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    Budapest Noir: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Budapest Noir: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Budapest Noir: A Novel
    Ebook280 pages5 hours

    Budapest Noir: A Novel

    By Vilmos Kondor

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “Kondor’s impressive first novel, which unfolds against an atmosphere tinged by alienation, fear, and the threat of violence, stands out for its deft writing, plausible scenarios, vivid sense of place, and noir sensibility.”— Library Journal

    A dark, riveting, and lightning fast novel of murder, intrigue, and political corruption, set in 1936 Hungary during the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis in Germany.

    Budapest Noir marks the emergence of an extraordinary new voice in literary crime fiction, Vilmos Kondor. Kondor’s remarkable debut brings this European city to breathtaking life—from the wealthy residential neighborhoods of Buda to the slums of Pest—as it follows crime reporter Zsigmond Gordon’s investigation into the strange death of a beautiful woman. As Gordon’s search for the truth leads him to shocking revelations about a seedy underground crime syndicate and its corrupt political patrons, Budapest Noir will transport you to a dark time and place, and hold you there spellbound until the final page is turned.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJan 31, 2012
    ISBN9780062098825
    Unavailable
    Budapest Noir: A Novel

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    Reviews for Budapest Noir

    3.5/5

    40 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Another fascist-era detective a la Bernie Gunther. (Bernie even gets a mention on page 80.) But the villain is not--oops, don't want to spoil anything.
      Our hero, a newspaper reporter called Mr. Editor by the underlings of the world, is not an antifa; he just wants a little justice for a nice, well-educated, middle-class jewish woman, a young pregnant one. Who is dead, dead, dead.
      Mr Editor is not a smart-ass Bernie Gunther/Sam Spade/Marlowe, but more of a straight shooter. He does follow the normal detective path, however, being semi-seduced, threatened, and beaten, but he lives on to pee a clean stream and fight for the righting of small wrongs.
      Lots of Budapest background: you know all the trolley lines before the book ends. You almost figure out the small-country politics and meet the bit players in the fascist league. You learn the fight scene--legit and bare-knuckle. You even get out of the city to tromp through the mud and eat wild boar in a village.
      Not bad, but not great, a two-night read when you don't have anything else to do.
    • 5/5
      Loved it. Born Hungarian and eager to visit again, I will look for more of the landmarks in the story. Great story to get a feel for the prewar Hungary. A great story in its own right, the setting and the mystery work together to create a great reading experience.
    • 4/5
      “And aren’t you curious even now about what a Jewish streetwalker would have been doing here?” Krisztina fixed her eyes on Gordon. “And as long as we’re on the subject, have you ever seen a Jewish prostitute? If you want my opinion, the question is not how she died, but how a Jewish girl—probably from a respectable, bourgeois family—ended up becoming a prostitute in the first place.”

      This passage summarizes the main mystery in the book and sets up the reader for a richly engrossing and atmospheric ride in 1930s Budapest. Full disclosure: I love noir. I love Budapest as a setting. I love fiction set during this era. So yes, I may be a wee bit biased on this one, but I loved this book. As I read, I kept waiting for protagonist Zsigmond Gordon, a crime reporter, to arrange a clandestine meeting with an Edward G. Robinson character on a foggy night at the Citadella. (Okay, so Robinson was Romanian, but work with me here.) Sadly, that never happened, but there was more than enough comparable material to keep me turning the pages. And this is true noir, and not something else labeled as such because someone thinks the word is fashionable and hip, or any such thing. What that means is that things don't all end happily ever after and gift-wrapped with Disney paper and pretty bows. But then again, very few stories from Budapest in 1936 would have ended any other way.
    • 3/5
      An interesting book in a noir-ish style and an exotic setting, but with some contemporary feeling added. The plot concerns a young middle-class Jewish woman, who turns up dead on the street, and an American-Hungarian reporter who tracks down the nasty family and social circumstances around her death. Although not personally involved in her story, he feels compelled to follow it up and to an extent take a kind of vengeance, both for her and his troubles. There is a range strong female characters with agency, though neither the female nor the male characters are particularly attractive, and the male reporter is the centre of the story. It builds slowly to some rather sharp violence, which is probably in keeping with the style and theme of the story, and the setting of pre-Nazi Hungary. The political scene is a backdrop, and well integrated into the storyline, but not central to the plot. Although very gritty, it does give a memorable picture of the life of the middle and lower classes in a middle-European city in the 1930s.
    • 4/5
      Budapest Noir is currently the only work of crime fiction from Hungary on my bookshelves; actually, the only modern Hungarian crime fiction in translation that I'm aware of, although I hope Harper will see fit to publish the rest of this series at some point. It is also the author's first published novel, and the first of six planned installments of the Budapest Noir series featuring main character crime reporter Zsigmond Gordon. The novel also works well as historical fiction, offering a glimpse into Hungary's political and social issues between the two world wars. It is a dark and twisted story, with interesting characters, a well-evoked sense of place, and a good mystery at its core.The year is 1936. Prime Minister Gyula Gömbös, who had once boasted to Hermann Göring that he would "reshape Hungary within two years and would preside over the new state as its dictator" by applying Germany's fascist principles, has just died, and all of the local newspapers are out in force to cover the funeral. The reporter from the Evening, Zsigmond Gordon, is one of the reporters assigned to this task, but as the story opens, he is working on a story involving a detective accused of accepting a bribe from a stock exchange agent who'd reported being swindled out of a large sum of money. Gordon doesn't believe in the detective's guilt, and he drops in on his friend and contact Chief Inspector Vladimir Gellért of the police to try to get more information for his story. Gellért is on duty, involved in handling security and other preparations for the state funeral, and Gordon decides to wait for him in his office. He sits at the Inspector's desk, where a drawer has been left open. As Gordon looks in the open drawer, he sees a file folder with a photograph sticking out of one edge. There are actually two photos of the same young woman, one of them completely nude except for a pair of shoes, with the girl wearing a "forlorn and flirtatious" expression, with a touch of defiance and even sadness in her eyes. He notices that she has a small birthmark under her left arm. Later, after he returns to his office at the newspaper, he receives a call from one of his police contacts, who tells him that a young girl has been found dead in the local red-light district. He has the opportunity for a scoop so travels to the crime scene, where the police tell him that all they have to go on is a few shreds of paper and a "Jewish book" on the girl; otherwise, there is absolutely nothing to identify her. When Gordon gets a chance, he takes a look at the body, and to his great surprise, it's the same girl from the photos in the Inspector's office. Now there are a multitude of questions to be asked and answered: Who was this woman? Why did the Inspector have her photos in his desk before the crime was even reported? Why, when Zsigmond starts taking a deep interest in this crime, are people trying to stop him from getting anywhere on the case and even going so far as to threaten his girlfriend to keep him away? In answering these questions, the author takes his protagonist from the coffee shops and dark alleys of Budapest up into the wooded alp-like mountains and lakes of Hungary in search of the truth. He also takes his readers into the Hungary of the 1930s, where an air of uncertainty hovers over its people as they wait to see which direction the new government will take and with whom its leaders will side internationally. There's a secret state security commando unit in place under the security minister, Schweinitzer, who will eventually become the head of the Political Police, anti-Semitism is rearing its ugly head as many businessmen are involved in trade with Hitler's Germany and are reading the portents of the future to come in terms of making their fortunes; as readers, we already know what's going to happen so there is a kind of pall hanging over the story as the characters discuss the possibilities for Hungary's future. The main character, Zsigmond Gordon, is as noted above, a crime reporter with close police contacts. His girlfriend, Krisztina, is an illustrator and has been offered a job with Penguin in London, and is waffling about whether or not to take it. She doesn't understand why Gordon is involved in the girl's death; after all, he is just a reporter and he shouldn't be doing the job of the police. Gordon's father, a retired physician, spends his days concocting various jams, but also has contacts of his own and Gordon often takes advantage of them in his reporting. Zsigmond is not easily frightened, and sticks to a story like glue. He understands that the story of the dead girl is something he won't be able to write about, but he sticks with it because he also knows he wouldn't be able to look himself in the mirror if he didn't try to do something about it. There are many shady characters in the book as well; the murderer is one of the most despicable excuses for a human being I've encountered in a crime novel so far. I'd recommend it to readers of crime fiction who like their mystery and mayhem more on the intelligent side rather than what I like to call the "gimmicky serial killer" fare; readers of historical fiction, especially regarding Europe during this time, will also like it. I'll look forward to the next book and just hope hope hope that some American publisher will pick it up soon. Budapest Noir is a good first installment of a mystery series, and I don't often say that about a first novel.
    • 4/5
      It is 1936, the prime minister is dead and it is a time of great change in Europe and in Budapest. A woman is found dead, clutching a prayer book, and a crime reporter Gordon, sees ties in the murder linking it to his friend on the police force. The future looks bleak in general and Gordon investigates links to prostitution, bribery and corruption. Well written, definitely interesting times, and intriguing characters, will appeal to fans of Philip Kerr.
    • 3/5
      If you're looking for a new mystery with an intriguing plot and excellent writing, I can highly recommend a book to be published in English in February 2012, Budapest Noir by Vilmos Kondor. Set in 1930's Budapest this fast-paced thriller draws you in from the very first page. Here are many-layered characters you will care about and whose endangered lives are central to the solving of a beautiful young girl's mysterious death. Kondor's main character Zsigmond Gordon gets under your skin and makes his quest for justice your quest too. Vilmos Kondor is a new author to me and I will definitely look for more of his titles---you should too!