logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
A Man Without Breath (Bernie Gunther) - Philip Kerr
A Man Without Breath (Bernie Gunther)
by: (author)
4.14 35
From the national bestselling author of Prague Fatale, a powerful new thriller that returns Bernie Gunther, our sardonic Berlin cop, to the Eastern Front.   Berlin, March, 1943. A month has passed since the stunning defeat at Stalingrad. Though Hitler insists Germany is winning the war,... show more
From the national bestselling author of Prague Fatale, a powerful new thriller that returns Bernie Gunther, our sardonic Berlin cop, to the Eastern Front.   Berlin, March, 1943. A month has passed since the stunning defeat at Stalingrad. Though Hitler insists Germany is winning the war, commanders on the ground know better. Morale is low, discipline at risk. Now word has reached Berlin of a Red massacre of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk. If true, the message it would send to the troops is clear: Fight on or risk certain death. For once, both the Wehrmacht and Propaganda Minister Goebbels want the same thing: irrefutable evidence of this Russian atrocity. To the Wehrmacht, such proof will soften the reality of its own war crimes in the eyes of the victors. For Goebbels, such proof could turn the tide of war by destroying the Alliance, cutting Russia off from its western supply lines. Both parties agree that the ensuing investigation must be overseen by a professional trained in sifting evidence and interrogating witnesses. Anything that smells of incompetence or tampering will defeat their purposes. And so Bernie Gunther is dispatched to Smolensk, where truth is as much a victim of war as those poor dead Polish officers.   Smolensk, March, 1943. Army Group Center is an enclave of Prussian aristocrats who have owned the Wehrmacht almost as long as they’ve owned their baronial estates, an officer class whose families have been intermarrying for generations. The wisecracking, rough-edged Gunther is not a good fit. He is, after all, a Berlin bull. But he has a far bigger concern than sharp elbows and supercilious stares, for somewhere in this mix is a cunning and savage killer who has left a trail of bloody victims. This is no psycho case. This is a man with motive enough to kill and skills enough to leave no trace of himself. Bad luck that in this war zone, such skills are two-a-penny. Somehow Bernie must put a face to this killer before he puts an end to Bernie.
show less
Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9780399160790 (0399160795)
ASIN: 0399160795
Publisher: A Marian Wood Book/Putnam
Pages no: 480
Edition language: English
Bookstores:
Community Reviews
Toni
Toni rated it
5.0 "A Man Without Breath", by Philip Kerr
Book 9, in the Bernard Gunther MysteryIt can get enough of this author’s wonderful imagination. His novels although in good part fiction have a chilling authenticity to them. Each story is based on actual events that happened during the horrible years of the Nazi Germany. Through his words he brings...
Novel Tease
Novel Tease rated it
3.0
This is the third work of WW II fiction that I've read in the past year that has focused on the Katyn Forest massacre. What's with that?Otherwise, interesting peek at a horrible period in history, but I'm liking Bernie Gunther less and less.
Sister Mary Murderous
Sister Mary Murderous rated it
5.0
Bernie Gunther, former Berlin homicide cop, is now an investigator for the Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau. Bernie, with all the cynicism of a Berliner, is keenly aware of the absurdity of the agency's practice of turning a blind eye to the systematic torture and murder of Jews, Gypsies, communists, Sl...
On shelves
Share this Book
Need help?