Cadix
Résumé:
In the wreckage of postwar Berlin, PI Bernie Gunther--in his
third appearance--accepts coal for payment and reluctantly
takes on a case for Russian Col. Palkovich Poroshin, one of the
despised "Ivans." Asked to prove black marketeer Emil Becker
innocent of the death of U.S. Counterintelligence Corps Capt.
Edward Linden, Gunther leaves Berlin (and his unfaithful wife)
for Vienna, where the incarcerated Becker insists he had been
set up while delivering SS files to Linden at the behest of a
stranger named Konig. Gunther's search for Konig attracts the
attention of the CIC's John Belinksky, who also believes Becker
was framed. After saving Gunther from some drunken Russians,
Belinsky asks Gunther to infiltrate the ranks of a super-secret
group of ex-Nazis whose leader may be former Gestapo head
Heinrich Muller. Obviously, the Nazi-hunting CIC wants Muller
badly, but Belinsky drops a bombshell that brings into question
his own role in the investigation. Unleashing a series of
stunning revelations, Kerr ( The Pale Criminal ) discloses the
reasons for the Russians' interest in Linden and for the many
deaths involved in Gunther's case. Rooted in historical
details, driven by a powerful narrative, this atmospheric novel
traces a frightening course amid a multiplicity of ironies.