Self's Deception

by Bernhard Schlink

Book Overview

Gerhard Self, the dour private detective, returns in this riveting crime novel about terrorism, governmental cover-up, and the treacherous waters where they mix. Leo Salger, the daughter of a powerful Bonn bureaucrat, is missing, and Self has been hired to find her. His investigation initially leads him to a psych ward at a local hospital, where he is made to believe that Leo fell from a window and died. Self soon discovers, however, that Leo is alive...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375709088
• ISBN13: 9780375709081
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Self's Deception

A little known German writer who made a hit worldwide with The Reader, his Self novels do not dissapoint A great new character, very smart plots with human psychology and socio-political commentary all blended nicely.

Unique and Fascinating

Schlink's writing is brilliant and the wit, irony, and style are delightful. I found the characterizations deeply satisfying and this is certainly one of the most thoughtful mysteries I've read in years. A gifted writer and a wonderful book (Self's Punishment is a near second).

Another winner in the "Gerhard Self" series

(First published in 1992, English translation in 2007) Bernhard Schlink is a first-rate writer and observer of human nature, and there's no better combination for producing a first-rate detective novel. His private detective, Gerhard Self, is on the cusp of 70, served in the public prosecutor's office during World War II, and has survived Germany in the Cold War. Now, he has a young girlfriend with a young son, good friends, and a life as a peripatetic detective with interests. Self is contacted by the father of a girl gone slightly missing--not heard of for some time, and perhaps just on an unannounced break from responsibility. Though the arrangements are a little unusual--payment by mail, no in-person meeting, and contact by answering machine--Self takes on the case and begins tracking down Leonore Salger. She is young, attractive, and Self is intrigued by the idea of her as much as by the fat sum of money her fathers offers him to find her. In the course of looking for Leo Salger, Self discovers layers of deception, and some of them are of his own making. He is stubborn, smart, dogged and intuitive, all in the best tradition of the hard-boiled detective. He draws his friends into the investigation, protects those he loves, and constantly exposes himself to doubt and danger. There is deception on every side, and Self consents to be deceived at some points, and puts himself in harm's way to expose deception at others. Ultimately, he peels back every layer to come upon the truth. Only then does he find that in the truth there is still mystery. Schlink is an accomplished writer of literary fiction as well as this third entry in the Self series. He draws characters in the American tradition of the detective novel, while at the same time shading them with the manners, surroundings, and feel of Germany in the twenty-first century. It's a fascinating read, hard to put down, a page turner in the best possible way: it makes you want to read the previous two and wait for the next in the series. Armchair Interviews says: If you're looking for a well-written page turner that will have you signing up for more, try Self's Deception.

A detective story with deeper implications

Schlink creates an interesting character and story, and at the same time interweaves the themes of working through the meaning of the Nazi past in a bourgeois democratic Germany. His characterization -- especially of his detecttive, a former Nazi prosecutor -- is rich, and the German not too difficult for one such as I, who learned German from Pimsleur CDs relatively late in life.