|
|
|
|
Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts (USA 2019) From the Publisher: 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. Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts. A Bernie Gunther Novel. Putnam, ISBN: 9780399185212 (March, 2019), 544 p., $16.00.
|
|
Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts (UK 2018) From the Publisher: 'One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written' LEE CHILD 'Kerr leads us through the facts of history and the vagaries of human nature' TOM HANKS 'One of the greatest master story-tellers in English' ALAN FURST 1957, Munich. Bernie Gunther's latest move in a long string of varied careers sees him working for an insurance company. It makes a kind of sense: both cops and insurance companies have a vested interest in figuring out when people are lying to them, and Bernie has a lifetime of experience to call on. Sent to Athens to investigate a claim from a fellow German for a ship that has sunk, Bernie takes an instant dislike to the claimant. When he discovers the ship in question once belonged to a Greek Jew deported to Auschwitz, he is convinced the sinking was no accident but an avenging arson attack. Then the claimant is found dead, shot through both eyes. It's a win for Bernie's employers at least: no one to pay out to even if the claim is genuine. But who is behind the murder, and why? Strong-armed into helping the Greek police with their investigation, Bernie is once again drawn inexorably back to the dark history of the Second World War, and the deportation of the Jews of Salonika - now Thessaloniki. As Europe seems ready to move on to a more united future with Germany as a partner rather than an enemy, at least one person in Greece is ready neither to forgive nor forget. And, deep down, Bernie thinks they may have a point. Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts. A Bernie Gunther Thriller. Quercus, ISBN: 9781784296551 (October, 2018), 464 p., £8.99.
|
|
Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts (USA 2018) From the Publisher: 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. Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts. A Bernie Gunther Novel. Marian Wood Books / Putnam, ISBN: 9780399177064 (April, 2018), 511 p., $27.00, eBook $13.99.
|
|
Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts (UK 2018) From the Publisher: 'One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written' LEE CHILD 'One of the greatest master story-tellers in English' ALAN FURST 1957, Munich. Bernie Gunther's latest move in a long string of varied careers sees him working for an insurance company. It makes a kind of sense: both cops and insurance companies have a vested interest in figuring out when people are lying to them, and Bernie has a lifetime of experience to call on. Sent to Athens to investigate a claim from a fellow German for a ship that has sunk, Bernie takes an instant dislike to the claimant. When he discovers the ship in question once belonged to a Greek Jew deported to Auschwitz, he is convinced the sinking was no accident but an avenging arson attack. Then the claimant is found dead, shot through both eyes. It's a win for Bernie's employers at least: no one to pay out to even if the claim is genuine. But who is behind the murder, and why? Strong-armed into helping the Greek police with their investigation, Bernie is once again drawn inexorably back to the dark history of the Second World War, and the deportation of the Jews of Salonika - now Thessaloniki. As Europe seems ready to move on to a more united future with Germany as a partner rather than an enemy, at least one person in Greece is ready neither to forgive nor forget. And, deep down, Bernie thinks they may have a point. Philip Kerr: Greeks Bearing Gifts. A Bernie Gunther Thriller. Quercus, ISBN: 9781784296520 (April, 2018), 485 p., £18.99, eBook £12.99.
|
|
|
