Pilgrim Soul

November 18, 2013
An enigmatic and well-written opening section (“the black lid of the sky had been lifted off, and all the warmth in the world was escaping”) instantly draws in the reader with the lengthy flashback that follows in Ferris’s third post-WWII Douglas Brodie crime thriller (after 2013’s Bitter Water). Journalist Brodie, a former Glasgow policeman, gets pulled back into his old line of work when he’s hired to look into a series of nine jewel thefts targeting the city’s Jews. Brodie traces the stolen items to a pawnbroker, who gives up the criminal responsible, local thug Paddy Craven. Paddy’s subsequent death, apparently in the act of committing another robbery, leads Brodie to Hamburg, Germany, on a complex search for the truth about rumors that Nazi higher-ups are being smuggled into Scotland to keep them safe. The major plot shifts are distracting, but maybe not for those interested in the aftermath of the Good War.

January 1, 2014

Getting into Scotland was one step forward for Jewish refugees after World War II, but the country was neither welcoming nor safe. A series of unsolved burglaries in the Jewish enclave in Glasgow captures the attention of bored journalist (and ex-cop) Douglas Brodie, and he agrees to help crack the theft ring. The thief is caught--but then the murders begin. It turns out that ex-SS officers are escaping the continent covertly, and Glasgow is one stop on their route to freedom. These routes are known as ratlines, and the analogy couldn't be more apt. Brodie dons his uniform again to sniff out the Nazi criminals before they get away. VERDICT Ferris's riveting third series entry (after Bitter Water) twists, turns, and twists again. Overflowing with spying, subterfuge, and war trials, this engrossing thriller never flags and keeps surprising all the way. This title makes a good pairing with Stuart Neville's Ireland-set Ratlines; also recommend to Rebecca Cantrell and James Benn fans.

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