If the Dead Rise Not: Incomparable World War Two thriller starring Bernie Gunther

If you like Philip Kerr you will love this episode of the sad sack life of Bernie Gunther, former Berlin police detective, unwilling accomplice of Nazi slaughter on the Eastern Front, and would-be man of peace who just can't keep his trap shut. Kerr writes for the intelligent reader. There are plenty of cultural references that will please the well-read. And there is enough action, intrigue, and sexual interest to satisfy all requirements for a highly entertaining read. Set in pre-revolutionary Cuba, the book evokes the atmosphere of seedy decadence that will please the discerning reader who wants to be entertained by crime and history, which for Philip Kerr are more or less the same things. Highly recommended.

Ce livre est celui titré « Hôtel Adlon » pour la correspondance française. Ce qui est mauvais car il n’évoquerait au mieux que la première partie du livre qui aurait pu alors aussi bien porter le nom de l’autre palace-Casino de La Havane où s’achève l’histoire...Mais les traducteurs ont plutôt torpillé —pour ne pas dire poignardé dans le dos — que servi Kerr.On pense ici à une note assassine sur un poteau à Dachau ou aux trop longues précisions systématiques sur le RSHA & freikorps qui sont parfaitement inutiles ! (Il est aussi d’autres remarque où le traducteur étale sa science pour prendre à défaut sur des erreurs insignifiantes de dates celui qu’il est censé servir ; ce qui est hallucinant comme on le relève dans la Trilogie).Le titre authentique anglais extrait du Livre des prières est bien meilleur & le rapport fait par Kerr dans l’édition originale est fréquent & pertinent.Pour ma part, j’avais fui le titre français pas du tout attrayant.Or voilà pourtant ici l’une des meilleures, sinon la meilleure — ce que je vous dirai si elle était surclassée... — histoire de Gunther.La fin est excellente avec deux contre-pieds faits au lecteur.C’est l’ouvrage qui valu à Kerr sa distinction. D’ailleurs Il évite ici le graveleux qui est son travers pour que ses aventures ne soient pas toujours recommandables à tous mais surtout à toutes (la trilogie berlinoise étant topique...)

Great. It's Chandler plus Flan O'Brain

An excellent book, but the ending was a bit predictable. The entire series is a very reliable source of good reading, and I really enjoy the author's overall writing style. I have yet to read a book from Philip Kerr that I didn't like.

"If the Dead Rise Not" is the latest in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, and for the most part, it's a good read. Once again, the story sprawls through two periods of time in protagonist Gunther's entertaining lifeline. More than half of the novel takes place in Berlin in 1934. Germany is competing to host the 1936 Olympics (these designations were made pretty close to the event in those days). Gunther is working as a house detective at the plush Adlon Hotel after being forced out of the police force by the new Nazi government. A death in the hotel is soon linked to the discovery of a body in the Spree Canal, which turns out to be a Jewish boxer who was working on an Olympics-related construction project. Gunther is soon dealing with high-level corruption, anti-Jewish persecution by the Nazis, a dangerous American gangster and a femme fatale who could literally become the death of him.From 1934 Germany, the saga jumps to 1954 Havana, where old relationships with the same cast of characters pick up again. This part of the book is rather good at evoking the wide-open tropical playground that existed in Cuba before the downfall of the Batista dictatorship and the beginning of the Castro period. Old scores are settled and new scenarios are established for Bernie Gunther's next adventure."If the Dead..." is chock-a-block full of interesting characters and lots of period flavor. It is not an action thriller by a long shot, although Bernie Gunther seems to be increasingly taking on "super powers" as he battles the bad guys in his path and/or just struggles to survive. To get through the Nazi period in Germany, World War II, imprisonment by the Soviets, working for the Peronists and co-existing with American gangsters and Cuban police thugs, author Kerr has resorted to the creation of a very complicated character for his protagonist. There are times in this book when elements of that character construct become contradictory, leaving Gunther looking over-comprised in the interest of survival and therefore more like an anti-hero. That might be Kerr's intention.Any real reservations I have about the book stem from the hyper-snappy patter (on steroids) that characterizes the dialogue in the first part of the novel. If you can avoid the image of Humphrey Bogart speaking Gunther's lines, you've got stronger mental discipline than I do. That said, the dialogue is often quite witty and entertaining.This is an engaging, if not perfect, story in an excellent series. More to follow, no doubt.