Research

I like Mr Kerr's writing and I liked Research as it is good to see an author trying different things rather than just sticking to one series and a tried and trusted formula, which I think must get boring for them.Research is an interesting read on several levels, some of which work and some which don't, but it is definitely a page turner. John Houston is a James Patterson style thriller writer who churns out well plotted books at an amazing rate with the help of his "atelier" of ghost writers who are paid relative peanuts to write his well researched plots. This way of working has made him millions but he yearns for a quieter life, shuts the atelier, reneges on his publishing deal, decides to move back to England from Monte Carlo and write a book himself. Then his wife is murdered and he is the prime suspect. The novel revolves around his efforts to prove his innocence and is told alternately by John and Don Irvine, his former chief ghost writer, who is helping him.I liked the plot which is appropriately clever and convoluted and reflects John Houston's literary oeuvre. In fact, there were times when I almost dreaded picking it up as I had no idea what was coming next. I also liked the dialogue, which I think is one of Mr Kerr's strengths, as it always seems natural and unforced but I really don't like his overuse of the c*** word although that may be natural in men's conversation - I have no way of telling. I didn't particularly like all the literary allusions at the start of the book. I am quite well read but some of them passed me by and they just seemed pointless, pretentious and a bit boring even though I realised they were part of Don's character. I also liked the side swipes at life in Monaco, Amazon reviews and the comments about popular authors appealing to the less well read with a simplistic approach although I actually admire this, even if the writing style does nothing for me, as it gets people reading. I'm not going to say much about the characterisation as none of them was particularly likeable but they are well drawn, if slightly caricaturised and stereotypical.To sum up. If you come to this novel without having read the Bernie Gunther series, you will probably enjoy it as a page turning thriller. If, however, you have read the Bernie Gunther series and are expecting something in a similar vein you will be disappointed like many other reviewers.

Philip Kerr is a specialist on Nazi Germany and its actrocities, described though the eyes of a former socialist police man, later SS officer and and highly placed policeman (who meets all the main Nazis in the books) who survives the war and lives among other in Argentine, Cuba and France until he finally returns to Germany as fugitive. This book is not about him, but a complete diversion where the main character is a ghostwriter for an extremely successful author who produces only well-researched plots and lets his colleagues (the Atelier) to finish them. The author decides suddenly to dissemble his atelier and start writing books by himself, bringing his coworkers instant misery, as they do not have any rights to royalties on the finished products (although they are mentioned in the books as having helped him). The plot is quite complicated and in order not to reveal all the twists it is impossible to describe the in detail .Suffice to say that in the end, the roles have been turned and the ghostwriter has become a succesful author whereas the former succesful author in now his anonymous assistant, producing plots. The book is intended as a satirical description of the bestseller industry and the ambitions of the authors to become real writers. There are lots of direct and indirect intertextual references and real authors (who probably figure also in more masked guises). Also the luxury life of these succesful authors is satirized (one million dollar Rolexes, 600 pound wines, ridiculous cars - the two protagonists drive in a Bentley through Europe, just to discard it in a car park in Paris!). The plot has lots of funny turns and there are no nice people in the lineup, only vain authors, greedy underlings, unpleasant wives and girlfriends, deceptions and betrayals. And I suppose somebody would like to sue Philip Kerr, but I think he has guarded himself. I don't know if it is intentional, but there are lots of minor sloppy mistakes in the book, which somehow give the impression that the book is really manufactured by a less keen ghostwriter...

As one reviewer has aptly stated, this work is a 'withering satire' on the publishing industry. Moreover, it's a denouncement of the bloated and shallow flummery of the advertising world, from where the two central characters hail. The grossly narcissistic John Houston - Don Irvines's ex ad agency boss - who has recruited him to ghost-write his new novels, is unlikeable in so many ways that Kerr has created a parody of a billionaire mega-author with no hint of self-irony, a character basking in self-importance. By contrast, the sociopathic Irvine by turns plays a patient, devious, and ultimately triumphant, if second-rate, foil to Houston's hubris. Variously based in London, Monaco ('a sunny place for shady people' and billionaires' slum), and moving between Geneva, Paris and Cornwall, the pace is fast, yet phlegmatic, thoughtful, dark and mischievous.While not wholly convincing, this is a well-conceived book, with many of Kerr's trademark characterisation, dialogue and plot values; and I can fully imagine Kerr's delight in taking potshots and side-swipes at literary holy cows, as he does, willy-nilly throughout.The writing is funny, indecent, wholly lacking in empathy for characters, peppered with expletives, and sums up in a perfectly delicious and loathsome manner, what many of us may already suspect about some existant authors, but cannot verify.In some ways one might hope that Don Irvine could become Kerr's next anti-hero. But, if you're looking for the next Bernie Gunther in this work, then better hold your breath. 'Research' appears to be an experiement, possibly foreshadowing a change of direction for this ingenious author.