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Self's Punishment: A Mystery

By: Bernhard Schlink Walter Popp
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Phoenix
ISBN: 0753818892
ISBN-13: 9780753818893
Released: 04 Aug 2005
RRP: £6.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A likeable, German detective. - By: D. Proctor, 30 Oct 2004
This is a great book & I would recommend it especiallly to lovers of Euro-crime novels. Bernhard Schlink has already achieved renown through his powerful study of the holocaust. I was surprised to learn that he is a writer of detective novels as well and, having read this one, surprised that we in the English speaking world did not get to know about him earlier. The story is written in the first person from the point of view of Gerhard Self, ex lawyer & now Private DEtective who is getting on in years. He reminnded me a little bit of Chandler & Mosley & other writers of that type. The story centres on goings on at a Chemical plant where someone seems to be messing about with the computer system, causing chaos & money losses. Self is callled in by his old friend who is also the boss to try & sort things out. However, though he solves this problem he soon realises that he has only scratched the surface of the troubles & when someone is murdered he is led on an investigative trail that takes him right back to the second world war. Self is a lovely man with a good sense of humour & as usual with this type of fiction we learn about his personal life as well. One thing I particularly liked was the detail given to smalll things which made the whole book quite evocative. I liked to imagine his jouneys through Germany & Europe as well as America. The only thing I wasn't too sure about was the end. You might feel justice is done but what happens is certainly unusual in detective fiction. Of course I won't tell you what that is. You will just have to read it for yourself. Please do! It is a great book & I was sad to put it down.