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.The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

June 03, 2008
I loved Furst's prose, sinuous, direct, filled with telling detail, and the narrative had me hooked, until the last third of the book, when the writing got flabby and the narrative fell apart so precipitously, I thought I had missed several important pages. There was no grand scheme here, and maybe that was the author's point, to show the herky-jerky nature of spying in that place in those days. But a little more artifice would have gone done nicely with this reader.
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.Night Soldiers: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

July 09, 2002
As an espionage writer, Furst excels at capturing characters' emotions, and the atmosphere in which they are acting. As the action progresses from country to country, and year to year (1934-1945), each milieu has its own distinctive personality, geography and history. The overall theme is the protagonist's attempt to maintain his integrity in a world gone mad. There is a certain amount of contrivance in the plot, but the reader does not mind. Faye Berns was a fine secondary character, as was Sascha. Having read other Furst novels I was already familiar with the insanity of the Russian spy system and Stalin's government; I found the take on pre-WWII political life in a small village in Bulgaria especially enlightening.
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.The Polish Officer: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

October 09, 2001
If The Polish Officer were the first Alan Furst book I read, I might be reluctant to sample another of his novels. The Polish Officer is too disjointed and reads like a collection of short stories. It simply lacks the story development to draw the reader into a relationship with the characters. However, having already read Night Soldiers and Dark Star, I knew that Furst's wonderful ability to convey the never-ending darkness that gripped Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s would keep me turning the pages. I look forward to reading more of his books.
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.The Foreign Correspondent: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

May 15, 2007
Furst is brilliant at character study, but more than that, he delivers you into another world. Pre-World II Europe becomes present. For anybody who's interested in those years of upheaval, extraordinary courage as well as human frailty and sinister ideologies, please get any of his extraordinary books.
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.Dark Star: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

July 09, 2002
I am a huge WWII history fan, but this novel is so enthralled with its own overwrought descriptions of minor details (eg, the wine offered to Szara by the rich French Jew) that the story is lost and I stopped caring about the (lack of) action. I gave up half way through. On to the new translation of War and Peace.
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.The World at Night: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

January 08, 2002
Furst is in his old stomping ground of World War II here. Jean Casson, movie producer and reluctant fighter finds himself pinched between the storm troopers and the Paris he used to enjoy. Furst clips his sentences in a unique style that helps to keep the book moving. Just the same, I was hoping for a little more plot. That said, I always enjoy a Furst book for the history, the atmosphere and fully developed characters.
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.Blood of Victory: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

May 13, 2003
The protagonist of this novel, an emigre Russian writer A. A. Serebin, finds himself in Istanbul at the beginning of this fine suspense novel. War is raging through Europe, the Nazis have occupied Paris and our hero faces the usual choice that Furst always places before his characters -- to get involved in fighting the evil or not to get involved.
Of course the answer is clear. Serebin contacts British intelligence and soon finds himself trying to reactivate an old spy network in Bucharest, where fascist-anti-Semitic militias are fighting for control against the Nazi-backed forces of Antonescu, himself an ultra-nationalist and no angel. Having spent nine months in Bucharest, I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the city in this horrible period of ... Read More:
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.Red Gold: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

January 08, 2002
I recently read The Spies of Warsaw and now am reading all the Alan Furst I can get my hands on. Red Gold is another great one- the author writes so well about this time period. What sets Furst apart is the very ordinariness of some of the events and characters- the Gestapo occasionally screw up and let prisoners escape, and not every Resistance operation ends in Hollywood-worthy pyrotechnics. And Jean Casson makes a great world-weary hero.
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.Kingdom of Shadows

by: Alan Furst

October 09, 2001
I am eagerly looking forward to reading more books by Furst. Set in Europe at the start of WW2, this is a well-fashioned story of bravery and idealism.
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.Dark Voyage: A Novel

by: Alan Furst

May 31, 2005
I had high expectations after reading reviews of Furst books, and chose Dark Voyage. I gave up after page 30- nothing had happened- lots of dialog from people sitting around- descriptions of food, cigars. No suspense. I guess it was setting background, but a better writer would have done it in 10 pages, a very good writer in 4. I read some reviews saying his others books are better, so I'll try one more before giving up on him.
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