Metropolis

A Bernie Gunther Novel, Book 14

By: Philip Kerr

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

"[Metropolis is] a perfect goodbye - and first hello - to its hero...Bernie Gunther has, at last, come home." (Washington Post)

New York Times best-selling author Philip Kerr treats listeners to his beloved hero's origins, exploring Bernie Gunther's first weeks on Berlin's Murder Squad.

Summer, 1928. Berlin, a city where nothing is verboten.

In the night streets, political gangs wander, looking for fights. Daylight reveals a beleaguered populace barely recovering from the postwar inflation, often jobless, reeling from the reparations imposed by the victors. At central police HQ, the Murder Commission has its hands full. A killer is on the loose, and though he scatters many clues, each is a dead end. It's almost as if he is taunting the cops. Meanwhile, the press is having a field day.

This is what Bernie Gunther finds on his first day with the Murder Commisson. He's been taken on because the people at the top have noticed him - they think he has the makings of a first-rate detective. But not just yet. Right now, he has to listen and learn.

Metropolis, completed just before Philip Kerr's untimely death, is the capstone of a 14-book journey through the life of Kerr's signature character, Bernhard Genther, a sardonic and wisecracking homicide detective caught up in an increasingly Nazified Berlin police department. In many ways, it is Bernie's origin story and, as Kerr's last novel, it is also, alas, his end.

Metropolis is also a tour of a city in chaos: of its seedy sideshows and sex clubs, of the underground gangs that run its rackets, and its bewildered citizens - the lost, the homeless, the abandoned. It is Berlin as it edges toward the new world order that Hitler will soon usher in. And Bernie? He's a quick study, and he's learning a lot. Including, to his chagrin, that when push comes to shove, he isn't much better than the gangsters in doing whatever he must to get what he wants.

©2019 Philip Kerr (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

One of The Guardian's Best Crime & Thrillers of 2019

One of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Mysteries and Thrillers of Spring 2019

"[Narrator John] Lee imbues the entire production with gravitas and grit, lending the story a haunting literary tone. Characters speak with vivacity and depth, a testament to both the writing and the narration. Lee perfectly captures Gunter's sarcastic voice with a hint of youthful vibrancy. Despite this being both a prequel and the final book in the series, new listeners can easily follow. The entire production feels grander than one voice, with Lee elevating the story to a captivating listen." (AudioFile Magazine)

“Metropolis is a consummately told tale with lashings of vice and horror that works either as a gripping stand-alone in the Chandler mode or as the keystone of a 14-book arch with a deeper, more troubling flavor, and it's a perfect goodbye - and first hello - to its hero. In Metropolis, Bernie Gunther has, at last, come home.” (The Washington Post)

“Kerr's 14th novel in this series proves to be Gunther's origin story, which makes it feel imperative as well as poignant.... Arresting.... Vivid.” (The New York Times Book Review)

Interesting!

Good investigation, characters were believable and narration excellent! I especially liked the recap after the story.

Well done!

Interesting story and believable, dimensional characters. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. I'm not an expert reviewer, just s satisfied reader. 💛

Bernie Gunther the beginning

At the end we learn most of characters are historical …except Bernie of course. Wish I had known at the beginning. Kerr at his best

Kerr does it again

As usual the plot characters the description of life in the pre Nazi era are all very good.
Sad to think that this will be the last chapter.

Another excellent Bernie Gunther novel

Shorter than some other Gunther novels, but just as sweet. It is a Bernie ‘origin’ story. Bernie is not yet ‘hard bitten, but this is where it starts. Great characterization, cracking dialogue, several ‘mysteries’ many plot twists, Berlin decadence and ‘noir’ perspective. 2 thumbs up!

Unknown Germany and Berlin

Great insight on the crime and underground in the early parts of the 19 century Berlin. A great story and a good read

Another great Bernie Gunther novel.

I have listened to every Kerr / Gunther novel now and loved every one of them. Sad there are none left to enjoy.

Great book

Masterfully written. Enjoyed every minute! I would highly recommend this book. I have enjoyed each book in the series.

Excellent.

May be the best Bernie Gunther novel, I will miss Phillip Kerr, gone too soon.

Awesome prequel.

I wonder how long all this had been rattling around in the author's head before he put it down. Equal parts "M", "Metropolis", and "Maltese Falcon."

It shows just how far Bernie Gunther - the fallen angel - had fallen. If you followed the whole series with the long flashback scenes, this will put it all together. And I wonder if Kerr had some intimations of mortality as he was writing this opus. It is a stellar final installment.

One of the reviewers of German Requiem complained of too much rumination and not enough action. Kerr spent the best part of a decade reading German law and filling it in with cultural research. That homework shines through in this book. However, the German Requiem is the author coming to terms with a culture on which he fed deeply and finally weighed on the moral scales. This book sets up the weights to place in the scale.

Not rock'em;sock'em. More wonder and wander. And absolutely true to Berlin then as well as now. Not a pretty little town.

[I would have given five stars to the story if there had been more rock'em;sock'em. As for the narration, WHY oh WHY do the producers and/or the readers not research the pronunciation of foreign or unfamiliar words? This are the small logs in an otherwise smooth road of narration.]