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THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO BERLIN
by Chris Ewan
Minotaur Books, August 2013
327 pages
$25.99
ISBN: 1250002974


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Charlie Howard's Grand Tour of major tourist destinations continues for the fifth excursion in THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO BERLIN. Charlie is tucked up in a Berlin flat where he is carrying on his two occupations - crime novel writer (stalled at the moment) and thief (ticking over nicely). He's had an unexpected success with his last novel, which led to a three-book contract but now the second refuses to emerge. He has promised himself to give up thieving until his book is finished, but then Her Majesty's Government, in the person of an attaché at the British Embassy named Freddy, offers him an assignment. He is to break into four different premises in search of something both valuable and missing.

The hitch is that the object (if that's what it is) is so secret that Freddy can't so much as tell Charlie what he's looking for. "You'll know it when you see it" is all the information he has.

The money's good and the book is going badly, so Charlie takes on the assignment. Immediately there is a complication - as he gazes idly out of the window of his first stop, he happens to see a murder in progress. Across the way, a woman is apparently being strangled and, given that Charlie's in mid-burglary, there's little he can do about it save call the cops and watch while they emerge from the flat sans corpse.

His subsequent attempts to fulfil his assignment are equally frustrating and complicated by a sizable contingent of spies from several of the major world powers who are determined to get their hands on whatever it is that Charlie is looking for. As allies, Charlie can count only on his agent, Victoria, who is less than enthusiastic about much of what is going on and a wonderful creation, Gert Hackler, who lives in a tunnel under an abandoned amusement park and drives a Trabant. The final member in this ill-assorted crew is Buster, a mynah bird and a very clever one indeed.

Like the earlier cities where Charlie has exercised his talent for thievery (Amsterdam, Paris, Vegas, and Venice), Berlin is effectively evoked, though of course it is rather less picturesque a venue than some of these others. The rotting amusement park and the memories of the old divided Berlin work especially well. But best of all is Ewan's ability to mix a satisfactory level of suspense with his characteristic wry humour. Like the rest of the series, THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO BERLIN is lighthearted without being lightweight. If you're suffering from post-summer stress, this book would be the perfect way to ease the transition from holiday to everyday.

§ Yvonne Klein is a writer, translator, and retired college English professor who lives in Montreal.

Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, August 2013

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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