Scan barcode
A review by michaelnlibrarian
A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr
5.0
I am unsure how many of this series I have read - most of them, I guess. Since the different numbered new titles added to the series do not always follow chronologically from the one before, it is easy to lose track.
As is often the case with Bernie Gunther novels, the novel starts in one setting then moves to another - in this case, much of the story takes place in the city of Smolensk, Russia (then part of the Soviet Union). Smolensk fell to the Nazis during WWII and was occupied by them for several years before the Red Army retook the city. This novel describes some of what that must have been like - as often is the case, there is some lesser known history presented along with the story.
This novel also features (as with some of the others) the use of real life historical figures as characters. I'm not so sure about this on some level, but really I guess why not.
A small part of the story involves research in the Smolensk NKVD (ie, KGB) archives - as it happens, the Communist Party archives in Smolensk were removed by the Nazis and a large portion of the materials were moved outside the post-WWII Soviet bloc, to be used for research on the Stalinist purges (and other topics). Presumably there really was a separate NKVD archives - at any rate, an unusual thing for a detective in a war setting to do archival research.
I was sad to learn (almost a year after the fact) that Mr. Kerr died in 2018. He was a remarkable novelist and writing talent.
As is often the case with Bernie Gunther novels, the novel starts in one setting then moves to another - in this case, much of the story takes place in the city of Smolensk, Russia (then part of the Soviet Union). Smolensk fell to the Nazis during WWII and was occupied by them for several years before the Red Army retook the city. This novel describes some of what that must have been like - as often is the case, there is some lesser known history presented along with the story.
This novel also features (as with some of the others) the use of real life historical figures as characters. I'm not so sure about this on some level, but really I guess why not.
A small part of the story involves research in the Smolensk NKVD (ie, KGB) archives - as it happens, the Communist Party archives in Smolensk were removed by the Nazis and a large portion of the materials were moved outside the post-WWII Soviet bloc, to be used for research on the Stalinist purges (and other topics). Presumably there really was a separate NKVD archives - at any rate, an unusual thing for a detective in a war setting to do archival research.
I was sad to learn (almost a year after the fact) that Mr. Kerr died in 2018. He was a remarkable novelist and writing talent.