Status
Available
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:When his cover is blown, former Berlin bull and unwilling SS officer Bernie Gunther must re-enter a cat-and-mouse game that continues to shadow his life a decade after Germany's defeat in World War 2... The French Riviera, 1956: Bernie's old and dangerous adversary Erich Mielke, deputy head of the East German Stasi, has turned up in Niceâ??and he's not on holiday. Mielke is calling in a debt and wants Bernie to travel to London to poison a female agent they've both had dealings with. But Bernie isn't keen on assassinating anyone. In an attempt to dodge his Stasi handlerâ??former Kripo comrade Friedrich Korschâ??Bernie bolts for the German border. Traveling by night and hiding by day, he has plenty of time to recall the last case he and Korsch worked together... Obersalzberg, Germany, 1939: A low-level bureaucrat has been found dead at Hitler's mountaintop retreat in Bavaria. Bernie and Korsch have one week to find the killer before the leader of the Third Reich arrives to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. Bernie knows it would mean disaster if Hitler discovers a shocking murder has been committed on the terrace of his own home. But Obersalzberg is also home to an elite Nazi community, meaning an even bigger disaster for Bernie if his investigation takes aim at one of the party's higher-ups... 1939 and 1956: two different eras about to converge in an explosion Bernie Gunther will neve… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ritaer
This is another Bernie Gunther adventure split between time periods. The story starts in 1959 as the Stassi attempt to pressure Bernie into tying up a loose end from the preceding case (The Other Side of Silence) by killing one of their agents. While on the run from the Stassi Bernie recalls an
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earlier case in which he had worked in 1939. A shooting had occurred on the terrace of Hitler's mountain retreat and Martin Bormann, who controls the entire area, is frantic to have the case solved and kept under wraps lest Hitler abandon the facility as unsafe. Gunther's investigation reveals the major financial corruption in which many Nazi leaders are engaged, while others truly believe that Hitler is the answer to Germany's problems. Gunther does his job as a detective in the face of opposition from both the killer and from warring factions within the Party. Although technically, one supposes, a police procedural in the 1939 case, the frame narrative is more of a thriller as Gunther battles to save himself from the Stassi. Overall, the series is more hard-boiled in that Gunther, although an official investigator, functions in some ways like a private investigator and every case ending leaves the reader aware that Gunther is helpless against the overall corruption. Show Less
LibraryThing member debkrenzer
This was a really, really long book and I LOVED it!! I think this is my second Bernie Gunther book and I'm wondering why? I know I'm late jumping on this bandwagon, like really late.
As for its length, I know if I'm buying a book and spending $30, I don't want to be done with it in a few hours. I
Also, this one was about WWII, right before WWII. It takes place in Bavaria during the week before Hitler's big birthday celebration in a town that was all about him. Which was a few months before Germany invaded Poland. And real German bigwigs names were used. It even tells you at the end of the book the crimes they committed, if they served time and when they died. These people were not nice.
The book goes back and forth from that week to after the war to around 1956. When Bernie is tracked down and they need his services again to kill an English agent.
Lots of intrigue, secrets, crimes, lack of ethics, typical German palm greasing and backstabbing run rampant in this book. And, of course, Gunther's humor.
An awesome read and I've got some back reading to catch up on.
Huge thanks to Penguin Group Putnam for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
As for its length, I know if I'm buying a book and spending $30, I don't want to be done with it in a few hours. I
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want it to last. This one does that. Also, this one was about WWII, right before WWII. It takes place in Bavaria during the week before Hitler's big birthday celebration in a town that was all about him. Which was a few months before Germany invaded Poland. And real German bigwigs names were used. It even tells you at the end of the book the crimes they committed, if they served time and when they died. These people were not nice.
The book goes back and forth from that week to after the war to around 1956. When Bernie is tracked down and they need his services again to kill an English agent.
Lots of intrigue, secrets, crimes, lack of ethics, typical German palm greasing and backstabbing run rampant in this book. And, of course, Gunther's humor.
An awesome read and I've got some back reading to catch up on.
Huge thanks to Penguin Group Putnam for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member teachlz
LINDA'S BOOK OBSESSION
Book Reviewer and lover of books
My Review of “Prussian Blue” by Philip Kerr
I would like to thank First to Read, Marian Wood Books/Putnam and Penguin books for the ARC of “Prussian Blue” by Philip Kerr, for my honest review.
The genres of this book are fiction and
The author introduces us to Bernhard Gunther (Bernie) in 1956 when he is on his way to meet his estranged wife at a hotel, and instead meets with Erich Mielke, who becomes the head of the East German Stasti. Bernie Gunter is a detective with a special gift to solve crimes. Bernie is described as honest as one can be, resourceful, having a moral compass, and telling how he feels about something.(shooting from the hip, so to speak) In both timelines, this irritates his superiors. Bernie also has the terrible luck of finding superiors , with less ethical intent,who want to use him and his talents.
Erich Miekle has deceived Bernie into meeting him and wants Bernie to kill a woman using thallium insuring her a torturous death. The only antidote is Prussian Blue, a pigment in paint. It seems that Bernie really has no choice if he wants to survive.
Going back to 1939, Bernie is at Reinhard Heydrich’s beck and call to find out who shot and killed a man on Hitler’s terrace at Oberslzberg. Heydrich also wants Bernie, in a detective capacity, to also “spy” on Martin Bormann and other officials that work for Hitler. Again, Bernie really has no choice. The authors describe most of the characters in 1939, as complex, evil, and power-hungry. There are many suspects that fit the description of the killer, and many who would have wanted to kill this person. Martin Bormann wants this case revolved before Hitler’s birthday, which gives Bernie a week.
In both timelines, Bernie finds himself in danger, and trying to use his wits to survive. There are times when we see Bernie feeling as “no one’s man”, and frustrated at the politics and situations.
I enjoyed this intriguing and exciting book and would highly recommend it!!
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Author: lindasbookobsession
LINDA'S BOOK OBSESSION Blog at WordPress.com.
Book Reviewer and lover of books
My Review of “Prussian Blue” by Philip Kerr
I would like to thank First to Read, Marian Wood Books/Putnam and Penguin books for the ARC of “Prussian Blue” by Philip Kerr, for my honest review.
The genres of this book are fiction and
Show More
adventure. There is some mystery and a touch of history. The author uses two timelines, to tell us the story, 1939 and 1956.The author introduces us to Bernhard Gunther (Bernie) in 1956 when he is on his way to meet his estranged wife at a hotel, and instead meets with Erich Mielke, who becomes the head of the East German Stasti. Bernie Gunter is a detective with a special gift to solve crimes. Bernie is described as honest as one can be, resourceful, having a moral compass, and telling how he feels about something.(shooting from the hip, so to speak) In both timelines, this irritates his superiors. Bernie also has the terrible luck of finding superiors , with less ethical intent,who want to use him and his talents.
Erich Miekle has deceived Bernie into meeting him and wants Bernie to kill a woman using thallium insuring her a torturous death. The only antidote is Prussian Blue, a pigment in paint. It seems that Bernie really has no choice if he wants to survive.
Going back to 1939, Bernie is at Reinhard Heydrich’s beck and call to find out who shot and killed a man on Hitler’s terrace at Oberslzberg. Heydrich also wants Bernie, in a detective capacity, to also “spy” on Martin Bormann and other officials that work for Hitler. Again, Bernie really has no choice. The authors describe most of the characters in 1939, as complex, evil, and power-hungry. There are many suspects that fit the description of the killer, and many who would have wanted to kill this person. Martin Bormann wants this case revolved before Hitler’s birthday, which gives Bernie a week.
In both timelines, Bernie finds himself in danger, and trying to use his wits to survive. There are times when we see Bernie feeling as “no one’s man”, and frustrated at the politics and situations.
I enjoyed this intriguing and exciting book and would highly recommend it!!
Share this:
Author: lindasbookobsession
LINDA'S BOOK OBSESSION Blog at WordPress.com.
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LibraryThing member eyes.2c
Masterful!
Like a rat on a treadmill Bernie Gunther is once more caught up in the games of those from his past. It's 1956 and Erich Mielke, deputy head of the dreaded Stasi, has invited Gumther to dinner to put a proposition to him. Gunther refuses. That defiance comes at a price--his life. Now
1939 a mountaintop village in Obersalzberg--Hitler's retreat. Bernie is sent to investigate a murder to ensure the safety of 'the leader' when he arrives for his birthday celebrations. The timeline is short and intense. Bernie is in danger from an unknown killer and from those who give him his orders.
I vacillated between 4 and 5 stars, but came down on the side of 5 as I've kept thinking about the background to this novel long after reading it, the dark confrontations of life in Nazi Germany pre the invasion of Poland, the graft and corruption--the decedent absolutism and unlawful acquisition and manufactured evidence. Into this maelstrom of indifference and power, Gunther is thrown. Always a step away from his own destruction, a witness to the brutal demise of others, harsh punishments, and an ironical longing for the proper avenues of investigations. Gunther almost naively continually tries for the unattainable in this political climate of hate and greed--Justice!
How Gunther continues to come through with some form of conscience and positive core values continually amazes.
Always defiant, if not openly, Gunther tries to be what he espouses--a policeman committed to finding the truth, even when finding that truth puts himself at risk. As the layers of happenings are unravelled, the false premises discarded, and the kernel of truth looked for, Gunther places himself in a dangerous position. The politically correct story, the alternative, that is wanted by those in power is far from what Gunther uncovers. Part of that uncovering leads into hints of the future that we've already seen in another case.
Cleverly executed, Kerr once more comes up with a crime noir winner. Bernie Gunther, disenchanted, hard boiled, sardonic and at at times outright crazy (thanks to the amphetamines he's given on his arrival in Obersalzberg), admirer of cats (look for those occasions) is a winner.
A NetGalley ARC
Like a rat on a treadmill Bernie Gunther is once more caught up in the games of those from his past. It's 1956 and Erich Mielke, deputy head of the dreaded Stasi, has invited Gumther to dinner to put a proposition to him. Gunther refuses. That defiance comes at a price--his life. Now
Show More
Gunther is on the run. Chased from Nice to Germany, pursued by a former Kripo associate, Gunther recalls the last time he saw Friedrich Korsch.1939 a mountaintop village in Obersalzberg--Hitler's retreat. Bernie is sent to investigate a murder to ensure the safety of 'the leader' when he arrives for his birthday celebrations. The timeline is short and intense. Bernie is in danger from an unknown killer and from those who give him his orders.
I vacillated between 4 and 5 stars, but came down on the side of 5 as I've kept thinking about the background to this novel long after reading it, the dark confrontations of life in Nazi Germany pre the invasion of Poland, the graft and corruption--the decedent absolutism and unlawful acquisition and manufactured evidence. Into this maelstrom of indifference and power, Gunther is thrown. Always a step away from his own destruction, a witness to the brutal demise of others, harsh punishments, and an ironical longing for the proper avenues of investigations. Gunther almost naively continually tries for the unattainable in this political climate of hate and greed--Justice!
How Gunther continues to come through with some form of conscience and positive core values continually amazes.
Always defiant, if not openly, Gunther tries to be what he espouses--a policeman committed to finding the truth, even when finding that truth puts himself at risk. As the layers of happenings are unravelled, the false premises discarded, and the kernel of truth looked for, Gunther places himself in a dangerous position. The politically correct story, the alternative, that is wanted by those in power is far from what Gunther uncovers. Part of that uncovering leads into hints of the future that we've already seen in another case.
Cleverly executed, Kerr once more comes up with a crime noir winner. Bernie Gunther, disenchanted, hard boiled, sardonic and at at times outright crazy (thanks to the amphetamines he's given on his arrival in Obersalzberg), admirer of cats (look for those occasions) is a winner.
A NetGalley ARC
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LibraryThing member iansales
This is the twelfth novel in Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series, begun back in the early 1990s with his Berlin Noir trilogy. Since returning to the series in 2006, Kerr has been banging them out one a year, with no appreciable loss in quality. And over the twelve books, we’ve seen Bernie survive
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WWII, bounce around South America, Cuba, Germany, and now it’s the mid-1950s and he’s a concierge at a small hotel on the Riviera. Each of the Gunther novels have followed the same template – what Bernie is doing now, and how he gets himself out of the bad situation he seems to have got himself into, and a narrative set at some point before, or during, the Second World War, when he worked for various iterations of the Berlin police. In Prussian Blue, a face from the past turns up and blackmails Bernie into murdering a woman in England, so he goes on the run. That face from the past was Bernie’s criminal assistant during an investigation into a murder in Obersalzberg, Hitler’s mountainside retreat in Bavaria, which he had to solve in a week before Hitler arrived to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. Unfortunately, Obersalzberg, administered by Hitler’s private secretary, Martin Borman, is rife with corruption, and there is no shortage of suspects. Just make matters worse, Borman doesn’t much care if the crime is solved, just as long as he has someone he can put in front of a firing squad. Which he soon finds. But Gunther also has a suspect. Unfortunately, the murder is linked to the millions Borman and his cronies are ripping off from the Third Reich. And while Borman’s brother, who hates him, is waiting in the wings to bring him low, he and Gunther have been out-maneuvred. Worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member jamespurcell
An excellent entry in this series and very well narrated. Bernie's past continues to bedevil him as he is chosen to be an assassin by a communist spymaster. His major incentive; that he will keep living is grossly demonstrated by his near hanging. As he flees, he recalls a former case that he
Sent by Heydrich to Hitler's Bavarian retreat to solve a murder, he gets an inside look at the Third Reich leadership which confirms his previously distant attitude of disgust.
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resolved with the aid of one of his almost assassins.Sent by Heydrich to Hitler's Bavarian retreat to solve a murder, he gets an inside look at the Third Reich leadership which confirms his previously distant attitude of disgust.
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LibraryThing member kerns222
If you like roadkill-flat characters engaged in non-stop action surrounded by continuous details of Nazi palaces and procedures along with non-stop internecine battles between big and middle-sized Nazis, and, yes, portraits of the pissed-off townfolk of Bavaria, then this is your book. Of course,
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you also get the Berliner detective (A Sam Spade reincarnation) leading the charge and spouting off in front of the SS and Gestapo and even the STASO (all three often trying to kill him) as any red-blooded detective should. Show Less
LibraryThing member JayLivernois
A detective novel not for the faint of heart or professionals who know too much about this world. There is nothing quaint or eccentric about the main character, Bernie Gunther, just survival in spite of his non-pc speech in his world of either Nazi Germany or socialist post-war Europe. Although
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taking place in the past 20th century decades of the 30s and 50s, it is clear that the problems of not only free speech, free expression, and liberty in general, that we are dealing with today are reflected in this good work of fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member charlie68
Another great story of Bernie Gunter and his sardonic wit. Two story lines one from 1939 Bavaria and the other from 1956 France combine nicely.
LibraryThing member tmph
A great Bernie Gunther story; and great history.
LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate
This review covers the following books:
Other Side Of Silence
Metropolis
Prussian Blue
Greeks Bearing Gifts
These four books concluded the Bernie Gunther series for me and sorry I am to get to the end.
If you are not a detective genre fan then stop reading now, for you may get your eyes opened!
Set
They main villains are the Nazis and all are real characters from history. One of the nice touches is the historical footnotes at the end of the books where their real fates are listed. A surprising number of them were not tried as war criminals and died peacefully in their beds, unlike their victims.
This is a long series covering the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s right up to the 1950s. There is no glamourising anything about war or the actions of the participants in these books.
That’s the scenario, but here’s the thing. When all is said and done it is a detective novel. There is a crime, some suspects, and a detective trying to work out who did what. It’s a simple idea, there is lots of moral philosophising and some skull cracking but nothing that you cannot understand, (yes even you who look down on detective novels.)
But here’s another thing and this is where the magic comes into it. We all know the plot, and generally most of the characters, so the real skill is in the characterisation, plot structure and dialog.
Any fool can write a one-off novel based on an highly intellectual promise (he says) but try writing the same novel over and over again and yet each time making it authentic. Not any fool can do that (he says).
If you are sceptical of this, why has Sherlock Holmes endured? Look at a list of Booker Prize winners and see how many of them are household names like Lee Child, Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, Ian Ranking, Agatha Christie, to name but a few, also, see how many of those Booker winners are relatively unknown now, or even only 10 years after they won their Booker. Better yet, see how many books they sold compared to the list of crime authors above, but I have no doubt that you confuse popular with prosaic.
Believe me, one day all you book snobs will get what’s coming to you, then you’ll be begging some jaded, low life, philandering, alcoholic, washed up detective to come and save you.
Well mister, if you ain’t some drop dead, gorgeous, red headed, dame then you may as well kiss your sorry, snobbish arse goodbye. And good riddance I say.
Other Side Of Silence
Metropolis
Prussian Blue
Greeks Bearing Gifts
These four books concluded the Bernie Gunther series for me and sorry I am to get to the end.
If you are not a detective genre fan then stop reading now, for you may get your eyes opened!
Set
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in Nazi Germany, Bernie Gunther is in the classic detective mold. Hard bitten, soft spot for a swell dame, has scruples, a conscience, and a gun. Runs off at the mouth to the wrong people about things they don’t want to hear and somehow manages not to get killed. This is surprising as his employers are very high level SS. They main villains are the Nazis and all are real characters from history. One of the nice touches is the historical footnotes at the end of the books where their real fates are listed. A surprising number of them were not tried as war criminals and died peacefully in their beds, unlike their victims.
This is a long series covering the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s right up to the 1950s. There is no glamourising anything about war or the actions of the participants in these books.
That’s the scenario, but here’s the thing. When all is said and done it is a detective novel. There is a crime, some suspects, and a detective trying to work out who did what. It’s a simple idea, there is lots of moral philosophising and some skull cracking but nothing that you cannot understand, (yes even you who look down on detective novels.)
But here’s another thing and this is where the magic comes into it. We all know the plot, and generally most of the characters, so the real skill is in the characterisation, plot structure and dialog.
Any fool can write a one-off novel based on an highly intellectual promise (he says) but try writing the same novel over and over again and yet each time making it authentic. Not any fool can do that (he says).
If you are sceptical of this, why has Sherlock Holmes endured? Look at a list of Booker Prize winners and see how many of them are household names like Lee Child, Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, Ian Ranking, Agatha Christie, to name but a few, also, see how many of those Booker winners are relatively unknown now, or even only 10 years after they won their Booker. Better yet, see how many books they sold compared to the list of crime authors above, but I have no doubt that you confuse popular with prosaic.
Believe me, one day all you book snobs will get what’s coming to you, then you’ll be begging some jaded, low life, philandering, alcoholic, washed up detective to come and save you.
Well mister, if you ain’t some drop dead, gorgeous, red headed, dame then you may as well kiss your sorry, snobbish arse goodbye. And good riddance I say.
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LibraryThing member camharlow2
The twelfth book to feature Bernie Gunter takes up his story immediately after the previous one “The other side of silence”. In 1956, he is still working as a hotel detective on the French Riviera. Having spoilt an East German plot to throw suspicion on the MI5 Deputy Director, Roger Hollis,
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the East German secret service is determined to try again and at the same time to implicate Gunter. Some of the officers who worked with him in Germany before and during the Second World War, have now transferred their allegiance and threaten his future. The exciting and tense novel alternates between 1956 and Bernie’s investigation in early 1939 in Berchtesgaden of a fatal shooting at Hitler’s retreat. As in the previous novels, Kerr has a powerful way with his plotting and dialogue that moves the two parts of the story on apace and keeps you turning the pages to discover what happens next. Show Less
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
This book, like many in the series, covers two time periods, initially 1956 but then 1939 and features a character who reappears in 1956 as a Stasi member. In 1956 Bernie is living in the south of France and has been caught by a former Nazi cop now living in East Germany and a member of the Stasi.
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Bernie narrowly Escapes their clutches and goes on the run. Meanwhile, back in 1939, Heydrich has sent Bernie to solve an embarrassing murder in Berteschgarten, Hitler's Bavarian retreat, which is under Martin Borman's iron control. As usual, many of the characters were real people and the background detai, fantastic. Show Less
Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — Novel — 2018)
Barry Award (Nominee — Novel — 2018)
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction (Longlist — 2018)
HWA Crown Awards (Longlist — Gold — 2018)