FIELD GRAY

Paul Hecht’s portrayal of gravelly voiced, life-worn Bernie Gunther is a tour de force. Gunther—former policeman, PI, and POW—served in both World Wars—on the German side. When the novel opens, it’s 1954, and Bernie is living a quiet life in Cuba, doing odd jobs for Meyer Lansky. He’s arrested, and his true identity discovered. Temporarily imprisoned in Guantánamo, and then a New York City military prison, he’s eventually transferred to Germany’s notorious Landsberg Prison, where he undergoes a brutal interrogation as a possible war criminal. The frequent flashbacks to the ‘30s and ‘40s are easy to follow, thanks to Hecht’s smooth transitions. Hecht makes Gunther’s remembrances agonizingly real, whether he’s telling the story of a village of Jews who were massacred or focusing a sardonic glance at human foolishness. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2012]