‘One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written’ LEE CHILD
A series of horrific ritual murders leads Bernie Gunther to an occult conspiracy at the very heart of the Nazi Party.
Five German schoolgirls are missing. Four have been found dead. But unlike the undesirables who make up the majority of dead and missing people in Hitler’s Berlin, these girls were blonde and blue-eyed – the Aryan flower of German maidenhood – and their gruesome deaths recall ritual killings.
Busy with a blackmail case, Bernie is reluctant when he is asked to rejoin the Berlin police in order to track down the murderer. But when the person doing the asking is none other than head of the SD, Reinhard Heydrich, it’s not exactly a request he can turn down. As Bernie gets closer to the truth, he realises that at the heart of this case is much more than one lone madman – in fact, there is a conspiracy at work more chilling than he could ever have imagined.
Perfect for fans of Raymond Chandler and John le Carré.
*******************************
PRAISE FOR PHILIP KERR
‘Kerr leads us through the facts of history and the vagaries of human nature’ TOM HANKS
‘One of the greatest master story-tellers in English’ ALAN FURST
‘One of the most memorable and original characters’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Bitterly, darkly funny’ SUNDAY HERALD
A series of horrific ritual murders leads Bernie Gunther to an occult conspiracy at the very heart of the Nazi Party.
Five German schoolgirls are missing. Four have been found dead. But unlike the undesirables who make up the majority of dead and missing people in Hitler’s Berlin, these girls were blonde and blue-eyed – the Aryan flower of German maidenhood – and their gruesome deaths recall ritual killings.
Busy with a blackmail case, Bernie is reluctant when he is asked to rejoin the Berlin police in order to track down the murderer. But when the person doing the asking is none other than head of the SD, Reinhard Heydrich, it’s not exactly a request he can turn down. As Bernie gets closer to the truth, he realises that at the heart of this case is much more than one lone madman – in fact, there is a conspiracy at work more chilling than he could ever have imagined.
Perfect for fans of Raymond Chandler and John le Carré.
*******************************
PRAISE FOR PHILIP KERR
‘Kerr leads us through the facts of history and the vagaries of human nature’ TOM HANKS
‘One of the greatest master story-tellers in English’ ALAN FURST
‘One of the most memorable and original characters’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Bitterly, darkly funny’ SUNDAY HERALD
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Reviews
Blends high-powered storytelling with a surprisingly rich piece of historical re-creation
Complex intrigue allows space for brilliantly provoking political asides and insights
Powerful period flavour; a gruff, subversive hero; Kerr delivers the goods
Pulls the strands of its politically informed story together in a finale that satisfies both detective story convention and historical truth
The second, and perhaps finest, of the Bernie Gunther novels . . . Written with bravado, invention and terrific verve, it has an irresistible freshness
Complex intrigue allows space for brilliantly provoking political asides and insights
Kerr's novels are modern classics
Bernie Gunther is one of the more interesting and original private eyes in thriller fiction
His Raymond Chandleresque mysteries about a cynical Berlin cop reluctantly working for the Nazis are [Kerr's] masterpiece
Streets ahead of most other historical thrillers in its blend of wit, careful plotting and the kind of detail that brings the past to life
