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Peter Steiner (2)

Forfatter af A French Country Murder

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Serier

Værker af Peter Steiner

A French Country Murder (2003) 82 eksemplarer
L'Assassin (2008) 43 eksemplarer
The Terrorist (2010) 39 eksemplarer
The Resistance (2012) 30 eksemplarer
The Good Cop (2019) 22 eksemplarer
The Capitalist (2016) 18 eksemplarer
The Inconvenient German (2022) 4 eksemplarer
The Constant Man (2021) 3 eksemplarer

Associated Works

The New Yorker Book of Dog Cartoons (1992) — Bidragyder — 175 eksemplarer

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As a cop, Detective Willi Geismeier has a steady job, something many people envy in the Munich of 1920. The collapse after the Great War has left Bavaria a wreck, like every German province. Munich is a city of desperation, destitution, theft, political gang violence, and hopelessness. The central government in Berlin struggles to keep the nation afloat, while there are many who wish to drag it down and seize power; Munich possesses more than its share of revolutionaries.

This is where Willi’s job becomes difficult, if not impossible, for so many crimes have political motivations, and ultranationalists have Munich’s judiciary in their pockets. Hard as it is for most people to credit, the most threatening movement, really a ragtag mob of thugs, hangers-on, and a few ultranationalist businessmen, calls itself the National Socialists. Its leader, who seems utterly disreputable and incompetent, is Adolf Hitler.

Willi’s involvement in these deadly currents begins when unidentified assailants throw a grenade into a newspaper office, killing or wounding some journalists working there. You might think that such a crime could not have taken place without multiple witnesses; yet somehow, the leads quickly grow cold. But Willi, recognized as Munich’s best detective, doesn’t give up, because he’s a thinker first, before he’s a civil servant, and he’s studied his Shakespeare, from whom he learned that humans behave according to certain patterns.

No one trusts Willi, because he follows his own nose rather than instructions, which scares everybody in times like those. What’s more, when enemies try to trap him, he never lets himself be pinned down. He’s a survivor, in other words, and you sense that no matter how relentlessly his superiors try to push him under, he’ll bob up somewhere else.

Indeed, while the most ambitious members of the police sign on with the National Socialists, Willi keeps his own counsel (and a private cache of incriminating documents). For starters, he interviews Sophie Auerbach, a reporter badly injured in the newspaper bombing, and Maximilian Wolf, an artist with a remarkable facility for drawing quick portraits. From then on, the case never goes cold.

The Good Cop is an absolutely terrific, stunning book, but not a classic thriller. There’s no condensed time frame that circumstances shorten even further; the narrative covers more than twenty years. Consequently, the reversals, instead of getting in the characters’ (and, therefore, the reader’s) faces, haunts the background in ever-increasing ominousness, mirroring the Nazis’ rise to power. As such, Willi’s investigation progresses in fits and starts over time, fulfilling the proverb about the wheels of justice grinding slowly, and is all the more believable for it.

At every step, Steiner creates an atmosphere so chilling, you have a ringside seat at the prizefight between lunatic thuggery and civilization — and many who subscribe to the latter don’t even recognize they’re about to be pummeled. You see how the Party attracts sadists, ideologues, petty nationalists who blame their own troubles on others, the not-terribly-bright ordinary Joes, all of them on the make. Meanwhile you also have the Munich of prostitutes, legless veterans, picket lines, storm troopers, and businessmen in fancy cars.

Steiner’s narrative can sound didactic, and you can tell he’s written the book with a cause. Even so, he knows his history, and you never doubt that what you’re reading either could have happened or actually did. He further understands how that history resonates. Not for nothing does he have the Nazis say, “Make Germany great again,” or refer to “fake news” and its purveyors, while the crowd chants, “Lock them up!”
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Novelhistorian | 3 andre anmeldelser | Jan 27, 2023 |
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Inconvenient German by Peter Steiner is a historical fiction which takes place in Nazi Germany during World War II. This is the third book in the Willi Geismeier thriller series.

Willi Geismeier, an ex-cop wanted by the Gestapo, is part of the Flower Gang whose mission is to help people escape from the Reich. However, the Flower Gang has gotten on the Gestapo’s radar, and the members must be extra careful.

An American pilot, Captain Charlie Herder, is shot down near Munich. He has managed to evade capture by the SS, but needs help to make it to safety. A huge manhunt ensues and Herder is aided by the Flower Gang in his attempt to make it to the French border.

I didn’t realize this was the third in a series until I started reading The Inconvenient German by Peter Steiner. I usually don’t like to start a series from any other book except the first, but it was a short novel, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

What I discovered, right at the beginning, an atmospheric novel with engaging characters. I did not feel, even for one page, that I have missed anything by not reading the first two books, which I certainly intend on doing.

Mr. Steiner manages, in a short time, to show the best and worst of Germany. Those who help humanity, and others who betray their friends, countrymen, or civilization itself.

Only half the story takes place during the war, the other half finds Willi being reinstated as a detective. The novel takes a turn into a disturbing investigation of trafficked children, which the top brass is willing to turn a blind eye to.

This noir novel kept my interest throughout. The glue that holds the book together, Willi Geismeier is an intriguing, nuanced character, acting as only I could wish I would under similar circumstances.

Even though this novel has hints which could put it in the same category as the Bernie Gunther books, I didn’t see any similarities between Gunther and Geismeier. Bernie Gunther is a flawed individual, a gray man living in gray times making gray choices. Geismeier, on the other hand, is passionate about justice, even for perceived enemies. He always attempts to make the right choice, and is not afraid to put his job on the line to do so.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
ZoharLaor | 1 anden anmeldelse | Nov 17, 2022 |
Gritty 40’s novel. Germany 1944 and after …

I loved this! I thought I heard some echoes of Phillip Kerr and Bernie Gunther.
Here we meet a sacked investigating police officer completely fed up with the Nazi regime. Willi Geismeier “had been a troublesome policeman, even before Hitler had come to power, and had been kicked off the force.” He’s now the leader of the Flower Gang. All the agents have a flower name.
The Gang provided “false papers for Jews, resistance operatives, Allied pilots, anyone who needed their help, hiding them, escorting them to the border. No one knew how many they were, but they were all over Bavaria. Even Willi had no idea who they all might be.”
Captain Charlie Herder’s mustang is shot down behind enemy lines. His theft of various items as he tries to escape is like a line on a map for his pursuers. The Flower Gang are to help him to get out of Germany. However the organisation is compromised. Things do not play out well!
Willi’s nemesis is SS Lieutenant Peter Laumann, a dogged individual who pursues the Flower Gang with an almost religious fervor. His methods of intimidation have him coming close to Willi.
Post the war, the police force is reorganised by the Allies. Willi is reinstated as a detective. That’s when he comes across some familiar names and more disturbing uncovers the trafficking in children. Despite complaints from the hierarchy he continues his investigation.
Set before and after the war the thread of various characters and their actions carry throughout, linking betrayal and criminal activities, the glue holding the tale together is Willi Geismier.
Intriguing and present, a noir novel of the times. I am definitely now on a mission to read the previous novels in the series!

A Severn House ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
… (mere)
 
Markeret
eyes.2c | 1 anden anmeldelse | Nov 1, 2022 |
Francophile and ex-U.S. spy Louis Morgon is mysteriously absent through much of this historical thriller, which focuses on events in Nazi-occupied France in World War II. Much of the novel is centered on the father of Morgon's police ally, Renard, who was charged with keeping peace in the town prior to his son's succession as police chief. The novel raises moral questions about war crimes, patriotism and survival when an occupied army controls your country. As in his other novels, good character development too. 3.5 stars.… (mere)
 
Markeret
skipstern | 3 andre anmeldelser | Jul 11, 2021 |

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Værker
9
Also by
1
Medlemmer
243
Popularitet
#93,557
Vurdering
½ 3.6
Anmeldelser
28
ISBN
44
Sprog
1
Udvalgt
1

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