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  • The Pale Criminal

  • Bernie Gunther, Book 2
  • By: Philip Kerr
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
  • Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (127 ratings)

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The Pale Criminal

By: Philip Kerr
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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Summary

A series of horrific ritual murders leads Bernie Gunther to an occult conspiracy at the very heart of the Nazi Party - hard-boiled noir thriller for fans of Raymond Chandler and John le Carré.

Five German schoolgirls are missing. Four have been found dead. But unlike the undesirables who make up the majority of dead and missing people in Hitler's Berlin, these girls were blonde and blue-eyed - the Aryan flower of German maidenhood - and their gruesome deaths recall ritual killings.

Busy with a blackmail case, Bernie is reluctant when he is asked to rejoin the Berlin police in order to track down the murderer. But when the person doing the asking is none other than head of the SD, Reinhard Heydrich, it's not exactly a request he can turn down. As Bernie gets closer to the truth, he realises that at the heart of this case is much more than one lone madman - in fact, there is a conspiracy at work more chilling than he could ever have imagined.

©2016 Thynker Limited (P)2016 Quercus Editions Limited
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Critic reviews

"One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written." (Lee Child)

What listeners say about The Pale Criminal

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best !

I would highly recommend this book as a possible introduction to the Bernie Gunther series. The plot, characters and delivery keeps you wanting the next episode constantly. One of the very very few books I’ve considered immediately re-reading.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping story

A gripping detective story in the vein of the tough P.I.s like Hammer or Marlowe. However being set in pre-war Germany, this unusual backdrop, with the presence of such well-know Nazi figures, sets the story apart from the normal detective thrillers. and gives it an air of reality. This is the second Bernie Gunther novel, and is possibly even more enjoyable than the first. Here Bernie is given no option but to return to working as a policeman to solve the murders of young girls in Berlin, but is still up to all his old tricks as a private detective, and as full of irreverence as usual, even against the Nazi leadership.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant historic storytelling

The accuracy and detail of the historic details coupled with a compelling who done it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great

Great story, strong atmosphere, and terrific dialogue with humour and sarcasm making me laugh out loud.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

another brilliantly well read book

the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1930s as well as the reading performance are fantastic

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Sadly, wrong narrator and tedious story

Thought I would try the second, but although this is one of my favourite narrators, he is very wrong for this story. And the story, just not for me

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