After toiling for two years in Vice, Bernie Gunther is promoted to the
Berlin Murder Commission. He has solved a murder case before, and
his new superiors, Weiss and Gennat, have much faith in Bernie.
Prostitutes are being murdered and scalped, and Bernie is assigned the
case of the "Silesian Station Killer." Ten years after the Great War,
Germany is still reeling from the aftermath, and it seems like everything
good, bad, and outrageous has descended on Berlin. Crime, corruption,
and distrust are everywhere, Nazis and communists face off at every
opportunity, and Jews are not precisely welcome in positions of
authority. And this is within the police department. Crime solving
becomes a perilous enterprise when no one really cares. How does one
not lose his soul in this new Babylon, this METROPOLIS where anything goes?
Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series had been on my radar for a few years. I somehow never got
around to reading it, and how ironic that the first book I read would be
the late author's last. The series, in a way, has gone full circle, as METROPOLIS also works as an origin
novel when Bernie joins the Praesidium and proceeds to do his job
without treading on too many toes. Philip Kerr's flowing, easy, and often
very witty writing incites the reader to simply sit back and let a
consummate storyteller spin his tale. The story unfolds at a leisurely
pace, which I think offers a nice contrast to the frenzied decadence of
a city on the brink of chaos.
The Weimar Republic is one of the most fascinating period in history,
and the author's knowledge and research are such that I felt completely
in the moment, accompanying Bernie through the streets of Berlin. The
author creates a sharp picture, enhanced by vivid and colorful
descriptions, and precious historical details. Although I knew some of
the characters were real historical figures, the Author's Note was a
revelation! I think that Philip Kerr writes visuals as compelling as the
mesmerizing reproductions of the triptych Metropolis by Otto Dix that
are included in the book. I saw it all through Bernie's observant and
cynical eyes; he's a realist, not a fool, and this Berlin is not for the faint
of heart.
METROPOLIS is exactly the book I
hoped for: I didn't know what to expect regarding the author's skills at
weaving a convincing police procedural - he's excellent - but I wanted
to experience 1928 Berlin, and short of time-travel, it couldn't have
been any better. Philip Kerr does such an outstanding job at conveying
the mounting tensions, that it becomes crystal clear why the Nazis
would soon come to power. I loved METROPOLIS as much for all the history it provides as
well as for the investigating of the crimes.
I love that the author never fell prey to revisionism or political
correctness, and I appreciate the lack of pretension as well as the
cultured vocabulary, without reverting to flowery prose, which is no
easy feat. Philip Kerr recreates a whole era, and crafts a world that kept
me turning the pages, eager to know more yet never wanting the book
to end. It is a real tragedy that an author of Mr. Kerr's caliber has left
us, but the extraordinary world of Bernie Gunther lives on. Now, I have
thirteen books to add to my to-be-read pile.
New York Times-bestselling author Philip Kerr treats readers to his beloved hero's origins, exploring Bernie Gunther's first weeks on Berlin's Murder Squad.
Summer, 1928. Berlin, a city where nothing is verboten.
In the night streets, political gangs wander, looking for fights. Daylight reveals a beleaguered populace barely recovering from the postwar inflation, often jobless, reeling from the reparations imposed by the victors. At central police HQ, the Murder Commission has its hands full. A killer is on the loose and though he scatters many clues, each is a dead end. It's almost as if he is taunting the cops. Meanwhile, the press is having a field day.
This is what Bernie Gunther finds on his first day with the Murder Commisson. He's been taken on beacuse the people at the top have noticed him—they think he has the makings of a first-rate detective. But not just yet. Right now, he has to listen and learn.
Metropolis, completed just before Philip Kerr's untimely death, is the capstone of a fourteen-book journey through the life of Kerr's signature character, Bernhard Genther, a sardonic and wisecracking homicide detective caught up in an increasingly Nazified Berlin police department. In many ways, it is Bernie's origin story and, as Kerr's last novel, it is also, alas, his end.
Metropolis is also a tour of a city in chaos: of its seedy sideshows and sex clubs, of the underground gangs that run its rackets, and its bewildered citizens—the lost, the homeless, the abandoned. It is Berlin as it edges toward the new world order that Hitler will soo usher in. And Bernie? He's a quick study and he's learning a lot. Including, to his chagrin, that when push comes to shove, he isn't much better than the gangsters in doing whatever her must to get what he wants.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy