The Other Side of Silence: Bernie Gunther Thriller 11 - Softcover

Kerr, Philip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784295590 ISBN 13: 9781784295592

Publisher: Quercus, 2016

Synopsis

The French Riviera, 1956. A world-weary Bernie Gunther is working under a false name as a hotel concierge. His attempts to keep his nose clean go horribly awry when a wartime acquaintance sucks him into a blackmail plot involving one of the most famous British writers of the 20th century and the Cambridge Spies.

Bernie is missing his old detective life when his past walks through the door in the shape of Harold Hennig, a former captain in the Nazi security service - the man who, in 1945, was responsible for the deaths of thousands, among them a woman Bernie loved. Hennig now enjoys a lucrative career as a blackmailer.

Hennig's target on the Cote d'Azur is a famous resident with a dark past and plenty to hide - the writer, Somerset Maugham. A shared love of bridge draws Bernie to Maugham's magnificent villa, where Maugham tells him of the existence of a very compromising photograph. Taken in 1937, it shows Maugham among a group of naked men beside a swimming pool - one of whom is the infamous spy and homosexual, Guy Burgess, who, with Donald Maclean, has recently defected to Moscow. Hennig has the photograph and is demanding $50,000 for its release.

Bernie is reluctant to become Maugham's agent but his former life has made him as vulnerable to blackmail as Maugham himself. Not only that - he has a massive score to settle with Hennig.

About this title

Review

A brilliantly twisting tale of espionage and betrayal (Sunday Times)

The Other Side of Silence makes for a welcome break from the relentlessly grim atmosphere in which Bernie is accustomed to working (Washington Post)

Kerr's novels are modern classics (Simon Sebag Montefiore)

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 - Sunday Times (Sunday Times)

Bernie Gunther is one of the more interesting and original private eyes in thriller fiction (The Times)

His Raymond Chandleresque mysteries about a cynical Berlin cop reluctantly working for the Nazis are [Kerr's] masterpiece (The Sun)

As near perfection as makes no difference (Crime Fiction Lover)

Brilliantly done, of course (Weekend Sport)

From the Author

Philip Kerr was born in 1966 and read Law at Birmingham University. Having learned nothing as an undergraduate lawyer he stayed on as postgraduate and read Law and Philosophy, most of this German, which was when and where he first became interested in German twentieth century history and, in particular, the Nazis. Following university he worked as a copywriter at a number of advertising agencies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, during which time he wrote no advertising slogans of any note. He spent most of his time in advertising researching an idea he'd had for a novel about a Berlin-based policeman, in 1936. And following several trips to Germany - and a great deal of walking around the mean streets of Berlin - his first novel, March Violets, was published in 1989 and introduced the world to Bernie Gunther. "I loved Berlin before the wall came down; I'm pretty fond of the place now, but back then it was perhaps the most atmospheric city on earth. Having a dark, not to say black sense of humour myself, it's always been somewhere I feel very comfortable." Having left advertising behind, Kerr worked for the London Evening Standard and produced two more novels featuring Bernie Gunther: The Pale Criminal (1990) and A German Requiem (1991). These were published as an omnibus edition, Berlin Noir in 1992. Thinking he might like to write something else, he did and published a host of other novels before returning to Bernie Gunther after a gap of sixteen years, with The One from the Other (2007). Says Kerr, "I never intended to leave such a large gap between Book 3 and Book 4; a lot of other stuff just got in the way; and I feel kind of lucky that people are still as interested in this guy as I am. If anything I'm more interested in him now than I was back in the day." Two more novels followed, A Quiet Flame (2008) and If the Dead Rise Not (2009). Field Gray (2010) is perhaps his most ambitious novel yet that features Bernie Gunther. Crossing a span of more than twenty years, it takes Bernie from Cuba, to New York, to Landsberg Prison in Germany where he vividly describes a story that covers his time in Paris, Toulouse, Minsk, Konigsberg, and his life as a German POW in Soviet Russia. Kerr is already working on an eighth title in the series. "I don't know how long I can keep doing them; I'll probably write one too many; but I don't feel that's happened yet." As P.B.Kerr Kerr is also the author of the popular 'Children of the Lamp' series.

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1784295590
• ISBN 13: 9781784295592
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400