‘One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written’ LEE CHILD

1957, Munich. Bernie Gunther now works for an insurance company. It makes a kind of sense: both cops and insurance companies have a vested interest in figuring out when people are lying to them, and Bernie has a lifetime of experience to call on.

Sent to Athens to investigate a claim from a fellow German for a sunken ship, Bernie takes an instant dislike to the claimant. When he discovers the ship in question once belonged to a Greek Jew deported to Auschwitz, he is convinced the sinking was no accident but an act of vengeance.

And so Bernie is drawn inexorably back to the dark history of the Second World War, and the deportation of the Jews of Salonika – now Thessaloniki. As Europe prepares to move on to a more united future with Germany as a partner rather than an enemy, at least one person in Greece is ready neither to forgive nor forget. And, deep down, Bernie thinks they may have a point.

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PRAISE FOR PHILIP KERR

‘Kerr leads us through the facts of history and the vagaries of human nature’ TOM HANKS

‘One of the greatest master story-tellers in English’ ALAN FURST

‘One of the most memorable and original characters’ THE SUNDAY TIMES

‘Bitterly, darkly funny’ SUNDAY HERALD