Field Gray Audiobook By Philip Kerr cover art

Field Gray

A Bernie Gunther Novel

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Field Gray

By: Philip Kerr
Narrated by: Paul Hecht
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About this listen

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.

Listen to more Bernie Gunther titles.©2011 Philip Kerr (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Fiction Historical Private Investigators Suspense War & Military Mystery Military War France Exciting Imperialism
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Editorial reviews

In his international pursuit of Erich Mielke (the real-life head of the Stasi), Bernard Gunther enters the employment of Reinhard Heydrich (the infamous Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, whose own assassination in Prague inspired a Hollywood movie directed by Fritz Land from a script by Brecht). Ostensibly a German mercenary, Gunther is in fact second cousin to the wise-cracking cynics of Raymond Chandler's world: even his name is shortened to ‘Bernie’ in recognition of his true literary nationality. His pursuit soon takes on secondary importance as the narrative morphs into a string of entertaining set-pieces framed by an increasingly fractured narrative that jumps from '41 to '54, Cold War to WWII, Berlin to Cuba to New York. This sense of dislocation ads to the ambiguity that surrounds Gunther: As he tells and retells his story to various interrogators from the CIA and the Stasi, the listener has to make up his or her own mind about the reliability of his point of view and the extent of his culpability.

It’s a brave choice by Philip Kerr to ask us to engage with a character that occupies moral ground as grey as the army uniform described in the title. He's not helped by the often uneasy mixture of the wise-cracking tone demanded by the conventions of hardboiled noir and the very real history that, at times, overwhelms the story. Cynical quips and the Holocaust don’t mix all that well. Field Gray is packed with background information, and the dialogue is at its weakest when characters speak a little too extensively about the historical background, as if Kerr is trying to cram in every last scrap of his research.

However, these flaws are redeemed in this recording by the perfect marriage between voice and character as presented by Paul Hecht. His voice (reminiscent of Philip Baker Hall) is rich in regret and his crumpled world-weariness matches Bernard Gunther's embattled defensiveness. Here is a character who constantly has to justify his compromised choices to interrogators that have been untouched by the hard choices made necessary by war, and Hecht’s delivery is just right for a defendant who has seen things that his prosecutors can hardly dream of. Even within the context of his unique voice, Hecht manages to color it with light and shade so that the supporting characters are more than just background voices. This is a voice you’ll want to listen to. Dafydd Phillips

What listeners say about Field Gray

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Easy listen

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

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A new favorite author and narrator.

I found Philip Kerr's novels a few months ago and have gone through five of them. This one I'm listening to for the second time, picking up twists I missed before and enjoying it as much as I did on the first listen. I think Paul Hecht captures the noir flavor perfectly and will look for other books he's narrated. I've read hundreds of mysteries over the years and Philip Kerr's novels rank with the very best.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gunther true reveal

This is again one of Philip Kerr’s extremely well researched and written novels with Bernie Gunther as the protagonist. The large number of characters, and the French, German, Russian and American government organizations are a challenge to keep up with and the plot twists even more so. The big difference for me in this episode of the Bernie Gunther saga is his true character as an A-hole and American hating cynic comes out. He hates almost everyone, except old Berlin and traditional German culture despite the events of 1930-1945 German politics and actions. He can rationalize almost all that has gone before him because all parties are flawed. I found it hard to find a sympathic feeling for he character after the conclusion of this novel.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Simply, one of, if not the, best living writers

Another wonderfully written, dark, but revealing look into the evil of which man is capable. Gunter is a bit of a "superman" himself, but not outrageously so as his escapades reveal the darkness that is the Nazis, and war itself. This character's behavior would not have survived in the real Nazi regime, but Kerr makes a very plausible case for Bernie's doing so. He's done enough with Bernie, so while I am sure his children's books are great, I hope he can invent another character to reveal another of mankind's inner workings and soon.
And whatever happen to cause him change narrators is a clear case of over thinking. John Lee was the perfect Gunter and the change had a negative effect on my listening pleasure!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Historically very well researched novel

The way Kerr mixes his story with extremely well researched historical facts is fascinating. He really does not like the French, dislikes the Russians or the Americans and sometimes his main character Bernie Gunther seems to go a long way to explain (excuse?) the German behavior. Probable truth is that every nation is guilty at some point in its history of horrible behavior, but the systematic, organized murder of millions is not easy to forgive. One last point: in the 5 Bernie Gunther books I have read so far, the Brits appear only sporadically and are rarely criticized.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not the best in the series

I am a fan of the Bernie Gunther series, well, some of them. Volumes 4, 5 and 6 were superb. This one (#7) was way too talky and bored me; maybe it gets better but I gave up a third of the way in. It starts strong, a continuation of where #6 left off in Havana, but gets bogged down pretty quick in Germany. Paul Hecht is excellent, but in this edition the recording is uneven, and also has a lot of breath intake sounds that distract.

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