investigate the brutal murder of teenage Grete Wohlauf. The police officer points out to the German expatriate that the current homicide shares much in common with a cold case Gunther failed to solve in 1932 Germany. Gunther takes the cross Atlantic connection seriously even though the two homicides he investigated occurred almost two decades apart as much of the scum of German have come to reside in Peron's paradise. When another teen goes missing, Gunther agrees to slyly question his fellow expatriates in exchange for medical treatment for thyroid cancer. Meanwhile Anna Yagubsky begs Gunther to find out what happened to her missing Jewish aunt and uncle. This is a superb post WWII investigative thriller that contains an ethical lead character who is assumed to be an amoral racist due to guilt by association; as everyone believes war criminal fled to Argentina. Thus fans receive a unique intriguing look at the Nazi haven under Peron's rule. The whodunit is well written while the missing persons' case adds to the sense of being in Buenos Aires in 1950 as Phillip Kerr continues to explore the Nazis this time after their defeat (see The Berlin Noir trilogy). Harriet Klausner

Outstanding Gunther book

Philip Kerr started his career in novels with the three Chandleresque Bernie Gunther books - March Violets, The Pale Criminal, and A German Requiem - stories that developed an outstanding main protagonist, ambivalent, complicated and deep; wove intricate and believeable plots involving fascinatingly drawn characters from the Nazi time; mastered the atmosphere in the cities (Berlin, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Munich) he wrote about; all the while giving us some of the most convincing and imaginative prose to find its way into historical noir fiction. Kerr knows his stuff and is very good at it. This fifth book in the Gunther series follows directly on the heels of the previous book, The One From The Other. Bernie has been forced to flee Europe through the SS network to Argentina, and is on the same boat as Adolf Eichman and others. His reception in Argentina finds him introduced to Juan and Evita Peron, as well as characters in their police apparatus, and Bernie soon blows his own cover story of being an SS doctor on the run. This allows the Argentina police to involve him in a local murder and a disappearance which bring back memories of a pair of seemingly similar murders committed in 1932 in Berlin, just prior to the Nazi takeover of the state. The book then flashes back and forth from Gunther's activities in the Kripo in 1932 Berlin, and his efforts in 1950 Buenos Aires and elsewhere, during the course of which he runs into the usual rogues gallery of Nazis and local criminals, including Otto Skorzeny, Eichman again, Mengele, Kammler, and the like. Kerr's mastery of atmosphere in every scene is impressive, the plots challenging and well wrought, the dialogue spot on, and of course the noir feeling oozing through every page, rich in funny and imaginative language and attitude. Further, Kerr does his historical research and knows his stuff. He catches the feeling of a Germany on the knife edge of internal combustion in 1932, the very different political movements and motivations of the people, including differences between different areas in German (Berlin vs Munich); on the flip side, his portrayal of Buenos Aires during this time, and of Peron's character in particular, is complex and believeable. Finally, one should mention that, as in his previous book, A Quiet Flame's central plot device features what may well be a highly controversial assertion. I know nothing about the Argentinian history on this point, and would not want to spoil the device for readers of the book, but it will be interesting to see how people react to the revelation and its implications. Kerr is an outstanding writer and I love his work. If you enjoyed his previous books, you can be sure that A Quiet Flame is very much up to the standard of his best work.