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A review by muggsyspaniel
A German Requiem: A Bernie Gunther Novel by Philip Kerr
3.0
In all honesty I probably wouldn't have read this particular book had I not had the collected trilogy edition. The first two didn't do it enough for me to have forked out for an additional book but as I had it anyway I reasoned I may as well see how the trilogy ends.
Unfortunately I felt the quality dipped slightly from the second, all three books are 3 stars but this was a low 3. The occasional references to Carol Reed's The Third Man didn't help. The Third Man showed exactly how a late 40's, Vienna set thriller should be done and reading A German Requiem made me want to watch The Third Man more than it made me want to finish A German Requiem. That's not to say it wasn't a tightly plotted thriller with good moments just like it's predecessors, it's just that much of it seemed forced. Bernie, despite all his woes, is still a wise cracking detective which lessened the impact of the descriptions of post war life in Germany/Austria. And those sex scenes still keep turning up the corners of the pages like a stale pub sandwich. Oh and that reminds me, there are still a load of those annoying Chandler inspired similes shoehorned in like so many calloused heels...
I think from now on Bernie Gunther is going to have to get along without me.
Unfortunately I felt the quality dipped slightly from the second, all three books are 3 stars but this was a low 3. The occasional references to Carol Reed's The Third Man didn't help. The Third Man showed exactly how a late 40's, Vienna set thriller should be done and reading A German Requiem made me want to watch The Third Man more than it made me want to finish A German Requiem. That's not to say it wasn't a tightly plotted thriller with good moments just like it's predecessors, it's just that much of it seemed forced. Bernie, despite all his woes, is still a wise cracking detective which lessened the impact of the descriptions of post war life in Germany/Austria. And those sex scenes still keep turning up the corners of the pages like a stale pub sandwich. Oh and that reminds me, there are still a load of those annoying Chandler inspired similes shoehorned in like so many calloused heels...
I think from now on Bernie Gunther is going to have to get along without me.