The Lady from Zagreb (Bernie Gunther)
By: Philip Kerr
Rating: 4 of 5
“The Lady from Zagreb” is the first book I have read by Philip Kerr. I was hoping for a fast-paced whodunnit with lots of twists – which is my favorite type of mystery. Instead, the book has a lot of information about the atrocities and the lack of morals which abounded in Germany and surrounding countries during both World War II and the time leading up to it. The characters were both fictional and real (though used in a fictional manner to progress the story.) As I am not a student of WWII, I wasn’t able to easily determine which was which.
The detective, Bernie Gunther, was a interesting person involved in moral dilemmas. The “Lady” Dahlia was pretty one-dimensional to me (as a woman) and her behaviors were pretty much what I would expect in a book written by a man – with his primary audience probably male, too.
The book was a tad over long at more than 400 pages and the first 100 pages were a bit of a chore for me to get through. Up to that point, Gunther had not met Dahlia. I wish that portion had been tightened up as it took so long for me to get interested, it was almost a death knell in reading the book. Having gotten through the long beginning, the action started picking up and I enjoyed reading the last two thirds of the book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
“The Lady from Zagreb” is the first book I have read by Philip Kerr. I was hoping for a fast-paced whodunnit with lots of twists – which is my favorite type of mystery. Instead, the book has a lot of information about the atrocities and the lack of morals which abounded in Germany and surrounding countries during both World War II and the time leading up to it. The characters were both fictional and real (though used in a fictional manner to progress the story.) As I am not a student of WWII, I wasn’t able to easily determine which was which.