This was a great period detective thriller -- but an excessively graphic one. Mr. Kerr earns high points for his research and detail but the rape scen..Show More »e was, in my mind, too much. If anything will keep me from purchasing his books in the future, it is the nightmares that I have had after listening to the graphic details of that scene.

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Just finishing this first of three of the series of novels by Philip Kerr - can't wait to dig into the next installment.. notwithstanding that these a..Show More »re rather dark but funny (but only in that 1930's bleak prewar Germany kind of funny) novels.

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This could have been a good listen but for the fact that the narrator who was supposed to be German had an American accnet which reminds one of the Mi..Show More »cky Spillane radio series. Yet the narrator showed that he was quite capable of sounding like German accented English. This spoiled it for me.

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I haven't finished the series, but this one may be the best of the bunch. Standing alone it deserves five stars across the board. Narration by Paul ..Show More »Hecht is, to my ear, his best effort to date. Flash backs are clear easy to follow and directly relevant to the point of departure. I wish more authors understood their proper use. One hardly need suspend disbelief to engage with this book. Enjoy! It's a great read.

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This book is after "A Quiet Flame" in the Bernie Gunther series, which is not on audible. I tired of waiting for audible add that book, so I found a p..Show More »rint ed. and read it before listening to this one.

It's very disappointing listening to a Bernie Gunther story with the coarse, monotone voice of Paul Hecht instead of the smooth and melodious John Lee. There's a very striking difference and while Hecht is competent with the various pronunciations, he doesn't give it that same kind of intonation or German accent that Lee provides with flare.

Eventually, the story (begun in the time preceding the Berlin Olympics) grows into a compelling one and the narrator is not as much of an issue. The first part of the book takes place in this pre-Olympics era of Berlin and is centered on interconnected events surrounding the preparations for these Olympics.

As those events near resolution though, the story jumps ahead to 1950's Cuba. Here Gunther is living under an assumed identity gained at the end of "The One from the Other", and follows events in Argentina that took place in "A Quiet Flame". Some of this is referred to in passing as the story moves along, but it isn't imperative that you have read "A Quiet Flame" to follow this story. (I do think "A Quiet Flame" is well worth a read however, and is in fact one of the more poignant additions to the series).

In Cuba, Bernie is reunited with some characters he met in 1930's Berlin, and a new case develops. The mystery in this part jumps around and isn't as compelling as the earlier one. I found it rather transparent about what really happens, and was unsurprised by any revelations at the end.

Still it's a solid addition the Gunther Series, and as it looks like future books are narrated by Paul Hecht as well, if you want to listen the rest of the series I would try getting used to the narrator now. He's not great, but after you've adjusted to him, he doesn't really distract from the story, it just won't have that same flare.

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This book covers the period's of 1930's, 40's and 50's in Germany. Paul Hecht does a great job of narration. This book looks at WWII from the view o..Show More »f a German policeman. It is very interesting and the treatment of German POW by the Russian was accurately portrayed in the story. I found myself checking up on various events described in the book to see how historically accurate they were. I must say the ending of the book took me by surprise. I was going straight and the story took a big turn. Exciting. This was my first Phillip Kerr book.

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