Self's Punishment: 1 (Gerhard Self) - Softcover

Schlink, Bernhard; Popp, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037570907X ISBN 13: 9780375709074

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group, 2005

Synopsis

As a young man, Gerhard Self served as a Nazi prosecutor. After the war he was barred from the judicial system and so became a private investigator. He has never, however, forgotten his complicity in evil.

Hired by a childhood friend, the aging Self searches for a prankish hacker who's invaded the computer system of a Rhineland chemical plant. But his investigation leads to murder, and from there to the charnel house of Germany's past, where the secrets of powerful corporations lie among the bones of numberless dead. What ensues is a taut, psychologically complex, and densely atmospheric moral thriller featuring a shrewd, self-mocking protagonist.

About this title

Product Description

Sixty-eight years old; a smoker of Sweet Aftons, a dedicated drinker of Aviateur cocktails, and the owner of a charismatic cat named Turbo, Gerhard Self is an unconventional private detective. When Self is summoned by his long-time friend and rival Korten to investigate several incidents of computer-hacking at a chemicals company, he finds himself dealing with an unfamiliar kind of crime that throws up many challenges. But in his search for the hacker, Self stumbles upon something far more sinister. His investigation eventually unearths dark secrets that have been hidden for decades, and forces Self to confront his own demons.

Review

Praise for the Gerhard Self series:

"Like any fictional detective worth spending time with, Self . . . transmits a strong sense of being comfortable with who he is, imperfections and all."
--The New York Times

"Darkly Intriguing. . . . Entertaining."
--O, The Oprah Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 037570907X
• ISBN 13: 9780375709074
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248