A Review of Philip Kerr's FIELD GREY
FIELD GREY is my favorite
Bernie Gunther adventure. I've enjoyed them all, but this one stands out for
me.
First
some details. Although the novel bounces around various time periods like Billy
Pilgrim in SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE,
things kick off in Cuba where Gunther has been hiding under an assumed name.
The year is 1954 and the turbulent tendrils of the past seem to have finally
passed Bernie Gunther by. He's existing, staying out of dangerous trouble and,
frankly, miserable. He's a man of action, preferring to stick his nose where it
doesn't belong to see if someone will try to lop it off. His time in Cuba is
mere existence now and he's more tired of it than he cares to admit.
When
an associate needs Gunther's help to get a woman wanted by the police out of
Cuba, Gunther agree to take the woman by boat to Haiti. En route, the boat is
stopped by the US Navy. During the search, the woman shoots one of the Navy men
and any chance of talking their way out of trouble goes over the side. Gunther
and the girl are arrested and separated. While the girl's fate is not revealed,
Gunther winds up in Gitmo where he is interrogated before being transported
briefly to a prison with a view of New York City. His captors are not the least
bit sympathetic to someone they believe to be a Nazi and Gunther's insistence that
he is not, and never was, a Nazi though he wore the field grey uniform falls on
deaf ears. He eventually finds himself back in Germany, imprisoned in the same
cell Hitler occupied while writing Mein Kampf.
As
with previous Gunther novels, the plot begins to jump around between time
periods as,
during the interrogations, Bernie relates stories from his past. We
skip back to Minsk, 1941 to hear of the retaliation Gunther ordered against a
group of Russians who had executed women and children and how this fits into
the insidious tapestry of genocide the Nazis and Russians are carrying out
under the blanket of war. From there, the novel shifts to Germany, 1931 where
Gunther is investigating the murder of two policemen during the uncertain time
when Communists and Nazis battled in the streets. Gunther learns the identity
of the murderer, one Erich Mielke - a real life personage who went on to be
become the Minister for State Security in the German Democratic Republic during
the Cold War. Gunther does not get his man and the action shifts to Paris in
1940 where Gunther has been ordered by Heydrich to return political prisoners
to Germany to stand trial. There an attempt is made on his life and he
witnesses the execution of prisoners "shot while trying to escape"
all while falling for a French woman. Already a mouthful, the novel is not done
yet as we learn of Gunther's time in a Russian POW camp, his escape and return
to what's left of Berlin. Finally the novel settles down to the present, in
this case 1954, and Gunther is in the hands of the CIA, tasked to point Erich
Mielke out to them so that they can take him into custody.
If
the above seems daunting to anyone reading this, don't be alarmed. The strength
of FIELD GREY is Kerr's
uncanny ability to keep all these balls in the air while painstakingly recreating
each time period and location with consummate skill. The reader is instantly
immersed into each section of the tale, and each section is seamlessly
connected to the overall plot. FIELD
GREY is a masterpiece of sustained narrative. While presenting us with
a detailed overview of his life which compliments flashbacks/flashforwards from
other novels in the series, Kerr still gives us a unique story putting Gunther
in several caldrons of hot water at any given time. He's a war criminal. He's a
convict without hope. He's an informer spilling his guts to save his skin. He's
a murderer. A lover. A victim. A perpetrator. Ultimately, Gunther is a
dangerous man, a complex man. More importantly, he's a survivor and not to be
underestimated.
A
novel like FIELD GREY is a
dangerous balancing act. If not pulled off carefully, the tale collapses upon
itself. However Kerr's sprawling tale, and tales within tales, is surprisingly
tight and focused. Gunther bounces all over the globe over a stretch of decades
yet the story is still his story, his choices have implications on the past and
it's up to him to forge his own future. The novel is a delight to read and the
time-shifts are not jarring in any way. The book takes an honest approach to
conquerors and the conquered and is historically accurate to the best of my
knowledge.
Gunther
dominates the landscape of the novel. His stories are bursting with character,
mood and immersive historical details but it is what we learn about Bernie
Gunther over the course of FIELD GREY
that is worth the price of admission. If this is your first Gunther book,
you'll want to read the rest. If you're coming to the book in sequence, you'll
come away with insights into Kerr's remarkably human hero that flesh out not
only the books that came before but those that have come after.
I loved FIELD GREY and can't recommend
it highly enough. It is a tour de force, a remarkable achievement and highly
entertaining reading. Don't miss it.
