Greeks Bearing Gifts

By: Philip Kerr

Narrated by: John Lee

An NPR Book of the Year
A Crime Reads Best Crime Book of 2018

A vicious murder puts Bernie Gunther on the trail of World War 2 criminals in Greece in this riveting historical thriller in Philip Kerr's New York Times bestselling series.

Munich, 1956. Bernie Gunther has a new name, a chip on his shoulder, and a dead-end career when an old friend arrives to repay a debt and encourages "Christoph Ganz" to take a job as a claims adjuster in a major German insurance company with a client in Athens, Greece.

Under the cover of his new identity, Bernie begins to investigate a claim by Siegfried Witzel, a brutish former Wehrmacht soldier who served in Greece during the war. Witzel's claimed losses are large , and, even worse, they may be the stolen spoils of Greek Jews deported to Auschwitz. But when Bernie tries to confront Witzel, he finds that someone else has gotten to him first, leaving a corpse in his place.

Enter Lieutenant Leventis, who recognizes in this case the highly grotesque style of a killer he investigated during the height of the war. Back then, a young Leventis suspected an S.S. officer whose connection to the German government made him untouchable. He's kept that man's name in his memory all these years, waiting for his second chance at justice...

Working together, Leventis and Bernie hope to put their cases--new and old--to bed. But there's a much more sinister truth to acknowledge: A killer has returned to Athens...one who may have never left.

Critic reviews

Praise for Greeks Bearing Gifts

"A terrifically complex tale ... a beautifully written novel by a gifted writer who has left us too soon." — Washington Post

“It doesn't take much to get swept into Gunther's latest adventure or taken in by his darkly witty commentary.” — Chicago Tribune

"Every bit as powerful and atmospheric and addictively page-turning as all the ones that came before it."— Christian Science Monitor

“For bereft Kerr aficionados, this is a draught of vintage, as themes of redemption
are grippingly explored." — The Guardian

“Bernie Gunther…is back — which is good news for all readers… What makes this latest Bernie book notable is how it strikes a series of authentic notes.” — The Washington Times

“Beyond Marlowe, though, there’s Bernie…Bernie’s internal demons have always provided the compelling drama in this series, and here we loyal supporters are granted a ray of hard-won hope. It provides a great moment in an always-riveting series.” —Booklist, starred review

“In typical top form, Kerr provides valuable insights into the times...Inspired by real people and events, the latest novel by the celebrated author of the Berlin Noir trilogy is a deep but breezy work in which even the most trustworthy characters can harbor dark secrets.”—Kirkus Review, starred review

“An outstanding historical thriller steeped in intrigue with a superb narrative, pace, and characterization.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Once again, Kerr shows Bernie contending bravely if futilely against powerful forces whose full evil becomes clear only at the end.”—Publishers Weekly

“Greeks Bearing Gifts is the 13th Bernie book, each of them a polished gem of unsentimental detective writing echoing Chandler and Hammett in spirit, if not language. … The entire series of books balances on the shoulders of Bernie Gunther, surely one of the most likable and confounding characters in modern detective fiction — or, it should be said, in contemporary English literature in general. For that is what Kerr has created, not mere formulaic genre novels, and Bernie’s moral ambiguity has a lot to do with the magnetic power of Kerr’s work.” — San Antonio Express-News

Sorry this is the end

This book, while it had some good stuff in itself, was obviously a set up to take Bernie Gunther in a new direction, by making a connection with Nazi hunting Israelis. Unfortuantely, now that Phillip Kerr is dead we will never know where he planned to go with it.

So good

His books are so well researched you feel your there in 1930-1950s. Love his books

Another fantastic Bernie Gunther novel

Brilliantly using Bernie Gunther’s life before, during and after WW2, Kerr takes us into some the darkest crevices of Europe’s history.... and reveals some very uncomfortable truths.
As with the two or three novels that preceded this one, we discover the extent to which the Allies ignored some of the worst crimes in human history. They were largely motivated by greed, yet used the fight against communism as their excuse the allow so many senior Nazis to not only evade punishment, but to be leading participants in Germany’s post-war economic miracle.

When as a child in the 60s and 70s, my family encountered Germans on European vacations, my Dad would always say: “I wonder what they did in the War?” As it turns out, he was right: they were very likely to have been Nazis.

Adenauer was the leading architect of post-war Germany and it was he that either commuted the sentences of convicted murders, torturers, thrives and rapists.. or stopped prosecuting them. Worse still, and clearly not sated by killing 6,000,000 Jews, his intelligence services assisted and armed Israel’s enemies.
And yet this great crime of ignoring or forgiving known Nazi murderers was also carried out by many of the new governments of countries previously occupied by Germany. To pursue those of their citizens who assisted Germany’s annihilation of Jews, would have revealed the enormous numbers of them. In countries like Greece, much of the post-WW2 government were beneficiaries of the robbery and murder of it Jews.
Thank you Philip Kerr, for letting people know the extent to which so many Nazi crimes were ignored.

Kerr's Best Yet Bernie Gunther Saga

From start to finish this latest installment of the Bernie Gunther series is Kerr at his best. This time the action takes place in the 1950's Germany and Greece. As always Kerr brings in real villains from Nazi Germany and puts Bernie right in the middle. Its a must listen/read made even more so with Philip Kerr's recent death and the silencing of Bernies sarcasm and never play by the rules for all time. (Well almost as he finished one more book before he passed away and I for one can't wait to read/hear it)

As always John Lee brings Bernie and there rest of the characters to life in another 5 star performance as he continues to be one of the best narrators recording today.

Series gets better and better

Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels are a treasure of historical fiction. Bernie may be aging (tell me about it) but he is no less wry, charming, and as ethical as his times permit. Narrator John Lee rises to the challenge of bringing him to life beautifully. More, more, more please.