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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2010 > March > 30 > Entry
Two times the crimes…
“If the Dead Rise Not,” by Philip Kerr (Marian Wood/Putnam, 437 pages, $26.95)
Some regular readers of this column might recall my review a year ago of Philip Kerr’s novel “A Quiet Flame.” As that book opened we found Bernie Gunther, a former Berlin police detective fleeing from Germany to Argentina. The year was 1950, and Gunther was disguised as a fugitive Nazi war criminal.
He got involved in a murder investigation in Buenos Aires, a crime that bore disturbing similarities to murders he investigated years before in Germany. As “A Quiet Flame” ended he was being expelled from Argentina — his next stop was to be Cuba.
In Kerr’s new novel, I expected Gunther to be in Havana, but he wasn’t. As “If the Dead Rise Not” starts, Gunther is back in Berlin for an extended flashback to his days as a hotel detective. He had lost his police job when the Nazis took over.
The year is 1934, and Germany is preparing for the 1936 Olympics. A guest at the hotel is an American gangster who seems to be making deals that relate to the Nazi’s construction of the Olympic facilities. When another hotel guest dies mysteriously, Bernie is drawn into the investigation.
This magnificent Berlin flashback lasts for 280 pages. The second part of the novel occurs 12 years later in Cuba. That same American gangster now owns a luxury hotel there. Kerr does a splendid job portraying moral ambiguity. Bernie Gunther is a deeply conflicted character — he can commit evil while attempting to do good. Then he must live with the outcomes of his deeds.
“Still Midnight,” by Denise Mina (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown, 342 pages, $24.99)
Denise Mina is a crime fiction writer from Glasgow, Scotland. Her stories unfold upon the gritty streets of her hometown. Her latest effort, “Still Midnight,” introduces readers to one of her most complex characters yet; Alex Morrow is a Glasgow cop with a complicated past.
The book opens with a home invasion. Two bumbling criminals force their way into a house demanding that the residents identify an individual the family claims they do not know. One of the invaders becomes agitated and shoots their daughter. They then kidnap an elderly resident and flee.
When Alex Morrow arrives at the crime scene, she discovers some facts that don’t seem to add up. Meanwhile, the kidnappers demand a huge ransom for their captive. The police cannot figure out why this family was chosen as a target. They don’t seem to have much money, so why them?
Mina concocts a masterful plot that juxtaposes the family tragedy that Morrow is investigating with her own personal heartbreak. She is another conflicted character; Morrow despises her boss, she can’t communicate with her husband, and she fears her past will be revealed. She is angry about almost everything.
This tension and conflict is heightened by the situation with the hostage as his incompetent captors make one mistake after another. “Still Midnight” is a smashing read that could mark Mina’s breakthrough into the upper echelon of crime novelists. Both books are well worth the time.
Vick Mickunas
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Comments
By Laura
March 30, 2010 11:50 AM | Link to this
Huge Denise Mina fan here; book on hold at library and can’t wait. Ian Rankin said if you want to know a city, read crime novels set there. Reading her books, I’m not sure I want to go to Glasgow … but I’ll happily read about it as long as Denise Mina feels like writing about it.