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The Shot by: Philip Kerr

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Review Pages: 1 2 3

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Rating: - A very poor book

Perhaps the worst Philip Kerr work so far. Tired, obvious and meretricious this is way below the standard of the Bernie Gunther/'Berlin Noir' sequence, and has none of the cerebrality of 'A Philosophical Investigation'. The ending is predictable, the characters two-dimensional and the peppering of 'insider' JFK Assassination jokes lame.

Even as a throwaway airport paperback this would be second-rate: for someone like Kerr, who at his best writes stylish and exciting prose, it's a sad waste of time and effort. There's a definite sense of a multi-book publisher's contract being completed on automatic pilot, by an author with all the obvious conspiracy theory books on one side of his keyboard, and Berlitz guides to NYC and Boston on the other. Buy Don DeLillo's 'Libra' or James Ellroy's 'American Tabloid' instead.

Rating: - Read this book. Read it now.

An excellent book, marked out by superb characters, brilliant pacing and the ability to tell a story with style and humour. Inside of the historical setting, which is expertly rendered, Kerr makes events his own and fashions a truly riveting thriller, the like of which I have not seen for a while. As well plotted, researched and, at times, tough as they come this is, for me, Kerr's finest work to date. Highly recommended.

Rating: - Fast moving with twisty plot & historical context

I blasted through it in a few days. Good & complicated plot which goes lots of different ways(you know what the ending is but are curious to find out how & why). Am a sucker for the mixing of real figures with fiction. Many great "sequences", eg the "hit" during the Psycho screening. I also enjoyed the many intellectual & well-researched conceits (that I'm sure the author will deny).

If you like Ellroy and 60s-style, mafio-cubo-kennediana + a good crime-fiction thriller- this'll work for you.

Review Pages: 1 2 3