The Other Side of Silence

2018 Longlist

Those who have read Philip Kerr’s series know that, Gunther’s adventures serve as a vivid and engaging tour guide to life in Germany during the years that the Nazi party was in power.

1956, the French Riviera. Bernie Gunther is working as concierge at the Grand Hotel, St. Jean Cap Ferrat, when his past walks through the door in the shape of former SS captain Harold Hennig – a man responsible for the deaths of thousands, among them a woman Bernie loved.

Hennig plans to blackmail the famous writer Somerset Maugham. On a visit to Maugham’s magnificent villa, Bernie learns of a compromising photograph that reveals far more about Maugham’s life than his notorious sexuality. It shows a group of naked men beside a swimming pool – one of whom is the infamous spy Guy Burgess, who, with Donald Maclean, has defected to Moscow. Hennig has the photograph and is demanding €50,000 for its release.

Bernie is reluctant to become Maugham’s agent but his former life has made him as vulnerable to blackmail as Maugham himself. And he can’t pass up this chance to revenge himself on Hennig.

About the author

Philip Kerr is the author of ten internationally bestselling Bernie Gunther novels. If the Dead Rise Not won the CWA Ellis Peters Award for Best Historical Novel. His other books include several standalone thrillers and acclaimed series for children. He lives in south-west London.

(from publisher)