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Surely any amount of the players in this side of the war must have been so, not as brilliant or brilliant to draw as Szara and Baumann and Marta Haecht; yet very interesting in their own true selves, and full of the real unexpected in persons, as shows in good surprise more than once here.It is a different kind of intensity, of wakefulness, and I hope Furst finds it a way to draw in other interests, as another branch of these stories which can engage us with much appreciation and enjoyment.With regards, one would say, of course. I have to say that I much enjoyed this from Alan Furst, and that I think we have to allow a writer a little space to write differently, to change.This is not Dark Star, with its terrifically effective weight of many episodes to bring out very much of its characters, and of its years.Yet The Spies of Warsaw is sharp, very clear and telling, and has much effect in a shorter novel. A different level of intensity is used, and what we do see, we see very well.The use of plots that may or may not come to closure is very well done, and leads to some real suspense, where our high attention is turned to other interesting matters.Some of the characters are greyer, out of faces that might be more familiar today.
Though I will explore other WWI and WWII historical fiction authors before returning to Alan Furst. Good book.
The plot revolves around a French embassy attache who recruits spies in Warsaw and pries information from the Germans in clever ways. Still, a decent read about the ups and downs of people in tight spots doing tough jobs.Colonel Mercier was in the Great War, but unlike his relatives and ancestors, he would like to live through the next one.
He's not immune from a past heartbreak and finds himself drawn to a woman who plays the game as well as he does. Thus, he's careful about his operations and when they go wrong, does his best to correct the situation.
The Spies of Warsaw is not your high-powered spy novel with chase scenes, torture, derring-do etc. I wouldn't mind if he painted the pictures with a little more detail now and then.
Through all this, the Germans are up to no good, the French General Staff denying reality, and people on the ground like Mercier are making the best of it.My hope is that Furst fleshes out his future books a little more than this one, which could have benefitted from some of the scene-setting that can be found in Night Soldiers. More of a slow burn during the run-up to the Second World War, which is true to the Furst style.
Furst has been paring his style over the years, giving the reader fewer words, which concerns me a little as the sparseness now borders on frugality.
Alan Furst is a brillant author who entices the reader with creative dialog and vivid descriptions. This is an excellent read for anyone who enjoys thinking through a plot and is interested in WWII.
He's also deft at omitting the verb "to be" to make a number of sentences pithy and direct.I noticed what I thought were a couple of mistakes in Furst's renderings in French and would be happy (if he's reading this) to proofread French, Spanish, or Portuguese phrases before he sends his next novel to the publisher, assuming he's doing me and other fans the favor of continuing to write. First, he's not afraid of run-on sentences, and his selective use of them gives his writing a European quality--a number of European languages, notably French, do not frown on run-on sentences as we English speakers do. Alan Furst is the master of evoking the atmosphere of pre-World War II Europe through his thrillers. I've figured out a couple of the rhetorical devices he uses to keep his writing so vivid.
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