Kerr has used his criminal detective Bernie Gunther to illuminate the German condition during WW II. Vigorously anti-Nazi, Bernie survives only by being an astute detective, and counter-intuitively by being excessively forthright with his evil bosses, Heydrich and Goebbels. In this rather horrifying volume of the series, Bernie is asked to carry a letter from an actress (a Goebbels' mistress) to her father, now a Croat colonel and ex-priest, who joyously runs a concentration camp for Serbs and dissidents, i.e. anyone opposed to Croatian nationalism, killing as many as possible.
The portrayal of the Ustase (it's handy to have access to Wikipedia while reading) is explicit and sickening. [ For those unfamiliar with the group, it was an odd combination of ultranationalism, Catholicism and fascism employing terror that enjoyed killing Jews, Serbs, and Roma. Very Roman Catholic, they condemned orthodox Christianity, the main religion of the Serbs, but did not oppose Islam which they considered nationalist and true Croatian where it was celebrated mostly in Bosnia and Herzegovinia. The religious aspect was downplayed in favor of nationalist Croatia.] It's rather amazing to me that Tito managed to hold Yugoslavia together as long as he did given the truly horrific slaughters that occurred between the Serbs and Croats, encouraged by the Nazis.
This is the 10th novel in the series of 11.
I've read a lot of Kerr's Bernie Gunther series. This one was OK but not as good as the original three volumes of Berlin Noir. The plot in this one was too unbelievable and the coincidences just too convenient. Still good compared to many others, just not up to his best. Perhaps the lackluster reading by John Lee, whom I usually like, had something to do with it.
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