Book review: Research by Philip Kerr. No Bernie Gunther in this book, but the quality still shines through in this novel of murder and intrigue in the writing community

Kerr is best known for his dark and atmospheric Bernie Gunther series, which I’m keen on.  I was interested to see what sort of standalone novel Kerr would write and whether it would have that combination of an interesting plot and atmospheric writing that the Bernie Gunther series has. 

John Houston is a bestselling novelist, who excels at producing mass-market novels based on gripping storylines rooted in deep research, giving his books a rich authenticity.  Except that Houston doesn’t write the actual novels themselves, leaving the mundane task of word-smithing to his team of ghost writers, who Houston says could never create ideas and plots as sophisticated and clever as he does.  Don Irvine manages the ghost-writers who produce several novels a year to Houston’s plot lines and writing formula.  It’s a great commercial success for Houston who is a multi millionaire.  His ghost writers are comfortable, but not rich, despite their hard work. 

Everything starts to unravel when Houston’s wife Orla is found murdered in their apartment in Monaco and Houston is missing.  All the evidence points to Houston as the murderer, with the circumstances said to echo a plot in a Houston novel.  With Houston missing, what seems to be a floodgate of bile opens, with everyone saying how much they hated Houston or how he has let them down or ruined their lives.  Irvine is the only person who is convinced Houston is innocent and soon Houston contacts Irvine asking for help.  Irvine travels to Geneva putting himself at considerable risk from the law by meeting Houston, without informing the authorities.

The novel is written from alternating points of view, starting with Irvine, switching to Houston and back to Irvine again.  You wonder who can be trusted and whether Houston is really telling the truth.  He’s not a very pleasant person, calculating, thoughtless and completely untrustworthy in personal relationships.  However, even after the startling revelation in the middle of the book, one of many, I still wasn’t sure whether there was some sort of double think game being played out.

Kerr’s pedigree shines through with great writing, a clever plot, excitement, thrills and more than one heart stopping gasp, as well as those doubts that keep popping up, which make you wonder whether you’re really seeing the whole truth.  And of course, because it’s about writers, for us at The Crime Warp, this adds a final layer of fun to an excellent book.

Romancrimeblogger