Prague Fatale
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Review
'Mr Kerr just gets better and better' Sunday Telegraph.
'Prague Fatale remains as absorbing as its companions in the series' The Independent.
'a splendid locked room mystery told with customary wit ... insight and compassion. A rattling good read' Scotsman.
'Kerr is a good, suspenseful writer' The Big Issue.
'Prague Fatale is, quite simply, an excellent novel, evocative and compelling, intelligent and thrilling' Euro Crime.
'as brilliant as ever' Sun.
'Prague Fatale remains as absorbing as its companions in the series' The Independent.
'a splendid locked room mystery told with customary wit ... insight and compassion. A rattling good read' Scotsman.
'Kerr is a good, suspenseful writer' The Big Issue.
'Prague Fatale is, quite simply, an excellent novel, evocative and compelling, intelligent and thrilling' Euro Crime.
'as brilliant as ever' Sun.
Product Description
Philip Kerr's sequence of historical thrillers featuring private detective Bernie Gunther forms a body of work comparable to the great series of the two masters of the genre, Len Deighton and John le Carré. The Berlin Noir Trilogy quickly established Kerr and Gunther as the perfect combination of writer, character, setting and genre. These gritty, noir thrillers, narrated in Gunther's wry, sardonic voice, range all over Europe and beyond. They span a 20-year period from the mid-30s to the mid-50s, covering the build up to World War 2, the war itself and finally its bitter aftermath. With impeccable research that is accurate in every detail yet never interferes with narrative pace, Philip Kerr has created an epic series of thrillers that deserve all the praise that has been heaped upon them. Prague Fatale is Bernie Gunther's eighth outing. Set in Prague in 1942, it delivers all the fast-paced and quick-witted action that we have come to expect from Philip Kerr. It is an outstanding thriller by a writer at the top of his game.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A hard book to pigeonhole, this. It starts as standard Bernie Gunther fare - grimy crime in Berlin, bars, tarts with hearts of gold, and so on. It ends in tatters. In between, it becomes a curious locked-door mystery from the golden age of British crime-fiction - butler, library, drinks before dinner - but with a cast of Nazi monsters as the country-house guests, and no Miss Marple in sight. If this is black humour, it's very black.
Need I say that it's excellent, spell-binding, hard to put down? In particular, Chapter 13, which is 144 pages long (yes, 144 pages) is a sustained piece of gripping procedural drama; Bernie Gunther at his stroppy best. Long may he continue.
Need I say that it's excellent, spell-binding, hard to put down? In particular, Chapter 13, which is 144 pages long (yes, 144 pages) is a sustained piece of gripping procedural drama; Bernie Gunther at his stroppy best. Long may he continue.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Philip Kerr's 8th book in his Bernie Gunther series, "Prague Fatale" is a return to the five star writing after "Field Grey", his 7th book, that was good, not great. Kerr's novels are best tagged as historical mysteries, but with less emphasis on the "mysteries" and more on the "historical". Kerr does an excellent job in evoking both the times of Germany in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's as well places. Some of the action in the eight books happens in such far flung locals as Cuba, South America, and the US, but most occur in Germany, Russia, and, in this case, Bohemia. One of the flukes of the series is that Philip Kerr doesn't write them in chronological order, so Bernie Gunther's time-set in this book is in early 1940's Berlin and Prague, but earlier books have had him in post-WW2 adventures.
In "Prague", Bernie Gunther is back working for the Berlin police and is back at the "Alex", the main Berlin police station in the Alexanderplatz. He had been serving in the SD, in Russia and had taken part in killings of partisans. Kerr is somewhat murky about Gunther's political allegiances; he's not a Nazi-party member, but is a member of the SD. He doesn't like Hitler but has been coerced into serving in various German army positions. Gunther seems to twist his body - and the reader - into contortionist positions in his attempts to explain who he was to whom.
In Berlin, in the summer of 1941, Bernie Gunther is trying to track down a knife-wielding killer when he meets up with a "good-time girl", who he rescues from what appeared to be a rape-attack. They begin a relationship - Gunther is a long-time widower and the woman is a recent widow - and when Reinhard Heydrich taps Bernie Gunther to serve him in his new post in Prague, Gunther and the young woman move to Nazi-occupied Prague. Various murders ensue and Gunther is charged by Heydrich to solve the murders. Added to the murders is the ever-present threat by Czech nationalists to disrupt the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia.
"Prague Fatale" is a fast-paced book in which the reader becomes as confused as Bernie Gunther. But the old Berlin "bull" figures things out and the ending is tidily tied up. Bernie lives another day - don't even think you can read this series "in order" - and Philip Kerr has written another excellent novel.
In "Prague", Bernie Gunther is back working for the Berlin police and is back at the "Alex", the main Berlin police station in the Alexanderplatz. He had been serving in the SD, in Russia and had taken part in killings of partisans. Kerr is somewhat murky about Gunther's political allegiances; he's not a Nazi-party member, but is a member of the SD. He doesn't like Hitler but has been coerced into serving in various German army positions. Gunther seems to twist his body - and the reader - into contortionist positions in his attempts to explain who he was to whom.
In Berlin, in the summer of 1941, Bernie Gunther is trying to track down a knife-wielding killer when he meets up with a "good-time girl", who he rescues from what appeared to be a rape-attack. They begin a relationship - Gunther is a long-time widower and the woman is a recent widow - and when Reinhard Heydrich taps Bernie Gunther to serve him in his new post in Prague, Gunther and the young woman move to Nazi-occupied Prague. Various murders ensue and Gunther is charged by Heydrich to solve the murders. Added to the murders is the ever-present threat by Czech nationalists to disrupt the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia.
"Prague Fatale" is a fast-paced book in which the reader becomes as confused as Bernie Gunther. But the old Berlin "bull" figures things out and the ending is tidily tied up. Bernie lives another day - don't even think you can read this series "in order" - and Philip Kerr has written another excellent novel.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love this series and I found this tome, number 8, the most original so far. Bernie and Heydrich are starring in an Agatha Christie pastiche taking place around Heydrich's assassination. Many more (real life) villains are met, and I found mysefl looking them up on Internet as I went. Amazing research as usual from the author. This book is not to be missed, and I rate it 11/10. Definitely one of my favourites in the series, although they are all perfect (except maybe "if the dead rise not").
Can't wait for the next one. I am betting on something with Goering, we will see.
Can't wait for the next one. I am betting on something with Goering, we will see.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Prague far from Fatale
I have read most of Philip Kerr's novels featuring Bernie Gunter and never fail to be anything but deeply satisfied with the read.
The books work on a number of levels. Read more
The books work on a number of levels. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Wladyslaw mejka
Bernie tackles a locked room mystery
The four great strengths of Kerr's Bernie Gunther series is the historicization within the Nazi regime, a strong noir voice, the lead character - a self-loathing, cynical,... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Rob Kitchin
A henchman's eye view
After the sprawling odyssey of Field Grey, the previous novel in this series, this book takes on the more intimate template of an Agatha Christie "country house murder" - except... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Aidan J. McQuade
disapponted
My fisrt Phillip Kerr book having been recommended by other reviews turned to disappointment when it turned out to be a routine Agatha Christie style murder detactive story... Read more
Published 2 months ago by peterd
More of the same please
Another fantastic read from Mr Kerr, a lot better than the last Bernie Gunther novel (which I still enjoyed) Looking foward to the next one!!
Published 2 months ago by Brynos Hampshire
A Solid 8th Outing for Bernie Gunther
If you've read any of the seven previous books in the Bernie Gunther series, you'll know that Gunther had some personal history with SS Reichsprotector Heydrich -- the architect of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by A. Ross
Another winner from Philip Kerr
An engrossing tale of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia
With a very clever plot and the usual terrific Bernie Gunther doing his best to twart the Nazi regime. Read more
With a very clever plot and the usual terrific Bernie Gunther doing his best to twart the Nazi regime. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mysteryfan8
Not much of a mystery, but an entertaining real history based story
The latest installment of Bernie Gunther's saga. As always, a story told through the cynical eyes of an intriguing anti-hero who sees beyond the illusion of Third Reich's world... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Giovanni Anchois
Bernie Gunther in 1941 Prague--an excellent murder thriller - 4+
Philip Kerr continues to build and improve on the Inspector Bernie Gunther series with this latest episode in the detective's perilous WW II-era career. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Blue in Washington
BERNIE GUNTHER FOR PRESIDENT
Nothing lifts my spirits, nor depresses me, as much as another Philip Kerr novel on sale at the airport book shop. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Carson Dyle
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