Product Description
Germany, 1949: Amid the chaos of defeat, it's a place of dirty deals, rampant greed, fleeing Nazis, and all the intrigue and deceit readers have come to expect from this immensely talented thriller writer. In The One from the Other, Hitler's legacy lives on. For Bernie Gunther, Berlin has become too dangerous, and he now works as a private detective in Munich. Business is slow and his funds are dwindling when a woman hires him to investigate her husband's disappearance. No, she doesn't want him back-he's a war criminal. She merely wants confirmation that he is dead. It's a simple job, but in postwar Germany, nothing is simple-nothing is what it appears to be. Accepting the case,Bernie takes on far more than he'd bargained for, and before long, he is on the run, facing enemies from every side.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 28 reviews)

Not up to usual standards

Carr's earlier Berlin stories were better. He seems less sure of himself here, less familiar with the background. The story is marred by cliches and stereotypes. Still better than most.
October 24, 2008

Post WWII Noir

I am a big fan of Philip Kerr's. I first read the Berlin Noir trilogy about ten years ago and loved them. My reading tends more toward history than mysteries, but I enjoyed those three novels immenesely.

Kerr is able to take genre fiction to another, higher level, without it becoming so refined as to lose its soul.

And I liked The One from the Other very much. The author captures the same dark atmosphere of Germany in the 40s. The main character Berhard Gunther, is believeable as a hard boiled private detective in post WWII Germany. Other characters in the book are finely drawn, even though a pretty good percentage of them are involved in some serious deception.

I do share a critism raised elsewhere about the plot being a disappointment. Gunther walks into a trap that even I saw coming, and it strains belief that a savvy detective would have missed the clues.

This is very good book, and if you liked Berlin Noir, I doubt this will disappoint. You certainly can enjoy this without having read the earlier Berlin books, but to be honest, I'd recommend them over this.

September 12, 2008

Highly enjoyable

Kerr expertly captures "the Ratline" in this action mystery by which Nazis were spirited out of Europe to South America. Frederick Forsyth started it in the "Odessa File" many years ago.

Kerr's complex plotting is understandable, the scenes of Germany and Austria atmospheric, the fight and violence scenes very detailed in that grotesque way but it is that fictionalized sense of historical events blended into the plot line which make the book a fine enjoyable read.

Kerr's repeated usage of similes, metaphors and wise guy remarks by his hero, Bernie Gunther should be scaled back as they distract and slow down the story line. One would expect that the age of hard boiled Philip Marlowe knock offs might end some day.
July 29, 2008

an excellent return to form

Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books are all outstanding historical noir detective fiction, and this fourth entry in the series is no exception. Kerr draws vivid and memorable characters, does great work with shades of grey in personalities, and writes fluidly and with great humor. Gunther is not so much a detective as a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from scene to scene and episode to episode, more generally at the whim and behest of his enemies than of his own volition. But he is never at a loss for a comment on anything.

The plot is what it is; these things are never completely believable. I think one reads Kerr books for the use of the language, his absolutely meticulous research on people, places, businesses and not excluding streetmaps, and for demonstrating complete mastery of the noir writing craft. If Chandler would have written historically based fiction, this is what it would read like. Of all four Gunther books I would perhaps rate this one third (better than the Pale Criminal) but it's close, each one is most definitely worth your time if you are interested at all in this genre.
July 27, 2008

Bernie Gunther Is Back!

Phillip Kerr has a real sense of texture and detail for noir and the era that created it. Although he has successfully stepped outside of the detective genre in exercising this expertise (Hitler's Peace), somehow this stuff just seems to work best with the archetypal character of noir, the smart-mouthed detective. Kerr first became noticed in America (he's British) for his Berlin Noir trilogy, featuring gumshoe Bernie Gunther. Think Phillip Marlowe as an anti-Nazi German caught up in pre-war and wartime existential apocalypse. With The One From The Other, Gunther is back, albeit in Cold War Germany, and the moral hangover is palpable. I recommend you read the trilogy first, and then you will have no choice but to read this one. Kerr rises above typical genre writing but still provides the guilty pleasure.
July 13, 2008

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