A wonderful, if, sadly, final chapter in the Bernie Gunter story. Bernie is undoubtedly one of the greatest creations in crime and historical fiction. Up there with best in the long-running series; a terrific read from start to finish. Philip Kerr will be long revered by existing and future generations for this hugely entertaining but also highly educational historical crime saga.

I’ve got to be honest from the outset I really didn’t like this book I just felt it was all over the place with extremely unlikeable characters and what I can only assume is a very unfair opinion on Greeks!!

I will admit to never having read a Bernie Gunther book before so I didn’t really understand much about his background however this still doesn’t excuse the plot of this book and it’s non-resolution

Not for me I’m afraid

Sadly Philip Kerr dies earlier this year, so there is more than a tinge of sadness when reading the latest Bernie Gunther novel. The only silver lining is that Kerr wrote one more Bernie Gunther novel, 'Metropolis' before his death and this is due to be published next year.

In this novel we find Bernie Gunther under an assumed name and now working in insurance, which on the face of it seems relatively risk free until he is sent to Greece to investigate a shipwreck claim. It is once he is here that his past starts to catch up with him again as he works with a local insurance claims investigator to unravel the events surrounding the shipwreck which include Nazi gold and a nemesis from his past.

The Bernie Gunther novels are enjoyable as Bernie Gunther has a bleak outlook on life and indeed the book is littered with one liners that see Bernie either be sarcastic about himself or others.

Highly recommended and the whole series is worth reading, although they are fine as stand alone reads.

This is my first reading of one of Kerr's books. Thoroughly enjoyable, with enough depth to really draw you in, but a story that moves at quite a pace.

I think I have read all the Bernie Gunther series of books, if I was to describe him he is the Third Reich Forrest Gump crossed with a good Anti Hero Detective; where ever there is an event in 3rd Reich history Bernie appear in the periphery investigating a crime or a murder while not getting himself killed in the politics of Third Reich Germany.

This time the story is set in Post war Greece and Germany, where are hero living under an assumed name has got a job as an insurance claims agent for a German Company and goes to Greece to investigate an insurance claim. This then leads to further discoveries highlighting what the Nazis did in Greece during the second world war.

As with all the books it is steeped in history and the research that is done is brilliant to then tie that in with a fictional detective story is the genius that Philip Kerr had.

As always wonderful historical detail. But in this case just a bit by the numbers. But a great set up for what of course will tragically be the last in the series released next year. One assumed Philip Kerr was aware time was limited and has set things up for a great final redemption piece.

Philipp Kerr: Greeks bearing gifts (Bernie Gunter thriller No 13), Quercus / Hachette UK, 9781784296537, trade paperback,
One of my former bosses at Penguin was a great Philipp Kerr fan, he had urged me to read them which I never did despite all the excellent reviews about Bernie Gunter, his perfect German anti-hero. When I read in the paper of Philip Kerr’s untimely and sudden death, I decided to honor him by reading his last book “Greeks bearing gifts” which is not set in the Thirties and Forties during the Nazi years in Germany but it is placed in Greece in 1957.
Bernie Gunther is now called Christof Ganz to conceal his true identity and has landed himself a job as an insurance adjuster in Munich. His work as a former unorthodox cop comes in handy when he is sent to Greece to investigate the loss of a ship, the “Doris”, his company Munich RE has insured. The claimant and owner of the ship is an unfriendly character Gunther dislikes immediately. When he learns that the ships was originally owned by Greek Jews from Salonika who had their possessions confiscated by the German Nazis before being sent to their death and the current mission of the ship had been to investigate sunken ancient gold treasures, Bernie’s instincts start raising red flags. He decides to pay the claimant an unannounced second visit only to find him murdered with a shot through both eyes. Unlucky for Bernie, the Greek police lie in wait arresting him for murder. He persuades the Greek detective in charge to make uses of his old contacts and knowledge of former Nazi officials who had committed atrocities and enriched themselves during the occupation of Greece to bring them to a proper trial in Greece. What follows is an excellent thriller with many twists and turns.
I learned a great deal about the German occupation of Greece in this book, the crimes committed by the Nazis and the background of some prominent German government officials after the war and why so few were persecuted. The background of several characters in the book is factual and Kerr does an excellent job in listing what actually became of them after the war in an afterword.

Great to be back in Kerr's world of post war Noir.

We rejoin Bernie Gunther in post war Germany and Greece, with a new name and job - a claims investigator for Munch RE.

In Kerr's penultimate book, I enjoyed the tangled plot of former Nazi's, hidden gold and mysterious dames. It's not quite up there with Kerr's best, but it's still worth your time.

Yes it meanders through 500+ pages but you know you'll miss Bernie when there series concludes next year.

Set in Germany in 1957, Greeks Bearing Gifts is a historical crime thriller with everything from dodgy Nazi past histories to insurance fraud. Bernie Gunther is a Berliner, who was a sarjeant during the second world war and now, in this novel, is working in the morgue of a hospital. He finds himself embroiled in a mystery, taking on a new role as an insurance claims investigator. The investigation takes him to Greece, and back into the dark times of the war. With layered plots and double-crossing left, right and centre, there's lots to keep you guessing throughout this story.

I think it says something for the strength of the story that I had no idea, as I read, that this was the 13th book in a series! When I came to the end I did think that it seemed a little unfinished in places, and that I wanted to know more about Gunther. Of course, on finding out that this was the penultimate in a long series, everything made a lot more sense, and I would like to go back and read more! There's a lot throughout the story about not just German history, but also Greek history, as well as links to Greek mythology too. It's well researched, and feels authentic.

Although it runs a little long the story does, generally, have a good pace to it, and I found it hard to put down. There's a lot of dialogue through the book, which was mostly good. I enjoy stories where you get to hear the characters talking a lot. And as for the thrills and spills, there's nothing really frightening that happens, but there were some tense moments where I found myself turning the pages a little faster than before!

I really liked the character of Garlopis, who ends up being a sort of sidekick for Gunther. Garlopis is very endearing, and I really enjoyed the parts of the story where he was around. Gunther himself is a very dry character, sometimes funny, always trying to escape his past, and perhaps atone for his country's sins. He is a survivor, and we're told that he is someone who is trying to be good. And yet, at the same time, he has the most dreadful opinion of women! The misogynistic views that tumble out of Bernie throughout the story did, very nearly, put me off finishing the book. In the end, I had to tell myself that it must be due to being a historical novel, and that Bernie Gunther was a man of a certain time and place. Yet it still made me uncomfortable, and so I think it's an important issue to highlight. Perhaps this is part of his character throughout the series, and of course detectives don't need to be (and often aren't) likeable characters, but it was still disturbing to read at times.

When you look past the misogyny, this is otherwise a good, and rather complicated crime story. Philip Kerr sadly died earlier this year, but apparently there is one more Bernie Gunther story to come that he was editing at the time of his death. I think I'm going to go back and start from the beginning of the series, to see how Bernie begins, before I come to the ending next year.

Thank you for a copy of this. Philip Kerr is one of my favourite authors and I was saddened to hear that he had passed away.
This was an interesting book. Gunther is a chameleon! He has had so many different jobs and he fits well into his new role. He does get pulled into some strange webs though - so many people after him and forcing to do things for him. All in all a great book

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for a review copy of Greeks Bearing Gifts, the thirteenth novel to feature Bernie Gunther.

It's 1957 and Bernie is back in Germany working as a mortuary assistant in a Munich hospital under the name Christof Ganz when he runs into an old unwelcome acquaintance who recognises him and enlists his "help". In a typical Bernie escapade he ends up working for an insurance company and going to Greece to adjust a doubtful claim on the sinking of a boat.

I thoroughly enjoyed Greeks Bearing Gifts which is a long, dense read, full of cross and double cross, irony and historical detail. It is narrated in the first person by Bernie Gunther in a voice full of dark cynicism, subversion and self knowledge and yet it is not a totally dark read as Bernie has a conscience and a certain naïve hope about humanity. These two sides of his personality jostle together uncomfortably but can be quite amusing at times. I like Bernie's take on life.

The plotting is excellent, mixing historical fact with adventure and Bernie's unique thoughts on it all. I notice that some reviewers have complained that it is too long but I didn't notice it as I was fully absorbed in both the story and the historical detail. It is a fascinating read about events I had no prior knowledge of. Mr Kerr makes the facts almost digestible with Bernie's sarcastic commentary but for me it was a hidden horror, not just what the Nazis did in Greece but West Germany's post war response. The fictional plot line is fairly standard - Bernie gets strong armed into doing things he had no intention of doing and comes out the other end, if not smelling of roses, alive and free so the novel is all about context and it's brilliant. Bernie is one of my favourite characters and I've even converted my husband, a notoriously picky reader, to the series.

Greeks Bearing Gifts is one of the best books I have read this year so I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Adjusting loss

It’s 1957. Germany has lost the war, but under Konrad Adenauer is winning the peace. Bernie Gunther has lost his name, but is working in Munich in a hospital mortuary. Through a series of connected events, Bernie finds himself employed by an Insurance Company to investigate fraudulent claims – a task he proves to be very good at. When he is sent to Greece to assess the loss of a ship, he finds himself back in murky Nazi waters: the boat was formerly owned by a Jew and there are a number of Germans with Nazi backgrounds interested in the sinking.

Unlike previous novels in the series, this story remains in 1957 (just on the eve of the creation of the EEC), but its plot depends on some awful Nazi atrocities committed in Greece in the Second World War.

There is much to enjoy here: a complex and intelligent plot; Bernie’s trademark wit; the noir setting, underlined by reference to many noir movies of the period, A coffin for Demetrios, Suspicion and above all Double Indemnity. This movie is referenced throughout – after all Bernie is now an insurance man himself; characters in this novel share names with those in the movie – Walter Neff, for example, and even Bernie’s Greek driver in Athens, the affable coward Achilles Gorlopis. At one point the plot of Double Indemnity is even roped into Bernie’s own story. There is also constant reference and allusion to classical Greek myth, philosophy, culture, language and history underlining in an understated way the debt western society must pay to Greece.

All this is great fun, but it should not obscure what is a deeply depressing and cynical story, the barbaric treatment of the Greeks and especially Greek Jews by the Germans in the war. It is a story of one German’s sense of shame and of a nation’s collective loss of both conscience and memory of guilt. It is about how Nazi killers were rehabilitated by the Adenauer government and how ex-Nazis were instrumental in the establishment and governance of the fledgling European Community. It makes you think. It could make you weep.

The news of Philip Kerr's death on 23 March 2018 made reading 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' bitter sweet. A new Bernie Gunther novel is always cause for celebration however the knowledge that 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' is the penultimate novel is very sad. 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' ends with Bernie considering the tantalising prospect of working to capture Nazi war criminals.

From mid-October 2016 through to early January 2017 I read all eleven of the Bernie Gunther series. In March 2017, 'Prussian Blue' a 12th instalment arrived, and then in April 2018 this book.

Whilst there are rich rewards for any reader who has followed Bernie throughout the 13 novels, 'Greeks Bearing Gifts can also be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel. That said, I'd strongly recommend reading all the books in order.

'Greeks Bearing Gifts picks up, in 1957, exactly where 'Prussian Blue' left off, with Bernie living in Munich and working in a hospital morgue. Before long Bernie is embroiled in a murder plot which eventually results in him working for a leading German insurance company. The bulk of the novel takes place in Greece where Bernie has to investigate an insurance claim on a sunken ship. As usual, Bernie is drawn inexorably back to the dark history of the Second World War, and - in this instance - the deportation of the Jews of Salonika (now Thessaloniki) in 1943.

'Greeks Bearing Gifts' is a long and convoluted tale and not up there with the best in the series, however even slightly below-par Gunther is still wonderful. As always Philip Kerr finishes by explaining a bit more about the real historical characters who populate the novel.

I'm very sad that this is the penultimate Bernie Gunther book as there was still plenty more mileage left in the series. Still, according to The Guardian, Philip Kerr delivered a final novel in the detective series before he died, which will be published in 2019.

As many of you may be aware of, Philip Kerr passed away too soon at 62 recently. It is with regret and sadness that I say RIP Philip Kerr, who has written one of my all time favourite historical series. In this, the 13th of the Bernie Gunther series, Bernie has acquired a new identity of Christof Ganz, and is working as a mortuary attendant in Munich, 1957. He is pining for Berlin, his home, but knows it is beyond his reach behind the Iron Curtain. He is recognised by a corrupt cop who sees an opportunity to get Bernie involved in dastardly deeds that include murder. This leads to Bernie being employed as a insurance claims adviser at Munich RE, which suits him well as once again he takes on the mantle of detective and sniffs out lies and deception saving the company from paying out huge sums. Soon he is sent out to Athens, Greece, to look at a claim for The Doris, a ship that sinks into the sea, made by the owner, Siegried Witzel, a man whose story is so full of holes and carries a gun.

New winds are sweeping Europe, Germany may well have lost the war, but is rebuilding and emerging in its new role of economic powerhouse as it wins the peace, to govern Europe in the new alliance of nations through the soon to be EEC. We learn of the horrors perpetrated on Greece by the Nazi occupation, and the SS spearheaded move to ensure the 60 000 Jews meet horrifying ends in Salonika as Gunther is once again taken back to the Second World War and its repercussions in his new job. Greece is seeking reparations from Germany but are weak politically, relying on Germany to open the way to their joining the EEC. However, there are those who haven't forgotten what the Nazis did, and are looking for vengeance and justice. Witzel, and a lawyer are murdered in a manner that harks back to the MO of a specific Nazi in the war. Gunther finds himself, a German detective, strong armed by a Greek detective, to solve the murder of a German in a world where honesty is a joke, as once again he slams into betrayal, secrets, lies, deceptions and the behind scenes political machinations of the past and the present in Germany and Greece.

Gunther is a man uncomfortable with the amnesia being adopted by the German government and its people with regard to its recent history. Names are changed and new identities acquired in efforts to distance people from their actions and any sense of responsibility. He may have initially been a reluctant investigator into the death of Witzel, but as time passes his conscience pushes him along the path of redemption and atonement for the war crimes committed by his country and its people. There is a part of him that agrees with the vengeance for Nazi horrors as he sees the past being swept under the carpet, and any concept of justice swallowed up by the realpolitick of the new Europe. Gunther is a man energised by the need to play a part in the future to ensure the darkness of history is not all forgotten. A fantastic addition to a stellar series, with the incorruptible and battered Gunther once again facing the consequences of the war in his job as a claims investigator. I am uncertain if this is the last in the series, an obituary I read suggests Kerr was copy editing a new novel, I for one hope it is another addition to the Gunther series, if it is true. A brilliant and outstanding read which I recommend highly. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

A new Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther novel is always a massive treat and this was no exception. it is the thirteenth in the series which shows no sign of becoming tired or stale.

It is set in 1957 and without giving spoilers or telling the tale, Bernie is now working as an insurance investigator were he can use his well honed detecting skills in order to sniff out insurance fraud. This is an excellent career choice for him - although not one he falls into by choice - and could provide even more impetus to future books.

Bernie is just Bernie, cynical, barbed and world weary, full of wise cracks but perhaps the smile is only skin deep. He has seen and gone through a lot and in this book he takes revenge on evil Nazi wrongdoers. if only to expiate any guilt he feels for previously having had to work alongside some of the worst Nazi war criminals.

The book is long - perhaps overlong but I roared through it in a couple of days and now I have another year to wait until, hopefully, number fourteen appears.

For new readers, please start at the beginning, for experienced Bernie Gunther aficionados, this is yet another massive treat.