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The Other Side of Silence
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The Other Side of Silence
Unavailable
The Other Side of Silence
Audiobook10 hours

The Other Side of Silence

Written by Philip Kerr

Narrated by John Lee

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

When Bernie Gunther takes on a blackmail case and gets involved in the affairs of British spies, the former detective risks exposing his own dark past in this thrilling novel hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "one of Kerr's best."

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, 1956. Having gone into hiding in the French Riviera, Bernie Gunther is working as a concierge at the Grand-Hôtel under a false name. His days and nights consist of maneuvering drunks to their rooms, shooing away prostitutes in search of trade, and answering the mindless questions posed by the absurdly rich guests--needless to say, he's miserable. Now, the man who was once a homicide detective and unwilling SS officer in Hitler's Third Reich is simply the person you turn to for touring tips or if you need a bridge partner.

As it just so happens, a rich and famous writer needs someone to fill the fourth seat in a regular game at the Villa Mauresque. But Somerset Maugham wants Bernie to help him get out of a game far more dangerous than bridge. Maugham is being blackmailed--perhaps because of his unorthodox lifestyle, or perhaps because, once upon a time, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service...

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 29, 2016
ISBN9780399566431
Unavailable
The Other Side of Silence
Author

Philip Kerr

Philip Kerr is the bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther thrillers, for which he received a CWA Dagger Award. Born in Edinburgh, he now lives in London. He is a life-long supporter of Arsenal. Follow @theScottManson on Twitter.

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Reviews for The Other Side of Silence

Rating: 3.9025464406779657 out of 5 stars
4/5

118 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The blossom of Bernie has faded. Kerr's first Bernie Gunther mysteries grabbed you. They felt like Sam Spade's smart-assed twin was taking names in Nazi Germany. This book, number 9 in the series, shows its age. Bernie tries to smartmouth, but he's burnt out. Europe was burnt out too at the time, so maybe everything fits together.

    As usual, Kerr's plotting is involved, ingenious, and follows the normal twisted path to the ending. The writing feels a bit faded. But the bad guys (everyone is bad even the Brits) are great.

    I liked you, I just didn't love you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Hidden, whereabouts unknown, our narrator takes us to the Riviera and immerses us in a post-WW2 milieu of spies and former spies - and, lots of people who are not quite what they represent themselves to be...[in progress]
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The latest in a series of espionage books focusing on an agent named Bernie Gunther. The book takes place during the Cold War and delves into whether people high up in British security have been turned into Communist spies. A major character is Somerset Maugham a well known British author who in real life did a little spying. The book involves blackmail, murder and intrigue all the elements you would expect in a pot boiler. It is a well written stand alone novel which I enjoyed even though I had not read any previous books in the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's 1956 and Bernie Gunther (a.k.a. Walter Wolf) is alive and well (more or less) working as a "concierge" at a hotel on Cap Farrat in the south of France. He gets drawn into a Cold War spy plot involving blackmail of the likes of Somerset Maugham. It's classic Bernie Gunther and a must read for fans; a complex and convoluted tale that goes back and forth in time to reveal more of Bernie's life story. In this book, there's the addition of folks from MI5 and MI6. A nasty from Bernie's past plays a big role in this book. There's a lot less violence and gore than the last book (e.g. there's nothing like the Bosnian death camp here) which works well for me. Of course Bernie is getting older and there is the question of how much longer the series can go on. Having said that, there's the promise of another book in the series in 2017 and I'm looking forward to it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    WW2 has ended but its bad karmic effect still haunts Bernie Gunther. His dull,uneventful life, as a concierge, on the Riviera is disrupted as he is asked for assistance by a noted author. Aging and very wealthy, as a former spy and lifelong gay W Somerset Maugham is an obvious blackmail target. The Cambridge Five and other assorted members of the Red, gay spy infestation that made MI5 and MI6 targets of ridicule during the 1950s are the grist for the Maugham connections. Old enemies and new assail Bernie as he struggles to finish his hectic life anonymously and shaded in somber gray.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bernie Gunther has been hiding in plain sight, but under an assumed name, working as the concierge in a hotel on the French Riviera. The writer, Somerset Maugham, asks him to serve as a go-between when he is blackmailed by a German who has a photograph that will compromise Maugham and a number of his homosexual friends. Bernie also knows the German, a former Nazi officer, and hates him for his role in an earlier blackmail of a man Bernie respected. The story alternates between the events on the Riviera in the mid 50s and those before and during the war. The blackmailing turns out to be part of a larger, more complex plot involving highly placed people in both the British and German intelligence agencies. Bernie's luck and intelligence are taxed to the maximum.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I imagine that there might be some downsides to beginning a 12-volume series with the 11th volume, but I found that I encountered no such difficulties. Overall, it was quite an impressive book, a historical espionage thriller with the lead character being an ex-German police detective from the years of the brutal Nazi regime.

    Most of the action takes place on the French Riviera in the fifties where various characters have planted themselves, including Gunther, no w the concierge at an upscale hotel, writer W Somerset Maugham, and others. Gunther is world-weary in spirit having survived the Third Reich, the War, and its aftermath. Bitter, cynical, weary, and now alone with his wife having left to return To Berlin. Gunther, whose most consistent avocation is a twice weekly bridge game, finds himself caught up in a chess game of blackmail, betrayal, perversion, and espionage.

    There are flashbacks to his former life in Berlin and his he survived there and was betrayed there and the things that still haunt him.

    The action in this novel is mainly the verbal sparring of the world weary players, trying to put away the ghosts of their pasts and to survive the shadows cast in the present day.

    Surprisingly, the end notes reveal just how much of this story was truth and how much was fiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great. Discovered another series I can go back and read. This is history rewritten as fiction. Based on the post WW2 MI5/6 Russian spies saga, we have a fictional character inserted into the drama to tell us what-might-have-been. The writing is accessible and the plotting clever. And we get to visit the queer home of Somerset Maugham!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I wish I had read some of the Bernie Gunther novels before this one. I had a little trouble following some of the story at first. There was a great story here though. There were a lot of twists and turns to this story. I give it 4 stars. By the middle of this book I was really enjoying what was happening because you start to get bits about Bernies previous life. I will continue to read any more books about Bernie Gunther and try to read some of his older ones to learn more about Bernie. I received this ebook copy from Firsttoread for a fair and honest opinion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the best of its genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I didn't enjoy this book as much as the other Bernie Gunther novels.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The novel was sent to me by the publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons via Net Gallery. Thank you.It is 1956 and Bernie is a concierge at a posh hotel on the French Riviera. Bernie, being Bernie, is depressed to the point of a botched suicide attempt and his only pleasure seems to be the weekly bridge game with a British couple and his bridge partner, the manager of a casino in Nice. But things are about to change when a villain from his past walks into his hotel, a beautiful woman twenty years his junior wants him to teach her how to play bridge, and Somerset Maugham hires him to run interference in a nasty bit of blackmail. Bernie's life may appear depressing but it is never dull.Kerr's cast of characters are the usual fascinating mix. Bernie himself is pushing 60 and living under the alias of Walter Wolf. When Robin Maugham, nephew of the great Somerset Maugham, asks for Bernie's help to retrieve a compromising photo being used to blackmail his uncle Bernie is not anxious to get involved. Especially since Bernie knows the blackmailer as Harold Heinz Henning, the man directly responsible for the sinking of a transport ship with nine thousand evacuees including Bernie's lover and his unborn child. The man has been a professional blackmailer since 1934 and is now working for the Soviets who are in desperate need of hard western currency.. But since Maugham knows Bernie's true identity and hints the Brits and Americans might just be interested in a member of Goebbel's and Heydrich's staff, Bernie reluctantly agrees.And Bernie begins to really like Maugham. The writer is urbane, funny, unabashedly gay, and hosts wonderful dinners. The exchange of money for the photo goes well, but, as Bernie knew it would, the first payment is just the beginning and Henning is eager to continue the relationship with even more documents, documents that could destroy the reputation of the British Intelligence Service. For the photo depicts one of Maugham's special pool parties and includes a young, naked Guy Burgess. And Burgess and his co-traitor Donald Maclean have defected only a few years earlier....the notorious Cambridge Two. Henning promises that his new material is so explosive that it is definitely worth the two hundred thousand dollars asking price. And Bernie and Maugham suspect that there might even be a Cambridge Three, another mole whose identity could fracture the already stretched trust between British and American intelligence. From there it is a wild ride as Bernie and Maugham try to find a way out of the tangled web. Every character seems to have a hidden agenda and nothing is as it seems. This is one of Kerr's tightest novels with a final maneuver by Bernie that is absolutely brilliant when he guesses correctly how to spell a word that could begin with either a "f' or a "ph". And, in the end, Bernie shows the reader the difference between vengeance and revenge.A five star read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Bernie Gunther is a concierge at a hotel in Cap Ferat, near to Somerset Maughn, living under an assumed name, when a figure from his past turns up and blackmails him and Somerset Maughn. Several real figures populate the story seamlessly and naturally.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Slow. Then v. interesting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Other Side of Silence – Philip Kerr at his bestThe publication of Philip Kerr’s, Bernie Gunther thriller, The Other Side of Silence, once again shows why is a master of historical fiction. How he is able to weave the factual into fiction, and still make it seem as if it really did happen, with the characters in the novel in real life.Gunther is working as a concierge in a French Hotel on the Rivera in 1956, he was trying to keep his head down, and working under an assumed name, Walter Wolff. He has arrived in France on a false passport, his wife has left and gone back to Germany, when into the Grand Hotel where Gunter works is a blast from his wartime past. Harold Hennig, who he had cross paths with, a former Gestapo officer and serial blackmailer, someone who could expose him.Henning has plans for Gunther, not that he knows anything about it. Hennig plans to blackmail the famous English writer and exile on the Rivera, Somerset Maugham. He becomes an unwitting pawn in the new cold war, even more so when Mi6 send out a couple of senior men, to make an assessment on any possible damage or danger to Britain.Little does he know, but the blackmail plot will turn in to a life and death matter for Gunther, and if anyone is left standing, then they will be the only winner. Will Gunther’s secrets finally catch up with him and cost him his life, or will he be able to walk away, with some sort of life? It is hard for Gunther, but he knows he has to fight he has no alternative.Philip Kerr shows why he has gained so much praise, as he is one of the few that is able to imaginatively mix his fictional characters with well researched real characters and events. All at the same time as the world held its breath and wonder if Britain and France would be fighting another war.The Other Side of Silence shows Philip Kerr at his best.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I’ve been a fan of Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels for many years, but the more books appear in the series the more worried I am that Gunther has overstayed his welcome. The Other Side of Silence is the eleventh book in what was originally a trilogy. And while I don’t think the books have seen a diminution in quality, I’m starting to wonder just how many events of the twentieth century Gunther is going to find himself involved in. (I had a similar problem with Allan Mallinson’s Matthew Hervey series, in which the protagonist seemed to be involved in every major military conflict between 1812 and, to date, 1830…) However, Kerr has managed to avoid this problem so far by a) doing his research, so none of it feels forced or overdone, and b) picking little-known incidents from the years following World War II. Having said that, I’d still like to see a breakdown of Bernie Gunther’s career by year, because it’s beginning to feel a little packed. In The Other Side of Silence, sixty-year-old Gunther is a concierge in a posh hotel in Nice in 1956. When a face from his past – a Gestapo officer with a penchant for blackmail – appears, things rapidly go downhill. Gunther finds himself acting as a middleman for W Somerset Maugham in a classic queer blackmail sting, only for it to turn into a convoluted plot to catch Soviet moles in the British intelligence services. Except perhaps it isn’t. Kerr slots Gunther’s story neatly into real history, and he doesn’t belabour the point of the novel (knowledge of a certain book which caused a huge fuss in the UK in the 1980s is useful in figuring out what’s really going on). The Gunther novels can be read in any order, although they usually include a reference to events in one or more of the preceding volumes – but then they’re usually structured with twin narratives, one set in the novel’s present-day (1956, in this case), and one set in Gunther’s past. Worth reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Readers who aren’t familiar with Bernie Gunther have missed out on a classically cynical detective living in a time and place where there is much to be cynical about. Those who have read Philip Kerr’s engaging series know that, if nothing else, Gunther has served as an engaging tour guide to life in Germany during the years that the Nazi party was in power. In this eleventh book in the series, one war is over and another, colder war has begun. Kerr’s Berlin gumshoe is in hiding, changing his name and career. Life is hard when you are forced to hide out on the French Riviera, working as concierge at a hotel for the soon-to-be-called jet set. Try as he might, though, trouble soon finds Bernie. British author and former intelligence operative W. Somerset Maugham, living nearby is being blackmailed and wants Gunther to coordinate the payoff. This brings him into contact with an old nemesis, Harold Henning, with whom he has crossed paths before with tragic consequences. From there, the story evolves into a twisted tale of Byzantine spycraft, involving acronymous agencies from multiple countries. Gunther, ever the rogue agent, is deeply in trouble and has to rely on all of his skills to make it to the end alive. It might be wise to wear a neck brace when reading this book. I’m still not sure if this is a story of double agents, triple agents, quadruple agents, or something even more Machiavellian. Bottom line, I loved it. Be advised, this book is part of a series that does have a significant back story with recurring characters. For this reason I assigned this a series rating of 3.5* and recommend you consider starting the series at the beginning. Bernie Gunther first appears in the Berlin Noir trilogy (March Violets, The Pale Criminal, and A German Requiem). *[Some people insist on reading series in order starting at the beginning. I believe that this is absolutely necessary with some series and unnecessary in others. In my reviews I assign books in a series a score of one to five in which the higher score denotes increased importance of reading the book in order. A series with returning villains, an ongoing story arc, and evolving family dynamics will rate higher than one where the plot in each book is totally unrelated to the others. As an example, a Nancy Drew book would be a one. There is no evolving story arc. Nancy hasn’t grown any older in fifty years and, face it, Ned is never going to propose to her. The Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, is a five. Reading the trilogy in order is essential to fully understanding and appreciating the story. One book picks up right where its predecessor leaves off and Fellowship of the Ring contains information that readers of The Two Towers really need to know. Besides, Tolkien originally wrote it as a single volume.]** review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:-5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.-4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.-3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.-2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending. -1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Other Side Of SilenceWe were cautioned on the book's cover not to race throughthis story.I didn't.It was important to me because it was my first Bernie Gunther.Yeh, I know, where have I been living?I'm pleased to have been sent an ARC and very willing to expressmy thoughts.Bernie is a character that came to life on the pages.His life is like a tapestry with inherent flaws fully exposed.Among other things, I found him witty, cynical, sarcastic, satiricaland yet in some way lovable.The plot was indeed a "viper's nest" and spoke to me of times and places that were unfamiliar to me.So it was also a learning experience.I'm looking forward to Prussian Blue4 ★
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At this point this is a formula series. You either like the formula [I do] or you don’t. The POV jumps back and forth between Berlin in the 30’s, a most ‘interesting’ WW2 career and now the post WW2 Cold War. If I were a series fanatic, I’d be wondering how the author can cram still more action into a mere six war years. As is, the VERY few historical quibbles didn’t bother me. East Prussia wasn’t cut off in the summer of 44, but its close enough to produce the narrative effect described. Similar things that only a WW2 trivia buff will twig to. The new secondary characters work. Bernie goes through his paces and emerges as himself. I’ll cheerfully buy the next volume but the thrill is gone. Hence 4 stars instead of 5. Note for newbies to this – you really do not need to have read ANY of the prior volumes as the author finds several places to do info dumps on Bernie’s past where new people come into his life.