A GERMAN REQUIEM: PHILIP KERR

This is the third Bernie Gunther novel I have read, a series written by British writer, Philip Kerr.  All are set in Germany, the first two before WW II, this one in 1946, just after the war has ended and Berlin is still being fought over by the three powers.  As the novel opens, Bernie has just returned from a Russian prisoner camp to Berlin, a city on the brink of  destruction, as the three powers vie for the control.  The Germans are the losers, called Krauts by the Americans, are seemingly disdained by all three powers.  Bernie gets pulled into the conflict when he is asked to prove that an old friend, Herr Becker, an ex SS agent, is not guilty of having killed an American soldier, Colonel Linden.  He goes to Vienna, where the crime took place, at the behest of not only Becker, but also a Russian Colonel who seems just as interested in the case. And when he starts snooping around, another American by the name of Belinsky also attaches himself to Bernie.  AS the plot thickens, Bernie finds out that numerous Nazis big wigs, have faked their deaths and are now living under assumed names in Vienna.  They are all part of a group of Germans intent on restoring Germany to power and keeping out the Russians. And, most interesting, the Americans are allies with this group though Bernie does not realize it at first. When he gets caught up in this Nazis organization, he almost loses his life, assuming that Belinsky and the Americans will come to save him.  How wrong he is, and he ends up fighting his way out, saving his life, but ending up in the hospital.  Herr Becker ends up being hung and Bernie learns the truth about the powers.  None are to be trusted, even the Americans.  He also learns how women, imagine that, are often at the heart of these struggles, for revenge or because of jealousy.  For some reason, this was a slow read and I had a hard time remembering what happened earlier in the novel, even names.  He is an expert at creating the atmosphere of post WWII Germany, one reason for reading the book.  He reminds me of Alan Furst, who also sets his novels in pre WW II Europe.