- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd (25 Aug 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0727880845
- ISBN-13: 978-0727880840
- Product Dimensions: 21.9 x 14.6 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 720,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Silence
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Product Description
Review
"Jones ... [uses] mystery fiction to resurrect beautiful, historic Vienna."- Kirkus Reviews August 30, 2011: "10 Thrillers to Watch for This Fall List,"
Review
"Jones vividly evokes 1900 Vienna under the leadership of its notorious anti-Semitic mayor, Karl Lueger, in his splendid third whodunit featuring attorney Karl Werthen and criminologist Hanns Gross (after 2010's Requiem in Vienna). Wealthy industrialist Karl Wittgenstein asks Werthen to track down his son, Hans, who manages mining operations for him and who hasn't shown up for work in a week. Wittgenstein, who won't admit to being worried, wants Werthen to discreetly look into his son's whereabouts to reassure his wife. The evidence suggests that Hans has merely ditched a job he never enjoyed, but as Werthen starts asking basic questions, the lawyer comes to wonder whether Hans's low-pressure position might be tied to rumors of municipal corruption that may have been the reason for the suicide of a councilman friendly with Lueger. Jones poses a challenging puzzle for his savvy investigator while subtly portraying the growing threat to Europe's Jews." - Publishers Weekly starred review November 14, 2011: Agent: the John Talbot Agency. (Jan.)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
Having bought the first of this series I waited eagerly for this one. It does not disappoint. I love the characters (human) and the depiction of turn of the century Vienna - which in many ways is the main character! (bit like the batmobile in the batman films!) If you've ever visited Vienna and love the place, you will take some delight in recognising the streets, and the cafes. The story is enjoyable(I won't mention it so as not to spoil it) and the developement of advocate Werthen's relationship with his new wife and Dr Goss (not to mention the meeting with Werthen's parents) is interesting - as are the quite frequent insights to the integration of the Austrian Jewish community and the prevalent anti-semitism , especially knowing how things go within the lifetime of the book's characters.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Mystery Novel Set in 1900 Vienna
23 Oct 2011
Format:Hardcover
I'm delighted that J. Sydney Jones sent a PDF of this book to me for review. It is the third in a series of mystery novels set in historic Vienna, a city Jones lived in for some time years ago. The fact that I hadn't read the first two was no barrier to enjoyment of this one, but certainly convinced me that I must read the others very soon. They are, in order: The Empty Mirror and Requiem in Vienna, both published last year. I should add that these are print books with gorgeous covers appropriate to the setting.
Attorney and private inquiries agent (private detective) Karl Werthen is the protagonist but by no means alone in his investigations. His wife Berthe is one of my favorite characters, so level-headed, patient, and fully invested in each case. She gives him fresh eyes and good ideas. Another partner in solving the crime is a real person, Dr. Hanns Gross who was the father of criminology. He is gruff and abrupt with people but has a better grasp of the issues than anyone else.
In addition to his case, Werthen is beset by family squabbles involving his orthodox father-in-law, and his snobbish parents who apparently don't credit Werthen and his wife with the good sense to take care of their baby daughter, the apple of Werthen's eye. Leave it to the grandparents to muddy the waters when the first grandchild is born.
Werthen is at first hired to find a wealthy family's oldest son. As he goes to their mansion we learn one of the many things about 1900 Vienna that make this book so charming and interesting to read. The wife has a migraine, so city workers have been dispatched to spread straw on the street to muffle the sound of horses' hooves. There are descriptions of homes, the architecture of city buildings, the sounds and smells of the city, and the Vienna Woods. We also learn of the anti-Semitism rampant in the city so long before WW II, and the great gulf between the rich and the poor.
At the same time, a councilman who is second in power only to Mayor Karl Lueger (who has visions of undermining the rule of Emperor Franz Josef) has apparently committed suicide in his office. Werthen becomes involved in that case as well and finds himself and his family in great danger.
Two of my favorite characters are two young boys, one a son of the wealthy family, the other a street urchin that Werthen's legal assistant wants to adopt. The boys become unlikely friends. I liked both of them immensely.
I find it difficult to tell you much about the story, partly because there are several plotlines, but also because I don't want to give anything away. Let me just say that it is a great story told by an author who is capable of putting the reader in 1900 Vienna (so much so that I was startled when a horn honked outside my house), and the characters are ones that you will enjoy getting to know. My next job is to order the first two books. Highly recommended.
Attorney and private inquiries agent (private detective) Karl Werthen is the protagonist but by no means alone in his investigations. His wife Berthe is one of my favorite characters, so level-headed, patient, and fully invested in each case. She gives him fresh eyes and good ideas. Another partner in solving the crime is a real person, Dr. Hanns Gross who was the father of criminology. He is gruff and abrupt with people but has a better grasp of the issues than anyone else.
In addition to his case, Werthen is beset by family squabbles involving his orthodox father-in-law, and his snobbish parents who apparently don't credit Werthen and his wife with the good sense to take care of their baby daughter, the apple of Werthen's eye. Leave it to the grandparents to muddy the waters when the first grandchild is born.
Werthen is at first hired to find a wealthy family's oldest son. As he goes to their mansion we learn one of the many things about 1900 Vienna that make this book so charming and interesting to read. The wife has a migraine, so city workers have been dispatched to spread straw on the street to muffle the sound of horses' hooves. There are descriptions of homes, the architecture of city buildings, the sounds and smells of the city, and the Vienna Woods. We also learn of the anti-Semitism rampant in the city so long before WW II, and the great gulf between the rich and the poor.
At the same time, a councilman who is second in power only to Mayor Karl Lueger (who has visions of undermining the rule of Emperor Franz Josef) has apparently committed suicide in his office. Werthen becomes involved in that case as well and finds himself and his family in great danger.
Two of my favorite characters are two young boys, one a son of the wealthy family, the other a street urchin that Werthen's legal assistant wants to adopt. The boys become unlikely friends. I liked both of them immensely.
I find it difficult to tell you much about the story, partly because there are several plotlines, but also because I don't want to give anything away. Let me just say that it is a great story told by an author who is capable of putting the reader in 1900 Vienna (so much so that I was startled when a horn honked outside my house), and the characters are ones that you will enjoy getting to know. My next job is to order the first two books. Highly recommended.
fin de siecle scandal and skullduggery
31 Dec 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is another top flight journey back into the lost world of fin-de-siecle Vienna. Jones has tossed in red herrings and false leads enough to make it a real whodunnit, all the while giving us another painless history lesson in introducing us to personages less well known such as the fascinating Wittgenstein family, the Austrian equivalent of the Rothschilds or Rockefellers; the popular, yet anti-Semitic, mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger, who forms a surprising plot against the monarchy; and the acerbic journalist, Karl Kraus, the man who knew all the secrets of Viennese society. Throw in Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner, and Viktor Adler. All and more are brought into the story in a believable manner. All these combine to paint a portrait of a time of emperors, of radical changes in art and thought, yet still these are people with motives that are as contemporary as any of today's political scandals. A good read that should leave readers wanting to do their own further research into this long gone era.
Truth and Fiction in Old Vienna
15 Dec 2011
Format:Hardcover
La Belle Époque, (it translates as the beautiful era) was the name given, by the survivors of the Great War, to that period between May of 1871 and August of 1914. During those forty-three years, the European powers were at peace, and, looking back over the horrors and privations of the previous four years, it appeared, in retrospect, to have been a golden age.
And, partly, it was.
In the Habsburg Empire, Otto Wagner was designing marvelous buildings; Gustav Klimt was painting up a storm; Sigmund Freud was publishing his seminal works on psychoanalysis and Hans Gross was laying the foundations of modern criminology.
Yes, criminology.
Because the other side of the coin was that the Belle Époque was nowhere near as belle as the name suggests.
It was a time of great inequality, of religious prejudice, of stifling hierarchies, of outrageous privilege and of considerable murder and mayhem.
It is also the time in which J. Sydney Jones sets his novels, the most recent of which is THE SILENCE.
The Silence (Viennese Mysteries)
The place: Vienna; the year: 1900; the principal protagonist: a lawyer we've met twice before (in THE EMPTY MIRROR and REQUIEM IN VIENNA) by the name of Karl Werthen.
I'm certain Werthen is a creature of Jones' imagination, but I'm not entirely sure about many of the other characters. One of the author's admirable qualities is his splendid ability to mix fact and fiction, transforming every book in his series from a mere mystery to a primer of place and time.
And, speaking for myself, I'm never quite sure how much of any Jones book is true and how much is not.
In this installment, we reencounter Klimt and Gross (to name just two of his continuing characters) and meet Karl Lueger, the populist, anti-Semitic mayor of the city and Karl Wittgenstein, Austrian steel magnate, and friend of Andrew Carnegie.
And both the politician and the industrialist play principal roles.
The plot is complex and riveting. Towards the end of the book, the revelations come thick and fast. And, just as you think you have the whole thing figured out, Jones springs another surprise.
He serves it all up, in his typical fashion, with a heady mixture of the sights, the sounds, the smells and the tastes of those distant days.
Most of the tastes, I admit, don't appeal to me at all.
Except for the liver-dumpling soup.
For some inexplicable reason, I've always been fond of leberknödelsuppe.
But foods aside, there's nothing, absolutely nothing, in The Silence not to like.
If you've read Jones before, let me assure you, you don't want to miss this one. He's as good as ever.
And, if you haven't, my suggestion is to get cracking with the series.
You'll be glad you did.
And, partly, it was.
In the Habsburg Empire, Otto Wagner was designing marvelous buildings; Gustav Klimt was painting up a storm; Sigmund Freud was publishing his seminal works on psychoanalysis and Hans Gross was laying the foundations of modern criminology.
Yes, criminology.
Because the other side of the coin was that the Belle Époque was nowhere near as belle as the name suggests.
It was a time of great inequality, of religious prejudice, of stifling hierarchies, of outrageous privilege and of considerable murder and mayhem.
It is also the time in which J. Sydney Jones sets his novels, the most recent of which is THE SILENCE.
The Silence (Viennese Mysteries)
The place: Vienna; the year: 1900; the principal protagonist: a lawyer we've met twice before (in THE EMPTY MIRROR and REQUIEM IN VIENNA) by the name of Karl Werthen.
I'm certain Werthen is a creature of Jones' imagination, but I'm not entirely sure about many of the other characters. One of the author's admirable qualities is his splendid ability to mix fact and fiction, transforming every book in his series from a mere mystery to a primer of place and time.
And, speaking for myself, I'm never quite sure how much of any Jones book is true and how much is not.
In this installment, we reencounter Klimt and Gross (to name just two of his continuing characters) and meet Karl Lueger, the populist, anti-Semitic mayor of the city and Karl Wittgenstein, Austrian steel magnate, and friend of Andrew Carnegie.
And both the politician and the industrialist play principal roles.
The plot is complex and riveting. Towards the end of the book, the revelations come thick and fast. And, just as you think you have the whole thing figured out, Jones springs another surprise.
He serves it all up, in his typical fashion, with a heady mixture of the sights, the sounds, the smells and the tastes of those distant days.
Most of the tastes, I admit, don't appeal to me at all.
Except for the liver-dumpling soup.
For some inexplicable reason, I've always been fond of leberknödelsuppe.
But foods aside, there's nothing, absolutely nothing, in The Silence not to like.
If you've read Jones before, let me assure you, you don't want to miss this one. He's as good as ever.
And, if you haven't, my suggestion is to get cracking with the series.
You'll be glad you did.
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