Author:Luke MacAllin
The debut, “The Man from Berlin” is jaw droppingly good. We get a wholly formed universe in Croatia in WW2, and wholly formed characters without a cliche among them.
Gregor Reinhardt is a German WW1 hero, with an Iron Cross. After a time with Kripo, he is now Abwehr in Croatia where his usual intelligence gathering activities are interrupted by a brutal murder that he has to investigate.
The rest of the series obviously involve crimes, but they are so much more than that. Reinhardt has to struggle with the need to be a decent man in an indecent place as he deal with moral and political complexity.
I’ve read all three (The Pale House and Divided City) and got sucked in entirely. The first two are clearly subjects close to the author’s heart (Yugoslavia) and the third rounds out the series beautifully.
I don’t want to give spoilers, but the idea of decency and redemption run through all 3, and in a non-preachy way.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Quality crime.
WW2.
Introspective hard man coppers.
One thing you’ve learned
More about the WW2 impact in Yugoslavia than I would ever cared to learn
He sounds positively Guntheresque!
Joking aside, as a big fan of the Bernie Gunther series these sound right up my alley. Duly ordered!
Reinhardt update:
I am halfway through book 1 and am pleased to report that I am hooked. Fantastic attention to detail, good, well-rounded characterization…looking forward to diving into books 2 and 3.
Think I might have to investigate too. Have been on a massive Gunther binge recently thanks to South Manchester’s charity shops. Brilliant books.
Another big Bernie fan (just finishing the new Greeks Bearing Gifts – watch this space), so these sound well worth investigating.
They’ve all cropped up as Kindle cheapies on occasion, read all three and enjoyed.
Still prefer the Bernie Gunther series, even though it’s gone way beyond WW2.
…has it got to 1971 yet?
Timeline jumps about a lot, but not that far.
Great series. Ticked lots of boxes for me.
Must rewatch it.
I wonder are there any plans to film Phillip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series.
Same sort of vibe.
Both Tom Hanks and Woody Harrelson have been linked at times with a HBO mini series, although all seems to have gone quiet recently.
I had a go at The Man from Berlin, but didn’t really get on with it – found it a bit slow and over-researched, if you know what I mean. I must take another look.
It’s not exactly packed with humor, but the character development is excellent.