Metropolis

Bernie Gunther #14

by Philip Kerr

Berlin, 1928, the dying days of the Weimar Republic shortly before Hitler and the Nazis came to power. It was a period of decadence and excess as Berliners - after the terrible slaughter of WWI and the hardships that followed - are enjoying their own version of Babylon. Bernie is a young detective working in Vice when he gets a summons from Bernard Weiss, Chief of Berlin's Criminal Police. He invites Bernie to join KIA - Criminal Inspection A - the supervisory body for all homicide investigation in Kripo. Bernie's first task is to investigate the Silesian Station killings - four prostitutes murdered in as many weeks. All of them have been hit over the head with a hammer and then scalped with a sharp knife.

Bernie hardly has time to acquaint himself with the case files before another prostitute is murdered. Until now, no one has shown much interest in these victims - there are plenty in Berlin who'd like the streets washed clean of such degenerates. But this time the girl's father runs Berlin's foremost criminal ring, and he's prepared to go to extreme lengths to find his daughter's killer.

Then a second series of murders begins - of crippled wartime veterans who beg in the city's streets. It seems that someone is determined to clean up Berlin of anyone less than perfect. The voice of Nazism is becoming a roar that threatens to drown out all others. But not Bernie Gunther's ...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Germany, Thriller, Detective

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 9, 2019

About the author

Philip Kerr was a British author. He was best known for his Bernie Gunther series of 13 historical thrillers and a children's series, Children of the Lamp, under the name P.B. Kerr.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Philip Kerr's swansong after his untimely and much lamented death last year, and he leaves us with a gloriously detailed portrayal of the dying days of the Weimar Republic, the chilling rise of Nazism and Hitler in the city of Berlin. He returns us to Bernie Gunther's early days as a detective working in vice, but now promoted to the Murder Commission by the Chief of the Criminal Police, the lawyer and Jew Bernard Weiss. For some time, Jews have been fair game and every Jew in public life carries a gun, the best kind of life insurance they can buy. The legacy of WW1 is writ large in Germany, with crushing poverty and starvation, squalor, rising inflation, women forced to work as prostitutes to survive, and the presence on the streets of mentally and physically afflicted crippled war veterans begging and a troubled political establishment hanging on by its fingernails. Side by side in the Berlin metropolis is its reputation as another Babylon, drowning in decadence, with its growing sex tourism, overt signs of debauchery in the bars and clubs, queers and transgenders shamelessly flaunting themselves, a city of messed up morality. At the heart of it is the arts and culture of 1928 including people such as Fritz Lang with his film Metropolis, and 'degenerate' artists like George Grosz.

Into this febrile atmosphere, a serial killer has been targeting prostitutes, hitting them over the head with a hammer and scalping them. This has not caused many ripples in the city, where the underlying feeling is that the killer is only doing what is necessary, clearing the filth off the streets. But the fourth victim, Eva Angerstein, has a father in a powerful position in Berlin's criminal rings fraternity and he will do anything to get hold of his daughter's murderer, including helping Bernie in his investigations. With the reputation of the police in tatters with the killer still at large and many in Berlin gunning for Weiss, another serial killer emerges, wanting to rid Berlin of the constant reminders of Germany's past failures and shame, by exterminating the crippled war veterans, malingerers who are essentially vermin. The latest killer is not alone in his inability to abide anything less than 'perfection', there are doctors, ostensibly looking after veterans, openly espousing eugenics. In a investigation where it is difficult to be a honest cop, the flawed Bernie walks the tightrope, determined to find a killer, not always making the wisest decisions, seeking justice for the victims but in the end forced to be pragmatic given the political volatility that defines the era.

Philip Kerr is a brilliant storyteller, he evokes the turbulent atmosphere of 1928 Berlin, in a historical novel that features real life characters of the time, and captures a Berlin and Germany that is inexorably heading towards the horrors of Nazi rule and WW2. His final Bernie Gunther novel is superb and an absolute joy to read, and I still haven't come to terms that there will be no more. I am going to have to go back and reread at some point in the future. The worst aspects of reading about this time in history with its rising populism is that our contemporary world is being marked by its own nightmare rise in populism, and the inevitable darkness that follows in its wake. Love, love, love this novel and this series. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

[Beata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berlin in 1928 is between two epochs: the Weimer Republic is at its dusk, and the Third Reich is just about to arrive. Berlin is still the city of decadence, cabarets, WW1 veterans, however, new ideas are on the horizon. Bernie Gunther is a only a young detective, tasked with finding the culprit behind brutal murders of four young women. He already has the perfect sense of investigating the crime that he will only master in his future cases.
Philip Kerr's portrayal of Berlin is just perfect,and it matches the way I envision it in the the 1920s. Truly loved this last book with Bernie, and, as I listened to the audiobook, I can only add that John Lee's interpretation is a masterpiece.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is entitled Metropolis, not just because of the appearance of Fritz Lang, but because the main character might be better described as Berlin than even Bernie Gunther. Here, Kerr gives us a taste of early Gunther, right when he was promoted to the homicide bureau, putting his detective mind to work solving a case of a serial murderer roaming the streets of Berlin. But, best of all, Kerr places Gunther in a time of Weimar Germany with the whole country still suffering from its bitter defeat in World War One. There's a darkness festering in the air. And, some areas are filled with the raunchiest of nightclubs and cabarets and sex clubs, a real Sodom and Gommorah. Legless veterans who survived the trenches are begging in the railway stations. Prostitutes line the alleys and the world is bitter, cynical. The Nazis are advancing towards 1933, but they're not yet in power as their evil specter still hovers like a dark cloud over the future. This book really brings to life a time and place and offers historical perspective. It is far more than just another detective novel.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that’s it then. Read my 14th and last Bernie Gunther detective. To my great regret there will never be another Bernie to look forward to. But I am happy to report this was a really excellent one!

I had the feeling that it had perhaps been Philip Kerr’s intention for a long time to write about the young Bernie Gunther. I might be wrong in my intuition about Metropolis, but I really thought it breathed the air of the older Bernie Gunther novels more than his last novels which were located at the French Riviera and the pre-ultimate one in Greece. Especialy, the pre-ultimate one, ‘Greeks bearing Gifts’ felt like Philip Kerr was at the end of his tether and his heart was not in it anymore which is understandable in view of his illness. So, I personally thought that it was a splendid idea of Philip Kerr to give us at last the young Bernie Gunther without the burden of his future life, all those murders, intrigues, betrayals, concentration camps, Hitler’s election as Chancellor, horrors like Himmler and Heydrich and other top nazi’s and the destruction of Berlin and Germany. You could say that Kerr made it easier for his fans to take leave of Bernie. At least, it had that effect on me. Here was the unknown Bernie with a clean slate and an unburdened past. But also the Bernie who is well recognizable in his independent reasoning and, naturally, his cynical wisecracks.

The novel is situated in 1928 and starts with Bernie’s first day as a detective in the Berlin Murder Division, having spent a few years in the Vice Department which was naturally very educational for him to get a good view of all the lowlifes, their connections and the places where they hang out. Bernie was really noticed for his talent, employing his creative independance and ability to communicate with each and everyone and was therefore asked by the Head of the Murder Division, a Jewish intellectual, to join his team. The Director, Mr. Bernard Weiss, is already starting to get harrassed by the fascists, but they do not have any substantial influence yet, especially in Berlin. In the Author’s Note at the end of the book, we learn that Bernard Weiss was a real historical person who fled Germany a few days before Hitler became Chancellor. But already in 1928, it is clear that things will be getting progressively more nasty, especially with those bands of Goebbels followers roaming the streets and taking pleasure in harrassing everyone, especially Jewish people. Bernie is put on the task of finding the murderer of 4 prostitutes. This murderer has the very nasty habit of scalping his victims, so he gets the nickname Winnetou, after the scalping Indian in the Karl May novels. Subsequent to these atrocious murders, begging WW-I veterans in wheel chairs in the streets are shot in the head with a single shot in the forehead. So there you go, Bernie is investigating nine murders as his first assignment.

Ian Rankin wrote a touching and interesting introduction to this last Bernie. He praises Philip Kerr for his humour, humanity and existential dread in the portrayal of Bernie Gunther and the description of the ever darkening world around him. I could not agree more.

[Yigal Zur · Rating 5 out of 5]

i rarely give 5* for a book but this one absolutely deserve it. one of the best thrillers, full with compassion and empathty for humanity, clever, full with knowledge, great sense of humor, sometimes cynical but brings great laugh. it is sad we will not have more of Kerr books.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourteenth Bernie Gunther novel and, sadly, the last to be published after the tragic loss of Phiip Kerr last year. I read the first Bernie Gunther novel in 1989 and was delighted when Kerr brought the character back in 2006, after the initial trilogy, which was completed in 1991.

During the series, Kerr wrote about the life of Gunther before, during, and after, WWII. The previous book, “Greeks Bearing Gifts,” was set in the 1950’s and I had, half-hoped, that Philip Kerr would have had the opportunity to complete Gunther’s life story and, even, possibly, give him a happy ending. This instalment, though, is set in 1928. I do love the early years of Gunther’s career, as a Berlin detective and, as such, I am pleased that this series does finish when our anti-hero is young and not aware of all the problems awaiting him. Perhaps that is how it should be.

It is 1928, Weimar Germany, and Bernie Gunther has just been moved from vice to homicide. There is a killer on the streets, who is not only murdering prostitutes, but scalping them. Also, there are a number of disabled war veterans being killed, while begging on the streets.

Nobody recreates this period of history better than Philip Kerr and we have Weimar Germany in all its decadence, excess and corruption. Many of those living in Gunther’s lodging house help to highlight this, as do the many clubs and bars that Gunther visits as he trundles around Berlin (at one point in the novel, literally). Although this series is best known for being set during the second world war, it is the first world war which is most evident in this novel. The memories, loss and humiliation of the war are evident everywhere, from memories triggered in various characters, to the fact that war veterans highlight the nation’s feeling of failure in many residents of the city.

For me, this was a bittersweet read. I am delighted that Philip Kerr did bring Gunther back into print after the initial trilogy, and so pleased that we have fourteen books to enjoy (not to mention Kerr’s many other novels, some sadly not in print), but saddened to have come to the end of a series which is one of my all time favourites. If you have not read Bernie Gunther before, you are in for a treat. Both Philip Kerr, and Bernie Gunther, will be much missed by me and, I am sure, by many other readers.


Bernie Gunther series in order:
1. March Violets (1989)
2. The Pale Criminal (1990)
3. A German Requiem (1991)
4. The One from the Other (2006)
5. A Quiet Flame (2008)
6. If the Dead Rise Not (2009)
7. Field Grey (2010)
8. Prague Fatale (2011)
9. A Man Without Breath (2013)
10. The Lady from Zagreb (2015)
11. The Other Side of Silence (2016)
12. Prussian Blue (2017)
13. Greeks Bearing Gifts (2018)
14. Metropolis (2019)

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been with Bernie Gunther on this long ride and now it is over. Philip Kerr has died and this is the last book that he will ever write about Berlin’s detective. Those who have been following Gunther through the Second World War and beyond now have the opportunity to read about how it all began. This book deals with Berlin during the post-World War I period and how Bernie Gunther becomes an expert in murder and other crimes.

Here is how one of his mates at his boarding house describes Germany and “the metropolis.”
“The show is very empty and pretentious, it’s true. But these days, tell me what isn’t? If you ask me, the inflation didn’t just affect our money, but everything else, too. Sex, drinking, drugs, nightlife, art, you name it. It’s like everything is rampantly out of control, you know? Especially in Berlin. The inflated money was just the beginning. The city’s become one great big department store of debauchery."

This is early Bernie Gunther: "Most of the time I’m very proud to be a cop. I think there’s nothing wrong with being a cop—unless there’s something wrong with the cop, of course. But sometimes it took a great deal of courage to see the Berlin police force with all its faults and still love it."

We, who have been with Kerr and Gunther, for the decades after this, are examining the beginnings for those characteristics that endure. Here, Gunther, a low-level detective, comes to the attention of the Murder Commission early in the book.

"In our opinion you’ve the makings of a fine detective, Gunther. You are diligent and you know when to keep your mouth shut; that’s good in a detective….So welcome to the Murder Commission, Gunther. The rest of your life just changed forever. You’ll never look at people in the same way again. From now on, whenever you stand next to a man at a bus stop or on a train, you’ll be sizing him up as a potential killer. And you’d be right to do so. Statistics show that most murders in Berlin are committed by ordinary, law-abiding citizens. In short, people like you and me."

And his gracious rival for the position concedes: "Word is you’ll go far, Gunther. You’ll be a commissar in no time. Me, I’ve got a big mouth so it’s probably just as well I didn’t get the seat. Truth be told, two Jews in the one car is one Jew too many. But you know when to keep your lip buttoned, lad. That’s the secret to advancement around here. Knowing when to keep your trap shut. And when to forget about politics. Besides, there are too many damn lawyers in the force already."

There are a lot of killings going on: A series of killings of paraplegic WW I veterans and another series of killings of prostitutes. Are they related? Are we dealing with one killer or many?

"And the plain fact of the matter is that if we’re going to catch this psychopath it will have to be with the immediate resources of the Murder Commission and a few like-minded Kripo officers, rather than the whole police department…. But I fear that if you do conduct any more interviews, it will have to be a mostly solo effort. I’m sorry, Bernie, but that’s just how it is and how it has to be. Understand?”
“I hear what you say, Ernst. But we can’t have it both ways. Public apathy or public hysteria—we have to choose the lesser of two evils here."

Kerr’s attention to details of the period is enlightening. His descriptive flair only gets brighter with age.

"She was wearing a light tweed two-piece suit, a man’s shirt and tie, white stockings, and a pair of silver earrings. Her shortish blond hair was parted to one side, her mouth was maybe a bit too wide, and her nose a bit too long, but she was as elegant as Occam’s razor and just as sharp. She had come armed with some expensive stationery from Liebmann and a variety of accessories that made me think she might have been to India: a gold enameled cigarette case that resembled a Mughal’s favorite rug; a variety of silver and ivory bangles; and a green clutch bag with an embroidered Hindu god that was home to a lorgnette and several large banknotes. This was just as well; the Hotel Adlon’s restaurant was the most expensive in Berlin. I knew that because I saw the ransom demands that were amusingly called prices on the menu…"

Berlin is very strange and very open….far beyond what is demonstrated in the musical, Cabaret.

"“What’s fair got to do with anything? If there was any fairness in this world my little girl would still be alive.” He lit a cigarette and smiled a crocodile sort of smile. “Fair, he says. Listen, son, this country—and this city in particular—are full of shit. And the shit keeps on piling up around our ears. Communists, Nazis, Junkers, Prussians, military men, pimps, drug addicts, perverts. You mark my words, Gunther, one day there’s going to be nowhere clean left for anyone to stand on and we’ll all be in the shit."

And, Bernie Gunther, whose wife has died, is certainly aware of the women that he encounters.

“You’ve got a way with women, Gunther. A nice way, but a way nonetheless. The same way a professional gambler knows the way to count cards. Or a good jockey knows how to handle racehorses.” “You make me sound very cynical.” “No. That’s not it. I’ll work out a name for it the next time I have a thesaurus in front of me. Anyway, now that I know you’re all right I was thinking of celebrating by locking the door again.” “Just as long as I’m on the inside.” “I can’t think of a better place for you to be.”

"…we lay on top of the covers for a while, exhausted and sheened with sweat, listening to the symphonic adagio that was the city’s smallest hours, too tired to smoke or to touch each other but knowing without having to say anything that there would be another time for all those mysteries…Neither of us said anything and it seemed to me that for a fleeting instant we reached out into the void and touched a perfect innocence."


At the end of this book, but at the beginning of this saga, Bernie is the person who struggles with his humanity and his pursuit of justice:
"You wouldn’t have stood for it.”
“You were right about that much anyway.”
“I didn’t have time to figure all the angles, but it seemed like a good idea. I still think you should let things lie the way they are.”
“I can’t. It’s just not in me. I’ve got standards and I try to live up to them. Whereas you’ve got no standards at all, and you certainly live up to those. I should have realized that."

4.5*
"You’re a stubborn bastard if ever I met one. I almost admire you for it. It seems it’s true what they say: There’s no fool quite as foolish as an honest fool. But ask yourself this: One day, one day soon if I’m not mistaken, when you’re the only honest man left in Germany, who’ll know?”

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

So the inevitable last book of the Bernie Gunther books has arrived, Philip Kerr died last year in March just days before the release of the previous Bernie Gunther novel. I expected that to be last one and bless his heart he had another one for us in stock. I love the little introduction that Ian Rankin provided for this book and love the gentleness he lays in there when he speaks about his friend and fellow writer. he shall be missed. I expect this book to be a bittersweet experience it being the last book of a really brilliant series written by a man who has passed away and shall never be able to hear the praise it undoubtedly will receive.

This final installment of the Bernie Gunther books is in essence a prequel, a return to the beginnings of Bernie Gunther as a policeman for the Berlin Mordkommision. In the opening we see him being asked to join the Murder-squad by his new boss Bernard Weiss. The fun bit about the books of Kerr are how he drops in real people to give his stories ore a reality based feeling. For me this book was set out in a very recognizable Berlin. I have recently seen Berlin Babylon which is set in the same era of German history and Berlin. It makes me wonder if Philip Kerr has seen the same show which might have prompted him to return to the Berlin pre-Nazi years.
Bernie shows very quickly he has what it takes to solve a murder which pleases his new boss very much. When confronted with the next murder he is thrown into a case involving a serial killer who targets prostitutes kills them with a hammer blow in the neck and then scalps them, thus earning him the moniker Winnetou, based on the famous character as created by the equally famous Karl May who wrote this series of books about the nobel Indian chieftain Winnetou. In his investigations Bernie comes across a criminal whose daughter was the last victim and he is very interested in finding out about the culprit.
Enter a second serial killer who kills the handicapped veterans of WWI because as he taunts the police they are a blight on the beautiful city of Berlin. This more high profile case takes the public interest away from some dead prostitutes and so Bernie gets cast into another murdercase. In this one he actually goes undercover and sees his own city from a different viewpoint.

Once again we see history through Bernie Gunthers eyes where Philip Kerr does not mind being a wee bit naughty like Gunthers encounter with Thea von Harbou, the wife and scriptwriter of Fritz Lang a famous German movie director, in which he essentially give her the idea for the movie 'M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder" about a killer in Berlin. (well worth your time watching even if it is perhaps uncomfortable). This famous director is also the creator of a famous movie called "Metropolis" it is a silent movie but with the recent find in Argentina of lost footage the movie has become more grand and is well worth your viewing pleasure.

Kerr describes a Berlin in the Interbellum (The period between the two great Wars) where live is difficult and hard for the common folks, where anything goes and as the upcoming Nazis felt was more a Sodom and Gomorrah. Through the eyes of Bernie Gunther we see this city post WWI and the threat of the incoming disaster already showing.

Once again a tour de force by Philip Kerr and sadly his last one, this book is a worthy closing chapter even if the writer had perhaps some more ideas for future installments. We shall never know but he left a series that is well worth your time and attention.

His first three Berlin Noir books were a great trilogy but in my humble opinion the next eleven books that started to appear close to 15 years later show a different view upon World War 2 and its consequences after the war. I find these eleven books very interesting and insightful as they show a picture we generally are not told about as we like to keep such a romantic and adventure-view of World War 2 which turns out to be such a pallet of Grey variations. We get to see them through the eyes of Bernie Gunther German, no Nazi, survivor and policeman.

Do yourself a favor and read the last eleven books to learn more about Europe and our last great war and enjoy the company of Bernie Gunther. I prefer the latter books to the original trilogy of Berlin Noir.

I will undoubtedly revisit this series in the future as there will be no more new books.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in 1928 during the Weimar Republic, this features a younger, more innocent, less cynical Bernie Gunther who has just joined the murder squad in Berlin and is on the trail of not one, but two serial killers - one targeting prostitutes, the other 'cleaning' the streets of begging/wounded war veterans.

For me, this has the strengths and weaknesses of the other books in this series: for one, the story is overlong, bloated with filler. Kerr is never one to leave any research unused so there are endless descriptions of the precise route that Bernie takes every time he leaves the house/police building; he can't pick up a reichsmark note without lecturing us on the man whose portrait is on the note, even though he's never heard of him and it's irrelevant anyway.

It's also notable that many men, including Bernie, seem to suddenly be feminists! I wonder if this is Kerr's response to how some readers took Bernie's rampant sexism in the previous books? It might have been distasteful but was probably more historically realistic. Now we have Bernie's boss 'in his plummy, almost thespian voice' saying "I keep telling our leaders that if we did more to support equal pay for women we could solve the problem of prostitution overnight". Another male character: "Mussolini has ended women's rights in Italy on the same day my own country has lowered the age of women voting". Ha!

For all that, these books are excellent on recreating atmosphere, here the decadent, febrile atmosphere of Berlin when the wounds and humiliations of WW1 are still current and the country is heading towards a Nazi power-grab. Anti-semitism is rife, women with jobs are forced to turn to prostitution to supplement their income, inflation is on the rise, there is corruption in public life, and crime gangs and drug dealers rule the streets. Bernie and his band of more or less honourable cops are the decent guys, Bernie wisecracking his way through the murk. 3.5 stars for me, an engrossing commute/off-duty read.

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Bernie Gunther is also the last written by Philip Kerr, who died shortly after completing the book.

The story was enjoyable and had some great descriptions of Weimar Germany, along with characters who were alive in those days playing larger or walk on parts in this Metropolis.

Bernie himself is a Great War veteran and is affected and influenced by his experiences throughout his adventure. He has just been recruited from vice to the murder department, and is immediately immersed into murders that are worrying his boss and some parts of Berlin society. Our Man needs to help his experiences colleagues connect the pieces and stop the killer or killers.

At the end of the book are some author notes in real life people who feature in the story.

A good read and one that will set me off reading the others. This book needed no prior knowledge of Bernie or his other adventures.

[Steven Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly, last March British author Philip Kerr passed away. Kerr was a prolific writer of over thirty books, including works of adult fiction and non-fiction, in addition to writing children’s books under the name, P. B. Kerr. At the time of his death he had just completed his last novel entitled, Metropolis, the last iteration of his successful Bernie Gunther series that dealt with German history from the 1920s through the Cold War. Kerr, one of my favorite purveyors of historical fiction consistently laid out his view of Nazism, its effect on Germany, and how Germany navigated the Cold War through the eyes of Gunther. METROPOLIS is the 14th book in the series and the reader has experienced the progression of Gunther from his time as a Berlin detective, a reluctant member of the Gestapo, and the course of his career in and out of law enforcement during World War II and the Cold War.

The series is not presented in chronological order as we witness the rise of Nazism, the coming to power of Adolf Hitler, German’s defeat in World War II, and how Germany fits into the post war world. Despite the lack of chronological continuity, Kerr makes it easy for the reader to follow German history through Gunther’s experiences. It is interesting that the final volume is set in Weimar Berlin in 1928, a city that resembled Babylon which according to Gunther “was a byword for iniquity and the abominations of the earth, whatever they might be.”

Metropolis begins with Gunther’s promotion from the vice squad by Bernhard Weiss, Berlin’s Chief of Criminal Police to a position on the Murder Commission. A move that will change Gunther’s life in that from this point on everyone he meets has the capacity to commit murder and he must size them up. The first case deals with the murder of three prostitutes by a serial killer nickname “Winnetou,”* and the investigation reflects the underside of what Berlin has become - a dichotomy of rich and mostly poor who will do anything to survive. Kerr has an excellent command of history as he weaves events and personalities throughout the novel. In this case, it is the stirring of the Nazis as a political party, worker unrest exacerbated by the Communist Party, the inflation of 1923 and what it has done to the savings and daily cost of living for the people of Berlin.

A major theme that permeates the story is the effect of World War I on the soldiers who survived the carnage of the trenches and the battlefield overall. Today we refer to it as post-traumatic stress disorder, after WWI it was called shell shock for which over 80,000 German soldiers were under medical treatment in 1928. For eugenicists of the period, Berlin was infested with crippled combat veterans who survived in their “cripple carts”, crutches, and severe pain. They are paralyzed, suffer from anger issues, flashbacks, survival guilt, and as Robert Jay Lifton, an American psychiatrist who specializes in surviving extreme trauma has pointed out, deal with the loss of self as they try to cope each day. For those living in Berlin in 1928 their lives offer a version of some sort of trauma daily; i.e., the violence pursued by Nazis and Communists, the lack of food, homeless in shelters, thousands living on the street, unemployment etc.

Kerr’s theme is carried forth as the Murder Commission learns of a series of murders of disabled veterans perpetrated by a man referred to as Dr. Gnadenschuss** by the press, who are killed by one bullet to the back of the head. Some argue that the murderer is doing society a favor by doing away with the constant reminder that Germany lost the war. For these eugenicists, the Weimar Republic must be cleansed for Germany to recover her strength, and the weak must be weeded out. These views are accepted by many including Doctors, Konrad Biesalski and Hans Wurtz who administer the Oskar-Helene rehabitation facility for veterans whose ideas on medical care and social integration are at best, Neanderthal.

The scars that have infected Gunther’s soul come to the fore throughout the novel. As in other books in the series, Gunther’s daily existence is a battle in dealing with his past, the moral choices he makes, and what he has become. Gunther’s sardonic and sarcastic commentary is a defense mechanism to cope with what ails him. He is aware of what the war has done to him, but he is able to compensate for his feelings and thoughts through his firm belief in what he is accomplishing as an officer of the law living in Berlin under the aegis of the Weimar Republic, a seedy, sexy, and cosmopolitan edifice that is out of step with the growing fascist threat to the rest of the country.

Kerr pursues many strategies in conveying his material. One approach stands out the best, the soliloquies that Gunther has with himself, particularly when he enters an imaginary conversation with Mathilde Luz, a young Jewish worker who was the first victim. At the suggestion of Bernhard Wiess, Berlin’s Chief of Criminal Police, Gunther is encouraged to place himself in the shoes of the victim as a tool in solving the murder.


Taken as a whole METROPOLIS is detective story and a nasty murder mystery that will maintain the interest of the reader throughout. It is a tale of vice and horror that works and lives up to the standards that Kerr has developed in his previous novels involving Detective Gunther. As Adrian McKinty writes in The Guardian the book is “wonderfully plotted, with elegant prose, witty dialogue, homages to German Expressionism and a strong emotional charge, this is a bittersweet ending to a superb series.” (The Guardian, 4 April 2019)

*fictional Native-American hero from the novels of Karl May. The term means “burning water.”
**mercy bullet.

[Alex Cantone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berlin looked bigger at night: bigger and quieter and even more indifferent than it did by day, as if it was someone else’s bad dream…

In a prequel to the series, it’s now 1928 and Bernie Gunther has transferred from Vice to Berlin’s Murder Commission. A serial killer is at large, targeting prostitutes (grasshoppers), each killed with a hammer blow and scalped. One of the victims is the daughter of a gangster, and he wants justice, fast and brutal. Then the killer changes tack, taunting the police in letters to the newspapers and shooting crippled veterans at point-blank range.

The book has a dystopian feel, with the title taken from the silent movie by Fritz Lang, and his second wife, screen writer, Thea von Harbou who makes an appearance in the book when, as a favour, Gunther meets with her as she hopes to make a film about a serial killer. Art imitating life as it were. And rumours abound at the interest the pair have in Jack the Ripper and the fate of Lang’s first wife.

Aside from the killer’s body count, a mysterious fire at a factory leave at least 50 dead. I was totally unaware of the plight of “Volga Germans” – farming families from Bavaria and the Rhineland, invited to Russia by Catherine the Great to improve agricultural practices. After the Russian revolution their lands were seized by Stalin and the descendants became unwelcome refugees in their ancestral homeland, living in squalid tenements and paid pitiful wages in dangerous factories.

Some of the scenes are confronting: the morgue open to the public to help in identifying victims; drunken nightclub reviews where the disabled with little or no talent are on display to jeering crowds, even a mock electric chair, which says a lot about the German (at least Berliner) psyche, of schadenfreude. There is an open hostility towards Jews holding any form of office and against homosexuals at a time when Berlin was supposedly home to thousands of lesbians and transvestites.

In its lighter moments, Gunther goes undercover as a disabled soldier, wearing his uniform from WWI and with the help of a talented makeup artist, Brigitte Mölbling, and the couple have an instant chemistry. Earlier Brigitte worked on the set of “Metropolis” and is now at the Neues Theater run by Max Reinhardt, where rehearsals are underway for the “Three Penny Opera”. Gunther’s cynicism sums it up:

As someone who doesn’t like much to be entertained, I always prefer dialogue to song because it takes half the time to get through and brings the sanctuary of the bar, or even home, just that little bit closer. I never yet saw a musical I didn’t think could be improved by a deeper pit for the orchestra, and a bottomless pit for the cast.

Gunther struggles with a drinking problem, but going undercover as a cripple gives him a greater sense of relief, at surviving the war with limbs and face intact, helping him heal. But getting around in a homemade wheelchair is not without its hazards, and draws the attention of vicious youth gangs, as he makes his pitch.

The station…resembled the basilica of a site of modern pilgrimage, receiving millions of visitors per year, which wasn’t so far from the truth. There’s nothing Germans worship more than getting to work on time.

The author died in March 2018, only days ahead of the publication of the thirteenth Bernie Gunther book, Greeks Bearing Gifts, which led me to wonder: was Metropolis in the planning or already penned with the instructions to publish posthumously. The research and attention to detail are first class as ever, but is there the hand of a ghostwriter here? I am thinking of Robert B. Parker, whose unpublished works were taken over by Reed Farrel Coleman. Perhaps we will never know.

Metropolis works as a standalone, but, if asked, I would recommend reading some his earlier works. The first 3 Bernie Gunther novels were combined in Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem, and I prefer some others to this one.

[Gram · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been with Bernie Gunther since the beginning - 1989 and the publication of "March Violets" the first in the series of 14 novels about a street savvy Berlin police detective whose working life as a cop mirrors the rise of Nazism in 1930's Germany through the years of World War II and beyond to a divided Germany of the Cold War era. Over the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, I've travelled with him throughout Germany to various towns and cities in Eastern Europe and to Cuba, Greece, Argentina and even Monte Carlo.
Bernie started out as a policeman but when the Nazis gained power he resigned from the force and became a private detective, although the Nazis never forgot about him and he was forced into carrying out investigations for the regime's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Reinhard Heydrich, one of the main architects of the Holocaust
In this, Philip Kerr's final book (he died last year, aged 62) it's 1928; the dying days of the Weimar Republic a few years before Hitler gained power.
Bernie has been moved from the Vice Squad to a place on Berlin's Murder Commission. He is immediately drawn into investigating the Silesian Station killings. Four prostitutes are victims of a serial killer, dubbed "Winnetou" by the media, because after murdering these women, he scalps them. (Winnetou is the fictional Native American hero of several Western novels written by Karl May, one of Germany's most successful writers whose books sold more than 200 million copies.)
Many Berliners would like to see the city's streets cleared of women they regard as "degenerates" but Bernie discovers that one of the victims is the daughter of the boss of one Berlin's criminal rings who will do anything to find his daughter's killer.
Just as he starts work, a second series of killings begins. This time the targets are crippled ex soldiers who beg in the city’s streets. As he delves into Berlin's underworld, Bernie meet with some of Germany's major artists, including George Grosz and Otto Dix whose works would later be banned by the Nazis. He's ordered to give Thea von Harbou - wife of the German film director Fritz Lang - a tour of the police HQ and details of the murders as she seeks ideas for screenplays for her husband's films.
Bernie goes undercover, posing as a crippled ex serviceman, to draw out the serial killer who has taken to taunting the police by sending letters to Berlin newspapers. His inquiries also lead him into the seedy underbelly of Weimar Berlin, drinking in night clubs such as the Cabaret of the Nameless. All the while, the threat of Nazi brutality and anti-Semitism looms large as Bernie draws closer to the shocking truth. He may be cynical, but deep down he's a decent guy - a good cop trying to stick to the rule of law. Jane Kramer of The New Yorker summed up Bernie as “one of crime fiction’s most satisfying and unlikely survivors: the good cop in the belly of the beast,”.
I'm going to miss him.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Quercus Books for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last week or so, I’ve written in different outlets about the impact Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series has had on my reading journey and personal life. While acknowledging the many faults of these books, I love them in a special way. I think Kerr is great at capturing atmosphere and cynicism to produce some truly great crime reading. “Nazi Noir” is a burgeoning genre now but Kerr’s Gunther works were really the trendsetter. Knowing this would be the last one following Kerr’s untimely death, and knowing it was set solely in Weimar Berlin, got me emotional just thinking about the book. I couldn’t wait to read it.

But as Mark McGwire said: “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Instead, I must address the present.

And this book is just not great. Even giving it three stars feels graceful.

I don’t know at what point in the editing process Kerr died and it feels ghoulish to speculate much. But this read to me like a rough draft. There’s little narrative flow, rough characterization and, while Kerr has sometimes struggled to toe the “showing v telling” line, here he just blasts right through it. I didn’t feel Weimar Berlin as much as I would have liked to because every character went on at length about the respective plights of disabled war veterans and prostitutes. And while the central mystery revolved around both, I got the sense that Berlin at the time was just people humping and begging. While there was plenty of that in real life 1928 Berlin, there was more going on too and Kerr barely taps into it. Foreshadowing is on every other page, although some credit is due for mentioning how violent the communists were in those days, not out of a sense of false equivalency but historical accuracy.

Also, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think this may have worked better with Kerr’s familiar (and often obnoxious) template of flashback/flash-forward. I didn’t like where Greeks Bearing Gifts left Bernie off so I don’t know. Maybe this was the plan the whole time. But Kerr really struggles to fill the space for 366 pages. It never feels like a cohesive story, rather a pastiche of scenes from a city in a forgotten time.

I’m dumping on this more than I should because the moments that do shine are good. Sometimes, the familiar Bernie peeks through. There are moments where Weimar Berlin feels real. The police procedural notes are well-done. It just does enough to round up to a 3 star.

But this book was tough on a number of levels: Saying goodbye to Bernie and the series, and reading it in the first place. I wish I liked it more.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I'd got over the disappointment that this - Metropolis - the final Bernie Gunther book (RIP Philip Kerr), was not going to advance or conclude Bernie's "present day" narrative, I quickly began to appreciate it on its own terms.

Metropolis takes us right back to 1928 and the moment a young Bernie joins the murder squad. It's an eventful moment as four prostitutes have been murdered in as many weeks. All hit over the head and then scalped with a sharp knife. Then a second series of murders starts, this time it's crippled WW1 veterans who beg in Berlin.

Metropolis is classic Bernie Gunther. As the title suggests, it references the work of Fritz Lang and part of the plot echoes Lang's classic 1931 film 'M' (amusingly towards the end of this book Bernie relates his ideas for a film to Lang's wife Thea Von Harbou). Thea Von Harbou is just one of many real life personalities who populate this book. And, as usual, Philip Kerr explains who they all were in a helpful Author's Note at the end.

If, like me, you are mourning the end of this wondeful series then be reassured this is a fine way for Bernie Gunther to bow out. If you've never read any of these books then you're in for a treat and Metropolis is as good a place as any to start as, in terms of Bernie's time line, it's at the start. That said, I think it's probably best to read them in order of publication - they get better and better.

4/5

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther. A wonderfully complex character. I've adored his journey.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The name 'Philip Kerr' has, for some time, been on a sort-of personal back-burner TBR list. I'd not read anything by him until now. 

I had a general sense of his 13-book Bernie Gunther series and was intrigued - but not enough to want to go way back to 1989 (when the series started). 'Metropolis' offered an interesting solution, being not only a more recent entry (published posthumously in 2019) but a prequel to the entire series. I could still go in at the shallow end of the pool. 

Happily, I've not a single complaint; this is a captivating, compelling, informative, smart, 'entertaining' and more or less edge-of-the-seat read. Any doubts I might have had during the first few paragraphs were thrust aside by the time I reached the first chapter's end. This is a straightforward but richly-developed cop tale without lulls or longueurs.

There are economically-laid passages more of historical interest or intended as atmosphere groundwork - but even these are dealt out in a way that seems to serve the overall tension. 

Kerr has the Chandler-esque similes down:

... my brain felt like a half lemon in a bartender's fist.

The David Goodis noir talk is evident:

"Look, I really don't remember. We just spoke for a few minutes. About nothing at all really. Girl talk. Men. This place. How the cockatoos shit on the tables in the other room. I don't know."

One might also pick up a whiff of the world-weary Hammett:

I amused her and she amused me and we were like two fencers trying each other out with foils because that's how it is between men and women sometimes; it's fun not saying what you mean and not meaning what you say.

This is the type of detective novel that unexpectedly curveballs you with insight:

"Can you imagine how much of existence would be impossible if people didn't believe in a certain amount of luck in the face of all evidence to the contrary? The true essence of human life is delusion."

And it certainly helps in the vocabulary-building department:

"What's the twenty-mark word for this particular perversion?" Angerstein asked the mistress. "Algolagnia?"

With all of that, Kerr maintains a unique, distinctive voice of his own, deftly steering a story that could easily have been murky as well as lurid. He's a born storyteller.

You're not too far into the novel when you begin to sense that Kerr has done a remarkable amount of research (not surprising for a writer who has spent about 30 years in his protagonist's ever-evolving world). The story comes more-than-fairly alive with factoids that may perhaps quite often be facts. 

It wasn't until reaching the concluding 'Author's Note' that I realized that a number of characters have been 'taken' from life and were real people (regardless of whatever liberties Kerr took). I only recognized the more obvious cultural references to director Fritz Lang (who does not actually appear here), his screenwriter wife Thea von Harbou and performer Lotte Lenya.

I do have one small criticism but it's very minor: occasionally, some of the low-level types sounded a bit too articulate (to my ear). But then, some of the characters in general seemed to 'go on' a bit more verbally than was necessary (or possible?). But, again... that's a quibble. 

All told... 'Metropolis' is marvelously constructed; crafted in a way that keeps you pulled in and moving forward. It's occasionally graphic without being excessively so. And it's also, periodically, quite funny. He's not even 30, and Bernie is as deliciously jaded as a man twice his age. 

This will not be my last walkaround with Kerr. In fact, it's more than likely my next stop is 1989.

[Alexander Theofanidis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Δύσκολο να αποτιμήσεις ένα βιβλίο όταν ξέρεις ότι είναι το τελευταίο μιας σειράς, αλλά και το τελευταίο ενός αγαπημένου συγγραφέα που έφυγε από τη ζωή. Διαβάζοντας το Metropolis, δύσκολα βγάζεις από το μυαλό σου ό,τι είναι η τελευταία περιπέτεια του Μπέρνι Γκούντερ (κι ας είναι στο σύμπαν του βερολινέζου μπάτσου η πρώτη χρονολογικά) και ότι... δεν έχει άλλο. Τέλειωσε η αναμονή για το επόμενο. Τέλειωσε ο Γκούντερ.

Βαθιά ανάσα, σκουπίζουμε δάκρυ και προχωράμε.

Στο βερολίνο της δημοκρατίας της Βαϊμάρης, κάποιες πόρνες δολοφονούνται και στη συνέχεια του αφαιρείται το σκαλπ. Ο Μπέρνι Γκούντερ που μόλις έχει μετατεθεί στο Ανθρωποκτονιών από το Ηθών καλείται να διαλευκάνει τα εγκλήματα.

Λίγο αργότερα, οι φόνοι πορνών σταματάνε και ξεκινάνε οι φόνοι αναπήρων του Μεγάλου Πολέμου (το 1928, κανείς δεν τον έλεγε ακόμα "Πρώτο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο").

Και Ο Μπέρνια, αργά αλλά σταθερά, βρίσκει τα βήματά του ψάχνοντας, σκαλίζοντας, κάνοντας συμμαχίες με το διάβολο, προκειμένου να φτάσει στην αλήθεια. Βέβαια, η αλήλθεια, μπορεί σαν ιδέα να ακούγεται ως κάτι το όμορφο και ιδανικό, αλλά όποιος το πιστεύει αυτό δεν έχει έρθει αντιμέτωπος με διαλεύκανση ανθρωποκτονίας.

Τα νήματα οδηγούν το ένα στο άλλο και στο τέλος, ο νέος Μπέρνι ανακαλύπτει ότι η αλήθεια μπορεί να είναι χειρότερη από την άγνοια, αλλά το καθήκον είναι καθήκον και στο τέλος της ημέρας ένας ευπρεπής συμβιβασμός ανάμεσα στα δύο ίσως είναι η καλύτερη λύση.

Το βιβλίο δε διεκδικεί δάφνες πρωτοτυπίας ή ποιότητας, αλλά, διάολε είναι το τελευταίο, είναι το στερνοπαίδι του Κερ και ως τέτοιο μόνο μπορεί να διαβαστεί αν έχεις διαβάσει τα προηγούμενα 13. Η κριτική αυτή, προφανώς και δεν αφορά ανθρώπους που ήταν το πρώτο του βιβλίο που έπιασαν στα χέρια τους. Πέρα από τις αδυναμίες που έχει, πέρα από τις μικρές ασυνέπειες (όχι, δεν θα διαπράξω την ιεροσυλία να τις επισημάνω), παραμένει ένα αγαπημένο "παιδί", το τελευταίο ενός αγαπημένου συγγραφέα. Το διαβάζεις επειδή θέλεις για άλλη μια φορά να είσαι στο πλάι του Μπέρνι, να τον δεις να ψάχνει και να βρίσκει, να ηττάται και να συνεχίζει, να συνειδητοποιεί και να το παίρνει απόφαση πως η ζωή δεν έχει εγχειρίδιο οδηγιών και το έγκλημα είνακι ούτως ή άλλως μια άσχημη υπόθεση και όσο την ανασκαλεύεις, τόσο περισσότερη δυσωδία αναδύεται. Αλλά, το σημαντικό είναι ότι είσαι εκεί και τα ζεις, με ένα χαρακτήρα τόσο οικείο και γνώριμο, όσο λίγοι συγγενείς σου μπορούν να ισχυριστούν ότι σου είναι.

Ευχαριστούμε για τις 14 υπέροχες περιπέτειες και το μοναδικό χαρκατήρα του Guinther, Philip Kerr. Θα μας λείψετε και οι δύο.

Υ.Γ. Το βιβλίο είναι καθαρό τριάρι, αλλά δε μου πάει να αμαυρώσω το κύκνειο άσμα του αγαπημένου Kerr με λιγότερα από 4 αστεράκια, το καταλαβαίνουμε όλο αυτό, ναι;

[Nikos Tsentemeidis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κάπως έτσι κλείνει ο κύκλος για τον Μπέρνι Γκούντερ, στο Βερολίνο, όπως στα πρώτα βιβλία της σειράς.

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So bittersweet. This is the last Bernie Gunther novel, published at the time of the author's death. Kerr was a clever and competent writer, and his character, Bernie, was a compelling study in conflict: an honest, decent human being forced to make compromises in Nazi Germany.
Fortunately for us, Kerr lived to write Metropolis. If Kerr had told his fans he would write only one more book, this is the story they would have requested. Here we see the beginning of Bernie Gunther's saga in 1928 Berlin and Bernie's first days on the murder squad. He's looking for a serial killer of prostitutes amidst the unrest of the Weimar Republic--Hitler and the National Socialists have a significant following but nowhere near a majority, communists, socialists, and right-wing, paramilitary groups are all vying to be the next dominant ideology.
Kerr's fourteen-book series of Bernie Gunther novels is notably odd for its lack of time sequence: they jump from pre-war to long post-war to wartime. And each book contains a flashback, so the novel set in 1956 Cuba has a flashback to 1941 Berlin, the 1942 Berlin novel has a flashback to 1936. This is art, but it's also annoying. I'd be okay with somebody, some day, cutting and pasting the Bernie story into chronological order.
RIP Philip Kerr.

[Gintautas Ivanickas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bernie Ghunterio ciklas man į rankas pakliūna kažkaip chaotiškai, panašiai, kaip lietuviški vertimai, kai pirmiausiai buvo išversta devintoji ciklo knyga, o paskui kaip ir grįžta į pradžią. Bet nusprendžiau numoti į tai ranka, juolab, kad ir pats autorius chronologijos cikle nesilaikė. Štai kad ir „Metropolis“ – parašyta viena iš paskutiniųjų, o pasakoja realiai vos ne apie pačius pirmuosius Bernio žingsnius Berlyno policijoje.
Taigi, 1928 metai, Bernis ką tik pervestas iš dorovės policijos į kriminalinę. Ir iškart tenka imtis serijinio žudiko, praminto Vinetu (mat ne tik žudė prostitutes, bet dar ir skalpavo jas) paieškų. Nelabai tos paieškos sekasi, o ir rūpi nelabai kam – prostitutės gi, be jų Berlyno gatvės tik švaresnės. O čia, lyg to betrūktų, atsiranda dar vienas serijinis žudikas, irgi „gatvių valytojas“. Tik šįsyk aukos – elgetaujantys pirmojo pasaulinio karo invalidai.
Kaip detektyvas, „Metropolis“ gal ir ne pats stipriausias, bet Kerras paprastai ima kitkuo. Atmosfera, laikmečiu. Kad dar labiau tą įspūdį sustiprintų, visuomet įpina ir realiai egzistavusių personažų. Kai autoriaus valia Bernis užsuka į teatrą, kuriame repetuojama Brechto „Opera už tris skatikus“, vos ne žvygavau iš pasitenkinimo. Pats juk visai neseniai rašiau apie tą miuziklą, apie jo hitą – „Baladę apie Mekį-Peilį“, apie Lotte Lenya... O čia prašom – viskas kaip ant lėkštutės. Ir gyva, ir tikra.
Žodžiu, labai stiprūs keturi iš penkių.

[Rowena Hoseason · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s entirely appropriate that this, the final Gunther book penned by Philip Kerr takes place at the start of Bernie’s career in the murder squad. We end at the beginning.

And what a great story to start and finish with. This is Germany before the Nazis take power. National Socialism is a rising force and anti-Semitism is widespread, but fascism hasn’t yet completely corrupted societal norms. A serial killer is murdering prostitutes so Bernie is promoted from the vice squad to the prestigious homicide investigation. Before he can make much headway, another series of killings begins – and this time the victims are crippled war veterans…

Metropolis works perfectly as an historical police procedural, with genuinely intriguing multiple plotlines that are populated by actual characters from the time period. Bernie gets to experiment with the cutting edge of police investigative methods and forensic science, and the trail leads him from high society to underworld mob bosses, via various real-life figures who’ll play a significant role in years to come.

Yet while the historical detail and criminal investigation are the strong points of Metropolis, Kerr’s writing doesn’t do justice to the intoxicating atmosphere of the hedonistic heyday of Weimar Berlin. This Germany was also creative, vibrant and exhilarating. Kerr concentrates instead on the sordid aspects of soiled lives.

Bernie is already jaded, repelled by the decadence around him, fast becoming the cynical misanthrope of the later novels. Fair enough; his experiences in the Great War were enough to scar any psyche. But Kerr’s writing itself is weary; the dialogue is flat, absent snappy asides or subtle insight. The political observations are laboured, and the social commentary feels artificial. Metropolis is a good story, spoiled by stilted storytelling.

This isn’t the best of the Bernie Gunther books, then, but it’s less of a slog than the previous couple which zigzag back and forth across multiple timelines. Not the place to start if you are new to the series: go back to March Violets to meet Bernie at his best.

For established fans of the series, however, Metropolis is an acceptable farewell to old friends.
7/10

There are more reviews and recommendations of crime / thrillers over at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net

[Maine Colonial · Rating 4 out of 5]

About 30 years ago, I read the first Bernie Gunther book, March Violets, and I knew this character was special. Novels set in the Nazi era are a dime a dozen, but Philip Kerr created an authentic and hard-hitting character in Bernie. He’s a man who goes from the frying pan of the Kriminalpolizei in the decadent and dangerous Weimar-era Berlin to the fire of having to live and work in the new Reich run by Nazis and then, after the war, to a life of consequences. He sees and experiences horrors and survives them, recognizing that he has his own part in them, no matter how much he tried to stay true to his principles.

And now here we are, after so many years, at the end of the road. Philip Kerr died last year, way too soon, and Bernie dies with him. Kerr left behind enough of a manuscript for this 14th Bernie Gunther novel to be completed and published. I wonder if he knew he was dying when he decided what to write about, because this is an origin story. We go all the way back to young Bernie’s transfer from Vice to the Murder Squad. Back when the Nazis were on the rise but not yet in power. We end at the beginning, and that’s fitting. I don’t want to know Bernie’s end.

I didn’t have high expectations of a novel likely completed by somebody else, but this is a good book. The Bernie cynical style is there and the police procedural aspects are more than adequate. The main thing is that the book’s depiction of late Weimar-era Berlin is rich and evocative. Kerr was always meticulous in his research, but he blended his encyclopedic knowledge into his stories in a wholly organic way—not in that obvious and clunky “I researched a lot so I need to be sure it all gets on the page” way of too many historical novels. Kerr includes the everyday, like the period stores, clothing, cars, and clubs, but also the real characters of the day, from the bosses at the Kripo, to crime bosses, up to cabinet ministers. With this series, you feel you are there. “There” sure isn’t always a pleasant place to be—in fact it usually isn’t—but I appreciate the atmosphere and the way I get at least some feeling for what it was probably like to live in that place and time.

RIP Philip Kerr and farewell Bernie.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Updated. Adds Review To Rating.* 4⭐
The last of the Bernie Gunther mysteries that Phillip Kerr wrote before his death turns out to be the first one I read, based strictly on availability. As it's chronologically set early in Gunther's career, it doesn't really matter. Its also such a fine, stand alone story that it doesn't matter, either. Dense with historical detail and atmosphere it drops you back into the unsettled and decedent days of Berlin during the Weimer Republic. Gunther is investigating serial killers who target prostitutes and disabled war veterans forced to beg on the streets. Kerr also pays tribute to Fritz Lang's film noir classic, 'M', in a minor sub plot. In Gunther, Kerr has created a complex, gritty hero who's trying to find his way through morally ambiguous times and circumstances. Kerr's grasp of period detail is amazing; I can only guess at the research involved. You get a mystery and a history lesson, for the price of one. It's just the best, most original detective fiction I've read this year. I look forward to reading the rest of the Gunther stories.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time back to the Bernie Gunther series since the 'Berlin Noir' trilogy. It’s a Gunther from an earlier time, a young and less cynical detective, who is just making the move from vice to murder. Kerr really captures the feel of interwar Germany with its drugs, prostitution, corruption, and the slow rise of Hitler, but I felt the attention to the detail of Weimar period, although a strength in one way , tended to slow down the story and the character development. A good read that never really reaches the level of the Kerr I remember.

[Jan vanTilburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last case of Bernie Gunther! Or, actually one of his first; but the last case we will be reading about. Philip Kerr is not with us anymore. I will sorely miss new adventures of my beloved detective. The mix of history and mystery in pre WWII Germany, the war years itself and it’s aftermath, is brilliantly described by Kerr via the understated humor of Bernie Gunther. Razor sharp observations of those horrendous Nazi years. It’s always clear where Bernie’s sympathies are.

Now we go back to pre war Berlin. 1928. The Weimar republic; 1918-1933. The Babylon of the east. With all that it supposedly entails.
The foreboding of what is to come permeates the pages in Bernie’s sarcastic and understated humor. As I’ve mentioned in other reviews of Bernie Gunther books, it’s what makes these books readable. How else could one read about the absolute horrors what these Nazi persons did. I always feel a dread when thinking about that time. Don’t really want to think about it. But I know it’s important, to prevent it from happening again.
A sheer hopeless task, considering how humans are. Although I do believe that what all people want, is to be happy and be left alone.
These days there are too many organizations who think they have the truth and they can enforce them on other people. Look at Nazi Germany and see what that brought us!

p.289, about Kerr’s believe in mankind: ”The true essence of human’s nature is delusion.”

In the mean time I did read this book. A mystery in a dangerous society. Full of hate and intolerance. It’s 1928! The Nazi’s are on the rise. 1933 is just around the corner. When the Nazi’s took complete power and noone was safe anymore.
In this time frame we find Bernie Gunther to solve gruesome murders. The plot is a bit thin. I had my suspicions about halfway. But it was still ok. In spite of all the gruesomeness Kerr’s book are easy readable.

I might reread his first three books, published as “Berlin Noir”. Can’t say goodbye to Bernie Gunther just yet.

written: 2018
by Philip Kerr: 1956 - 2018.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of Metropolis, the fourteenth novel to feature Berlin detective Bernie Gunther.

In 1928 Bernie is offered a job at the Murder Commission which turns out to be a baptism of fire as he joins the investigation into the murder and scalping of prostitutes, the fourth happening on his first day. These murders lose their priority when the self styled “Dr Gnadeschuss” starts shooting war veterans.

I thoroughly enjoyed Metropolis from the warm introduction by Ian Rankin who shares some memories of the author to the afterward which identifies the historical characters and tells what happened to them after 1928. In between that there is a very good novel which held my attention from start to finish.

The novel, as ever, is told from Bernie’s first person point of view and while still cynical in tone it is tempered by a certain youthful callowness. I hesitate to say naivety or innocence but they lurk in the background. I like the young Bernie at the start of his career, just as I like the older, more jaded Bernie in the other novels. This Bernie is haunted by his experiences in the trenches and to put a modern spin on it unsurprisingly has PTSD but he also has optimism and a desire to solve his cases.

The historical setting of inter-war Berlin is very well drawn as Babylon or Sodom and Gomorrah, depending on the interlocutor. All its problems are on display, the overt sexuality and seediness, the poverty, the anti semitism, the crime, the desperation and the emerging Nazi Party. It’s fascinating and put together naturally.

The plot, which seems like an afterthought in this review, is gripping. It is full of twists and turns as Bernie slowly makes his way through conflicting reports and some unwelcome help to a solution, which, when it comes, probably kills some of his naivety and optimism.

It is sad to know that this Bernie’s final outing as the series has brought me much pleasure over the years so perhaps it is fitting that this final excursion takes the reader back to where it all began and closes the circle.

Metropolis is a great read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

[Jacki (Julia Flyte) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this was a bittersweet experience. The latest instalment in probably my favourite series is also the final instalment after the death of author Philip Kerr last year. I'm sad that there will be no more episodes in Bernie Gunther's life. Given that Metropolis is actually the first chronologically (set in 1928, when Bernie is in the Berlin policeforce), I am tempted to immediately re-read all the rest of the books in order of when they are set - although the timeslip element in a few of them does make that slightly difficult.

Metropolis begins with Bernie Gunther's transfer from the Vice division to the Criminal division where he is immediately confronted with a serial killer who is targeting prostitutes. As in all the other books, real people and events are woven into the story, although in most cases they were less famous than the Nazi elite who pop up in the later books. However I always find it satisfying to look up photographs of the people and imagine them as he describes them.

While Bernie is a cynical character, here he is in his early 30s and "still capable of being shocked at human behaviour". He is heavily affected by his experiences fighting in the trenches during WW1 and more deferential to his superiors than in the later books.

The plot concerns Gunther's attempts to identify two serial killers whom he suspects are actually the same person. While the case is eventually resolved, it is in a classic Philip Kerr way, full of compromises and politics.

Ultimately I don't think this was the best in the series but it was still high quality. Philip Kerr, you are missed.

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thriller very firmly set in Weimar BERLIN



Metropolis is very firmly set in the Weimar Republic of 1928 Berlin. The Great War is ten years past, and Hitler and the Nazi movement are just beginning to stir. Anti Semites are beginning to find their voice. Berlin is a city of corruption and debauchery.

And there are murders on the street. Prostitutes and war cripples are being killed… The chantes are ladies without work – they looked to be prostitutes (at least part time ones…) after the war when the men returned and took all the jobs there were. A fair number are ‘respectable’ middle class ladies… The klutz are disabled war veterans who push themselves round the streets in homemade disability carts, begging for a living. Someone (or maybe more than one person) is killing them – the women are knifed and then scalped, the men are shot through the head. The perpetrator (or perpetrators) writes to the newspapers saying that he is clearing the vermin from the streets with the intention of again making Berlin a place where honest citizens can walk without being exposed to such trash.

Bernie Gunther is new to the police murder squad in Berlin. He is charged with finding out what is going on – and stopping it. In his investigation he visits many of the low life haunts of Berlin at the time. He also (no choice offered…) works alongside the boss of one the most notorious underworld gangs… whose daughter was one of the murdered chantes.

Metropolis is the 14th (and last) of the Bernie Gunther books written by Philip Kerr. It was completed just before he died in March 2018. It does, though, take the series back to its very beginning. In Metropolis we see Bernie at the very start of his career – as a rookie detective in Berlin.

What is especially great about Metropolis is that, as well as being a quite excellent and thought through thriller, it totally captures the decadent atmosphere of 1928 Berlin. A lot of the locations that Bernie visits, and a lot of the people he works with and meets, are real. The blurb at the beginning of the book (I looked because I was confused) states that ‘Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously’. The use of real people in ‘what might have been’ situations works really well. You feel you gain an insight into the thinking of these who went on the be key players in the Nazi movement.

An excellent, and sadly final, addition to the Bernie Gunther series.

[Thanasis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Τελευταίο βιβλίο του Φίλιπ Κερ, τελευταία ιστορία με τον Μπέρνι Γκούντερ. 14 βιβλία στο σύνολο από τα οποία έχουν μεταφραστεί στα Ελληνικά τα 12. Οπότε υπάρχει η πιθανότητα να μεταφραστούν και το 4ο της σειράς, "The One from the Other" και το 7ο "Field Gray".

Αυτή την φορά "ταξίδεψα" στο Βερολίνο του 1928 κατά την διάρκεια της δημοκρατίας της Βαϊμάρης. Δέκα χρόνια μετά την λήξη του Α' ΠΠ οι πληγές του είναι ακόμη ανοικτές, οι ανάπηροι βετεράνοι του πολέμου βρίσκονται σε κάθε γωνιά των δρόμων και ζητιανεύουν. Η άνοδος των Ναζί στην εξουσία έχει αρχίσει και γίνεται όλο και πιο πιθανή και απευκταία πιθανότητα, ο αντισημιτισμός των Γερμανών πριν την έλευση των Ναζί στην εξουσία καλά κρατεί.

Ο Μπέρνι Γκούντερ, καινούριος στο τμήμα Ανθρωποκτονιών αναλαμβάνει τις υποθέσεις δύο κατά συρροήν δολοφόνων, ο ένας σκοτώνει πόρνες και ο άλλος ζητιάνους ανάπηρους του Α' ΠΠ.

Το Βερολίνο εκείνης της εποχής πρέπει να ήταν η μητρόπολη της διαφθοράς και της ακολασίας. Το κλαμπ Σινγκ Σινγκ με ατραξιόν την ηλεκτρική καρέκλα πόσο μπροστά ήταν για την εποχή του.