I was reading the Bernie Gunther series by the year the books are set in, and then Philip Kerr messed up my attempted timeline with two books that sneakily combined prewar and postwar plots. First, "The One From the Other" (book #4 in the series) turned out to have an intro section set in 1937, while the most part of the book is set in 1949 (of course, these two turn out to have a connection). Then, “A Quiet Flame” (#5) turned out to switch between a 1932 Berlin murder story and a later, dark, incredible plot in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1950. Again, the Berlin backstory is elemental to the Buenos Aires plot. “A Quiet Flame” is a straight sequel to "The One From the Other", in fact these two could have been published in one (albeit very thick) volume. The previous book ends with Bernie Gunther forced to flee from Germany to South America along with the Nazi war criminals he was investigating. "A Quiet Flame" picks up that same story, with Bernie now in Buenos Aires, Argentina, more or less against his will an agent of Peron's infamous secret police.Like its' predecessor, “A Quiet Flame” is an insanely great thriller, with the backstory of the coming to power of the Nazis in 1932, the (at times quite nauseating) glimpses of both the WWII actions of the escaped Nazi war criminals living in exile in Argentina, and the incredible cruelties of the postwar Peron dictatorship. As with "The One From the Other", I wish the depictions had been a work of fiction. This was an Audible book, and Jeff Harding did a truly fantastic reading.Next up, must go back and reread the first half (and of corse also the rest of) "If the Dead Rise Not" (#6, 1934/1954) and then "Field Gray" (#7, 1954). Another tale of Bernie Gunther and as it happens it seems I am reading the series backwards, which does not matter to much as the books can be read in any sequence and are easy to pick up and read as stand alone.Bernie Gunther arrives in Argentina of the Perones after having escaped Europe with the help of ODESSA, the organisation aimed at helping Nazis escape Europe after the war. As always mr. Kerr does write about some episodes in and around the WWII that are interesting and not all that well known and a post war Argentina with a Juan Peron and his wife Evita running the country gets a fairly dark shadow thrown upon it which does take the fun out of that popular musical of Evita Peron.Argentina and some of its neighbouring countries are apparent a safe haven for escaped Nazis and as we begin the story one of Bernie's fellow travelers seems to be a certain Mengele, now that name made me sit up and take notice. Gunther gets drawn into an investigation by some important person in the police department, who turns out to be much more, concerning missing girls who were found mutilated at a later date. The interesting fact for Bernie is the fact that he had a similar case working for the Berlin police just before the Nazi putsch. And he never got to finish or close the case.The story in the book runs on two tracks Berlin just before Germany fell into the hands of the Nazis and Argentina of the dictatorship of Peron. And both have a lot in common, more than one would expect. And Bernie does his job even at his own expense and his own inability to keep his mouth shut at appropriate times.One of the better parts of the Bernie Gunther books is the history he uses in the stories. This one tells you a lot more about Argentina and the Nazis that lived there and their influence on the South American nations. It leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth the next time you'll see Evita the musical.And it makes you wonder how quickly Europe and the US seemed to forget about the military refugees in South America. Was it inconvenient or disinterest in actually punishing the criminals that got away from the Nuremberg trials. While this book is a smoothly written thriller it does leave you with a lot of questions about all those fair haired beautiful women that cheered their South American teams on during the World championship football in Brasil this year. It seems to be almost as scary as the war itself this aftermath in another part of the world.Great read, intelligent historical thriller that is well worth your time.
What do You think about Une Douce Flamme (2010)?
Sometimes hard to follow but very disturbing - I do like Bernie.
—nickname
This series is starting to blend together for me but I like it.
—Tdean25
Liked it - reminds me of a Philip Marlowe book - clever dialog.
—lucosta
Goeie serie, de boeken over Benie Gunther
—Sambenson8884
