This book is perfect for any war buff, espeacially those interested in the Canadian role in WWII. Specifically, the role of secrent agents and the infamous spy camp, Camp X. Immigrating from Hungary to Canada, Gelleny tells his story of becoming a Secret Agent and his struggles to stay alive after being captured in Hungary. His story is wonderfully written and supremely interesting. This is the most fascinating book in the Camp X series thus far.

An interesting book this, with a wonderful dustjacked showing the NKVD-era excision of a number of Trotsyites from an old photograph of Lenin. In a series of essays and extracts we hear falsehoods from supposed liars are Eisenhower (publicly, on Sputnik), Kennedy (during Cuban Missile Crisis, but only in private conversations with Soviet ambassadors), Johnson (on the Gulf of Tonkin incident) and Nixon (enough said). There are plenty of British, European and Asian lies too. Sad thing is, that despite the end of the Cold War, whose lies feature so heavily in this tome, any second edition covering 1990 onwards will have plenty more.

"On the subject of books, permit me to suggest a newly-released title that will make great reading for you or for those Canadian history buffs on your gift list.

"Inside Camp X' , by Lynn-Philip Hodgson, recounts the fascinating story behind the top-secret training school for spies established in 1941 by William (A Man Called Intrepid" Stephenson, smack on the border between the then rural communities of Whitby and Oshawa.

Until now, only a small cairn and plaque have reminded us of the important role played by Camp X and its "students" in the successful outcome of the war.

Now, thanks to Hodgson's detailed and colourful accounting, the story can be better understood and appreciated."

Mike Filey - The Way We Were The Sunday Sun (Toronto)

"On the subject of books, permit me to suggest a newly-released title that will make great reading for you or for those Canadian history buffs on your gift list.

'Inside Camp X' , by Lynn-Philip Hodgson, recounts the fascinating story behind the top-secret training school for spies established in 1941 by William (A Man Called Intrepid" Stephenson, smack on the border between the then rural communities of Whitby and Oshawa.

Until now, only a small cairn and plaque have reminded us of the important role played by Camp X and its "students" in the successful outcome of the war. Now, thanks to Hodgson's detailed and colourful accounting, the story can be better understood and appreciated."

Mike Filey - The Way We Were The Sunday Sun (Toronto)

" Lynn-Philip Hodgson with the launch of his new book, 'Inside - Camp X' has shone a light on the colorful wartime activities that took place in Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax and Bowmanville. Filled with fascinating stories about North America's first spy training school"

Jane McDonald - Staff Writer - Oshawa This Week

It's been awhile since I've read a mystery series that has grabbed me with the intensity of Phillip Kerr's Berlin trilogy. Right from the start, his writing reminds you of Raymond Chandler, though more vivid and descriptive. But Phillip Marlowe never had to worry about ending up in a concentration camp and that threat gives the first two novels in this series even more of an edge. Kerr creates a dead on accurate feel for what it was like to live in Nazi Germany before the outbreak of the war. Like all good historical fiction, famous names grace the pages as minor characters, including Goering and Renhard Heydrich. Their appearances give the books weight, but Kerr is careful not to overdo it. Fans of Caleb Carr's superb novel "The Alienist" in particular should love this series as well as anyone with an interest in Nazi Germany.

I've been teaching detective fiction for a decade, and I have a book on the topic coming out from Macmillan this year. For my money (as I say in my book, "The Post-Colonial Detective"), the "Berlin Noir" trilogy is the finest work of hard-boiled detection ever published (based on distinguished writing, terrific plot, and fascinating characters and setting.) I've taught all three of these novels, and the students are crazy about them. I loaned them to a friend who teaches Nazi history, and he thought they were extremely accurate. If you can get hold of a map of pre-war Berlin (the Britannica has one that is adequate), you can follow along from street to street and building to building. Kerr's novel "A Philosophical Investigation" is future detection with the philosopher Wittgenstein as an important plot element, and virtual reality murders and serial killings and a woman detective. I thought my students would hate it, but they were crazy about it, too. Read Kerr, and spread the news.

I read this trilogy almost three years ago, yet it regularly comes to mind as one of the most enjoyable books I've read. As someone who reads primarily non-fiction or fiction by "great" writers, I ventured to read something different with Berlin Noir. Three years later, I am still searching for a comparable novel in this genre. Kerr's presentation matures throughout these novels. The hackneyed detective that he presents in March Violets, transforms slowly into a fuller, more entertaining character. Bernie Gunther loses his overuse of trite, detective-style similes by the end of the first story. By then, the reader is enveloped in a dark world of mystery and political barbarity. Kerr's portrait of Berlin is enticingly eerie. His characters are cut from typical molds, but are presented with enough freshness to keep the reader very interested. And using the different backdrops of pre-war, war-time, and post-war Germany, Kerr was able to modify the setting but maintain the same dark intensity.

I was sorry to finish this trilogy. It is fantastic escapist literature. I have read a couple of the J. Robert Janes novels, although neither the plots, nor the characters compare favorably to Berlin Noir.

Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton written by Philip Kerr is a brilliant book filled with intrigue and mystery. This is a crime novel set in 1696 England.

When reading this book I could see Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson trying to solve this case of counterfeitting or Umberto Eco and his "Name of the Rose" popped into my head as I began reading into the book. This is a book of many levels but a crime-mystery is the best sobiquet I can think of for the sonorous prose.

With risk of giving away the story the book has Sir Isaac Newton as the Warden of Royal Mint and he is given the services of young Christopher Ellis as the track down counterfeiters that are trying to weaken a war-weakened economy. But, counterfeiting is only part of the problem as deaths start to occur and the plot thickens. Now, the echelons of power and nobility are suspect, collapse of the economay is now eminent.

You will be engrossed in this book till the end as the author takes you on a history tour of England, places you have never been before... truly an innovatively conveyed thriller.

Kerr works very hard to write really authentic historical thrillers and this one is certainly no exception. DM reeks of period flavor, and biographical detail and is probably the best, most evocative mystery novel I have read since Eco's Name of the Rose. The portrait of Newton as a kind of early Sherlock Holmes is very persuasive; I learned more history from reading this book than anything I read in school. But it is with Newton's Watson-like assistant, Ellis, where the novel really satisfies. I can't recommend this book too highly.

History, rather than the future seems to be where Kerr feels at his most comfortable and demonstrates himself a cut above most thriller and mystery writers. I wasn't a big fan of his novel The 2nd Angel. But his Bernie Gunther series of novels, collected as Berlin Noir, are something else again. I can't begin to remember how many people recommended that book to me, and I have never understood why he has never written another. That aside, this book shows Kerr on his best form since Berlin Noir. At once reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and The Name of the Rose, I enjoyed this novel enormously. It is highly intelligent without being pretentious and extremely readable without ever being predictable. Above all it is informative as well as being entertaining. I am now going to buy a biography of Sir Isaac Newton and find out more about England's greatest scientist. Full marks to Kerr for a really clever idea.

Wittgenstein, the philosopher whose thinking drives the thinking of the killer in this novel, once said that "what can be said can be said clearly". Wittgenstein described philosophy as the clarification of thoughts. The killer in this novel is a philosophical killer--his kills are clarificatory kills; each is held to standards of clarity; each is an exhibition of logic: After all, as Wittgenstein also said, "no mistakes are possible in logic". So, if each kill is clear and logical, each kill is correct. This book is memorable because of the way in which Wittgenstein's word-racking investigations, his obsessional searches for clarity, are internalized by a killer. In internalizing them, the killer transmutes them, subtly and not-so-subtly changing Wittgenstein's logical existentialism into a pathological existentialism. The transmutations are balanced by the transmutations of the detective who is chasing the killer. The detective attempts to internalize Wittgenstein, to turn his philosophical methods into methods of policework. The book's weakness is a function of its strength: it straddles the line between futuristic noir detective novel and psychological/philosophical thriller. Each genre makes severe demands on a sucessful novel, and Kerr shortchanges each in his attempt to do both. Still, the book's a solid read; it provokes both thoughts and thrills.

In "A Philosophical Investigation" Philip Kerr comes up with one of the most original premises I have ever encountered in the "thriller" genre. What if a killer philosophically justified his murders in advance, and what if modern science, on some level, supported those justifications?

I don't want to give away the plot, but suffice it to say that Kerr's Earth of the 2020's is a dystopia in the classic tradition. On the surface, everything is OK, as technology has made work easier and play more intense. At the same time, though, the technology has subtly stolen the freedom of the indivdual and blurred the lines between right and wrong. As a result, the villain lives in a world where a logical moral argument can be made for the murder of society's undesirables. Is murder wrong if it removes potentially dangerous (genetically identified) people from society?

"A Philosophical Investigation" succeeds as a futuristic thriller without any literary pretensions. The characters are deep and well drawn, and the future England is realistic. However, it is those "literary pretensions", that set this novel apart and that will leave you thinking. Enjoy!

This book, with its clever double-barelled storyline, combines the fears of today with the known reality of tommorow. In a brilliant realisation of 21st century London, Kerr projects images of a decaying culture against the backdrop of the European superstate.The fact that he manages to prey upon our concerns so much relies on his ability to show us our own fears so coherantly.

In an ultra violent society of the future which has become so denatured as to exclude compassion, Paul Esterhazy is a killer with a head for logic and a mind for Wittgenstein. He has a rare genetic disposition which makes him a likely candidate for mass murder. By hacking into a government computer he manages to find a list of other potential killers. He then sets about exterminating them.

In an effort to contain Esterhazy, Chief Inspector Jackowicz must try and capture him to limit the damage. However, under pressure from the Home Office an attempt is made to use Esterhazy's philosophy against him, i.e. force him to take his own life. Ironically it is left to C.I. Jackowicz to save Esterhazy from himself - but can she do it.

This book engages the reader by firstly spinning a carefull web of Esterhazys mind and then finally ensnaring the reader within it. The best thing about this book is that an entire 'mindspell' becomes apparent and, despite its title, no prior knowledge of philosophy is needed.

On a personal note, this book inspired me to write a screenplay based upon it. However, I appear to have been beaten to the rights - still, I can't wait for the movie!

i'm beginning to think that thrillers like these should carry some kind of disclaimer. WARNING FROM THE LITERARY COUNCIL: do not get too excited. This material contains an ending which may disappoint. Because in almost every other respect, The Shot is not only Kerr's finest, most thrilling, best plotted and fascinatingly peopled work to date - it is a fine and worthy and exciting thriller in its own right. A "new take on the plot to kill JFK", The Shot takes you beneath the surface of the 1960 presidential election and the Cuban Crisis, providing a fascinating look at the mob, FBI, CIA and Cuban-related shenanigans going on at the time. In the middle of it all is professional killer Tom Jefferson (all his other aliases are president names too - nice touch!). Here, Kerr displays what seems to be an almost disturbing understanding of the lives, methods and motivations of professional killers. There are actually three sharply-drawn assassins in this book, each with enough depth, charisma and drawing power to carry a whole thriller on their own. That aspect of The Shot is outstanding - you get the sense that Kerr has either done a great deal of research or has a genius mind for creating believable and ingenious detail. But none of that can make up for the way I feel about The Shot having just finished it. Most of the action takes place between the latter part of 1960 and the beginning of 1961. And as everybody knows, JFK was assassinated in 63. So it's as you draw closer and closer to the last page, and it's still only January 1961, that you begin to get this sinking feeling that this isn't all leading where you hoped it might. And without giving away the end of the book, when everything resolves itself (in an extremely rushed fashion, I might add) the sense of disappointment is enormous. I can't help feeling that if somehow this book had been stolen from me and never recovered, somewhere around page 350, I might have gone on thinking it one of the best thrillers i'd ever read.

Never having read a Philip Kerr novel, I was not expecting
anything. O.K., it's not Proust, but it kept me entertained to
the very last drop. I must say, I anticipated the last line of
the book, but so what? I thought the characters were
fantastic. It reminded me a little of Prizzi's Honor - not quite
as literary a tour de force, but amusing gangsters being
themselves.

I was very disappointed - saddened - by the death of Nimmo. He was such a neat character. I kept half-expecting him to turn up at the end alive...hidden, perhaps, by the FBI, as protection...oh, well. ...

Yes, the women were stereotyped...I thnk the book is all about guys-and-gangsters; it's a real "guy thing" and though
I am a feminist it didn't bother me ... I thought that was
unnecessary, although there were plenty of pejorative expressions for Jews, the Irish, Italians, Germans and just about every other ethnic group on the planet...

Anyway, I loved the story. ...the characters were wonderfully real...the
scene in which Nimmo tucks into a linguine prima vera over a gruesome autopsy report, while the squeamish gangster Roselli looks on with disgust, is priceless.

As for the wise cracks - they made the book a real pleasure;
it was a trip down memory lane for some of us who were
around during the early sixties. In this book Kerr is like a
stand-up New York-Miami comedian, constantly flipping terse references to celebrities of the Kennedy years.

And Tom Jefferson is one sexy killer. I think women would like this book, too. I know I did.

At this point, I have read all of Philip Kerr's in-print works with the exception of the Berlin Noir trilogy (which I have but have not yet read). "The Shot" ranks about average among those works; it's pretty good but doesn't have either the deepness of thought exhibited by "A Philosophical Investigation" or the sheer energetic violence of "The Grid."

The plot, such as can be described in a short review, has been adequately set forth in other reviews: essentially, the anti-hero, Tom Jefferson, is a former U.S. marine turned hitman who in 1960 accepts a contract from the Mob and the CIA to kill Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. That is, until he learns that President-elect Kennedy slept with his wife. All of a sudden, Jefferson is off to kill Kennedy, and the Mob is in the strange position of having to work to protect Kennedy, whom they helped to elect by rigging the election in exchange for calling off the government dogs.

The fact that we know that Kennedy wasn't assassinated in 1960 actually doesn't affect one's enjoyment of the book, because Kerr does a good job of moving the plot along, and because his (for the most part) meticulous research about events in 1960 creates a feeling of verisimilitude. [Someone should tell Kerr that it's the Second Amendment, not the First Amendment, that allegedly guarantees the right to bear arms.]

One gets the feeling that Kerr's spark for writing his novels is something along the lines of "What if . . ." So, we have: (1) What if we could identify a physical characteristic linked to serial killers ("A Philosophical Investigation"); (2) What if there was a building run by a psychopathic supercomputer ("The Grid"); (3) What if there was a supercontagious blood-borne virus for which there was a cure, but the rich purposefully rationed the cure ("The Second Angel"); (4) What if I [Philip Kerr] tried to write a novel like Elmore Leonard ("A Five-Year Plan"); and (5) What if I [Kerr] tried to write a novel like Michael Crichton ("Esau")?

Along those lines, "The Shot" seems to have been inspired by two separate lines of thought: What if I [Kerr] tried to write a novel about an anti-hero like Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley; and what if I [Kerr] tried to write a Kennedy conspiracy novel?

"The Shot" was compelling enough that I read the last 150 pages in a single sitting. But if you haven't read Kerr before, I would suggest starting with "A Philosophical Investigation" or "The Grid," depending on your sensibilities.

"The Grid" is a made for TV movie bound between covers. The story includes a "Gilligan's Island" cast of characters menaced by an amok computer while trapped inside a new building. Instead of plot within plot, you get clich'e within clich'e.

The author's prose is OK, although certain passages reveal him to be a Brit writing about California and an author writing about geeks. The obligatory steamy sex scenes are OK. Although the kink is more British, then Californian. His research on computers, and architecture is OK. Although his use of technology is a bit pedantic. His tech is designed to not be wildly implausible to someone without a clue. There are a few amusing glitches: like describing a Mercury Couger as a two seater (the rear seats are only so uncomfortable that they should be removed), and listing terabyte quanities of mass storage as "10**12" (reader's should be impressed by the incantation of scientific notation).

This story is a mindless read best saved for the beach when you have to keep half your mind on the kids, beer, and beach babes.

Very suspenseful and well crafted story of a smart building (intelligent architecture) gone bad. Good characters, well developed, and very good descriptions of the building and what is happening. I can't speak with any authority about the architectural end of things, but what I do know, he got right. I can speak with some little authority about the computer end of things and he got that right. But what makes the story is the PLOT and it is great. Superbly crafted, fitted tightly, suspense page after page. I found myself wondering: "What will Abraham (the computer) do next?" This is a good read. Highly recommended.

A new, high tech building is ready for occupancy, but as its self replicating computer system, Abraham, is exposed to a child's hunt-and-kill computer game, it recreates itself in a deadly manner. Self awareness follows self replication, and the people trapped inside The Grid become enemies in Abraham's game to hunt and destroy them, following the programming code from the computer game that was incorporated into its system functions. The now self aware building begins killing the humans trapped inside one by one, using whatever it has available; elevators, bathroom cleaning systems, pool cleaning systems, etc. A gory and inventive tale of horror and survival, against an enemy that cannot be rationalized with. This is a great read for a night spent in any modern high rise, hotel or apartment or office. Enjoy.

It is amazing to see Philip Kerr's talent dimishing so rapidly. Every new book brings more disappointment. Wish he could get the Russian names right at least!

Phillip Kerr is starting to look like the Robert DeNiro of writing. In his previous book, he immersed himself in every possible detail of pre- and post-war Germany, with his mysteries unfolding within the thread of Nazism. Now, in Dead Meat, he dissects post-Soviet Russia, with the optimism, fatalism and corruption that riddle the society. Kerr has captured the Russian psyche perfectly, while winding the plot around the killing of a crusading journalist. How does a Brit learn so much about what hides within the heart of today's Russia? I recommend this book for both the mystery and the sociology behind it.

Philip Kerr writes a great detective novel. In "Red Meat", Kerr weaves an interesting yarn of modern day Russia with all the intrigue of the new Russian Mafia. Kerr has obviously done his homework on current conditions in Russia, particularly St. Petersuburg (Lenningrad) and is very accurate in his description of the city and region. If you like detective stories set in Eastern-Europe/Russia along the lines of Martin Cruz-Smith's "Gorky Park" series, you'll love "Red Meat". I hope he writes many more novels of this genre set in the Commonwealth of Independent States

"The thriller of the future"as it is labeled describes the human race in 2069: the majority of the population is infected with P2-virus, making clean blood the most wanted commodity on earth and on the moon. Moon is where the largest blood bank is located and its designer, Dallas, wants to break into it as a revenge after his employer has killed his wife and child.

Philip Kerr has written some wonderful novels (the Berlin Noir trilogy), but this book is definitely a disappointment. The idea in itself is not bad at all, but the action in the book is rather slow (which is killing for a thriller), with lots of technical footnotes describing the situation in the future, some semi-philosophical ranting and the end holds a very unsatisfying twist. A missed chance.

Author Phillip Kerr has written some amazingly diverse stories over the years, from the Phillip Marlowe-meets-the-Third Reich Berlin Noir trilogy to the high tech horror of "The Grid." Set in the year 2069, "Second Angel" is Kerr's stab at Near Bad Future science fiction. Unfortunately, it falls way short of expectations. Kerr is a master at creating memorable characters and scenes. This time out, however, his story is populated by a group of people who fail to generate much interest (even his main villian is just your standard issue bad guy and is bumped off well before the climax).

The backdrop against which the story is set has some interesting aspects. There's a computer generated assistant who is also a marital aid as well as a deadly Aids-like virus that has infected over 80% of the Eath's population, making unifected blood a commodity more valuable than gold. The polt, however, unfolds slowly, stalls and never really regain momentum. Annoying grammatical embellishments like the numerous footnotes (bizarre in a work of fiction) and the "author-narrator" repeatedly injecting himself into the story serve mainly as irritating distractions.

Overall, this is a disappointing work from an author who has produced many excellent works in the past.

Honestly, I did not know what to expect when someone on the SF-Lit internet group recommended this book. I was unaware of Phillip Kerr. What we have here is an engrossing, tightly plotted science fictional thriller. It is set in a future society where blood is a cherished and valuable resource. Kerr must be aplauded for his depth of characterization, swiftly moving plot and science. No, it wasn't boring, I have read alot of science fiction over the years and this ranks as one of the best I have read. I was really sad when the book ended because I left the world that Kerr had created for me. I hope he continues to write science fiction. The book was not marketed as science fiction but surely was. One of the most engrossing and engaging books that I have ever read.