Another pre-goodreads book i liked. At the time I was much into the Third Reich setting. ( )

1st, nf,

Field Gray is the seventh novel in Phillip Kerr's series based on Bernie Gunther a one time Berlin police detective who manages to get caught up in intrigues that have little or nothing to do with his own initiative. He is a victim of his own competence and lack of ideological commitment. He is put into play by just about every secret service on both sides of World War II and the Cold War. Only through the use of his experience and wits is he able to avoid the fate of all pawns in the chess game of espionage.

As is Kerr's usual modus operandi the action in Field Gray is global in scope and the story is told in a series of back and forth episodes dated from 1931 to 1954. The point of departure is an event that occurred in Berlin in 1931 when Gunther happens upon a group of S.A. stormtroopers about to beat the hell out of or worse to a young German Communist name of Erich Mielke. Mielke survives this encounter and goes on to lead a "colorful" life including the murder of two Berlin police officers shortly after his rescue by Bernie and eventually ending up as the head of state security in the late, unlamented German Democratic Republic.

Along the way Bernie is dragooned into unwilling service by Reinhard Heydrich, gets a taste of occupied Paris in June of 1940, is dispatched to the Russian front in 1941, enjoys what should have been an end of life experience mining uranium as a POW under Soviet auspices, being kidnapped by the CIA, seconded to the French secret service and getting a taste of a French concentration camp, and a stay in Hitler's former cell in Landsberg prison under American auspices.

Betrayal is a theme that predominates in Field Gray and Bernie proves to be not immune. The plot is somewhat thick and there are a few rabbits pulled out of the hat to get the hero and the reader to the denouement, but they are plausible enough so that you don't feel like you have been played for a sucker, which is more than can be said for a lot of the characters.

As an aside one of the terms I encountered in this 2010 work was "anti fa", as in anti-fascist, which in this case refers to the reeducation program for German prisoners who were persuaded of the advantages of going to work for the Soviet MVD rather than endure their unhappy fate as Soviet POWs. I suspect that the founders of Antifa in our time were likely to include at least one fan of Philip Kerr's novels.

One particular passage is worth quoting at some length. In describing what happened to the enforcement of crime in Berlin after the police became incorporated into the State Security Police by the Nazis, Bernie relates the following.

"Most of the crime was politicized, but men carried on murdering their wives and professional criminals went about their business as normal. I conducted several investigations during that period, but in reality the Nazis cared very little about reducing crime in the usual time-honored way and most police could hardly be bothered to do what police do. This was because the Nazis preferred to "reduce" crime by declaring annual amnesties, which meant that most crimes never went to court at all. All the Nazis cared about was being able to say that the crime figures were down. In fact, crime - real crime - actually increased under the Nazis: Theft, murder, juvenile delinquency - it all got worse. So I carried on as normal at the Alex. I made arrests, prepared a case, handed the papers over to the Ministry of Justice, and in time the case was struck down, or dropped, and the accused walked free."

Far be it from me to indulge in the reductio ad Hitlerum, but it kind of rings a bell, does it not? ( )

Another well-written crime/fictional memoir, a consummate anti-hero. fascinating, and often historical, characters that practically force you to continue reading. Even after Gunther dies readers will still want to find out more about this hard-core character. ( )

Corre el año 1954 y las cosas no son sencillas para Bernie Gunther. El Gobierno cubano le ha obligado a espiar a Meyer Lansky, y cualquiera puede imaginarse que meter las narices en los asuntos de un conocido mafioso no puede ser bueno para la salud. Así que, harto de ese engorroso trabajo, Gunther consigue una embarcación con el objetivo de huir a Florida. Sin embargo, la suerte no está de su lado, ya que tras la fuga es arrestado y devuelto a Cuba, donde esencarcelado. En su estancia en prisión conoce a personajes curiosos, como Fidel Castro o Thibaud, un agente que ejerce de enlace entre la CIA y el servicio de inteligencia francés. Thibaud no es buena compañía para Bernie y no tarda en demostrarlo al hacerle una propuesta que el detective no tiene más remedio que aceptar: debe volver a Alemania para alojarse en una prisión y hacer allí un trabajo sucio que puede acabar costándole la vida.