Field Gray

A Bernie Gunther Novel

By: Philip Kerr

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

Philip Kerr crafts a thrilling chapter from his critically acclaimed Bernie Gunther series. In Field Gray, Bernie finds himself imprisoned in 1954—and told he can either work for French intelligence or he can hang. Accepting his new job, Bernie begins interviewing POWs returning from Germany. And things get interesting when he meets a French war criminal and member of the French SS who has been posing as a German Wehrmacht officer.

©2011 Philip Kerr (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Easy listen

The book jumps around and the descrption of the places are narrow. I just could not get into the book.

A Bit Awry but Still Worth a Listen

Kerr is probably one of those writers that you either really like or really don't like. His books on Audible benefit from good narrators (Paul Hecht is as delightful as John Lee once you get used to him) as well as interesting historical plots. I have no idea how accurate his Nazi world is, but it makes for enjoyable listening. Gunther is hard not to like as a hero because he so often turns out to be incredibly vulnerable. In this book Gunther gets a little out of his element, or maybe it is Kerr and his experimental style that goes a bit awry. Nevertheless, Kerr still delivers and Bernie does not disappoint.

Field Gray

This book covers the period's of 1930's, 40's and 50's in Germany. Paul Hecht does a great job of narration. This book looks at WWII from the view of a German policeman. It is very interesting and the treatment of German POW by the Russian was accurately portrayed in the story. I found myself checking up on various events described in the book to see how historically accurate they were. I must say the ending of the book took me by surprise. I was going straight and the story took a big turn. Exciting. This was my first Phillip Kerr book.

Historical fiction at it's best

Any additional comments?

Anyone who is interested in the history of midcentury Europe cannot fail to learn a lot and enjoy by following the career of Berlin policeman Bernie Gunther from the 1920s through 1950sthrough a series of novels by Philip Kerr.

So far, the best in a masterful series

Don't start with Field Gray, save it for after you have listened to the preceding volumes in the "Bernie Gunther" detective series. Kerr's creation is an engaging, wryly comic, and morally challenging character. Paul Hecht's reading deeply and unobtrusively captures the spirit of Gunther, as well as the many adversaries Kerr pits against him in this expansive, complex, but eminently clear political detective story, steeped in a history no one should have the pleasure of forgetting about. Field Gray is as much a warning as it is a retelling about the depths of inhumanity in which humanity can so easily lose itself.