Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Prague, 1937. In the back alleys of nighttime Europe, war is already under way. André Szara, survivor of the Polish pogroms and the Russian civil wars and a foreign correspondent for Pravda, is co-opted by the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and becomes a full-time spymaster in Paris. As deputy director of a Paris network, Szara finds his own star rising when he recruits an agent in Berlin who can supply crucial information. Dark Star captures not only the intrigue and danger of clandestine life but the day-to-day reality of what Soviet operatives call special work.
Dark Star: A Novel
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From Publishers Weekly
Furst ( Night Soldiers ) will make his mark with this intelligent, provocative and gripping novel. In 1933, Andre Szara, a highly regarded Polish-born foreign correspondent for Pravda , is asked to perform small espionage tasks by the NKVD. These assignments escalate, until Szara finds himself responsible for obtaining vital production figures from a German-Jewish industrialist who fabricates steel wire essential to airplanes. Inevitably, Szara's integrity as a journalist is also compromised. During this period of Stalinist purges, clearly and chillingly described by Furst, only unpredictability is certain. Szara senses the precariousness of his position, which is compounded by an urgent appeal from a wealthy Jewish Frenchman for Szara to honor his own Jewish heritage by trading his steel wire information to the British in exchange for desperately needed immigration certificates to mandated Palestine. Furst depicts the historical, geographic and political context in lucid and highly readable prose; his observation that Russia annexed Lithuania and Estonia while the world's attention was focused on France's struggle with Germany has an eerie timeliness. As darkness descends over Europe, Szara clings to life while simultaneously attempting to make some meaning of it. His story is not a pretty one; but it is beautifully and compellingly told.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
This is an intriguing combination of spy story and historical novel. It is about a Pravda journalist forced to become a Soviet intelligence agent in the years immediately before World War II. It is also about a Europe being driven into war, not simply by supposedly irresistible social forces but by the genuinely evil men who manipulate and direct events. Seen in this way, Stalin is as responsible for the coming of war as Hitler, and Stalin's Russian purges signal the future deaths of millions in Central Europe. Agents in this novel are not just spies but metaphors for the actors, large and small, on the stage of history. Entertaining, exciting, and thought-provoking reading.
- Charles Mi chaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Charles Mi chaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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IN THE LATE AUTUMN OF 1937, IN THE STEADY BEAT OF North Sea rain that comes with dawn in that season, the tramp freighter Nicaea stood at anchor off the Belgian city of Ostend. Read the first page
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IN THE LATE AUTUMN OF 1937, IN THE STEADY BEAT OF North Sea rain that comes with dawn in that season, the tramp freighter Nicaea stood at anchor off the Belgian city of Ostend. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book after reading the various reviews listed here. I was captured by it on the first page, and could only put it down reluctantly. The fact that Alan Furst used real historical facts to weave the plot of this book made it a winner with me. There was only one part of the book that ran rather slowly, but all in all, I rate this book at the top along with the "Smiley" trilogy from John LeCarre. You won't be disappointed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By H. Buning
Format:Paperback
And I gave it 5 stars. I have no idea how realistic it is,
I'm hardly an expert in the field, but it sure feels real. It
also has an unfamiliar point of view, that of the KGB (its
pedecessor, the NKVD) the villains of so many novels like Fleming's "From Russia
with Love", and LeCarre.
I'm hardly an expert in the field, but it sure feels real. It
also has an unfamiliar point of view, that of the KGB (its
pedecessor, the NKVD) the villains of so many novels like Fleming's "From Russia
with Love", and LeCarre.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dark Star is an enjoyable read and simply seeths with the atmosphere of late 1930's Europe as Hitler's Germany militarized and ultimately mobilized east through Poland and then west.
The descriptions of Paris are fabulous and could only have come from someone who has lived in the city of light. Scenes in pre-war Berlin and Poland during Germany's attack give a real picture to the history.
Worth the read.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Almost a great book
Okay, first off, it don't understand what the title has to do with anything. Second, I don't understand why people claim that Furst is really good at making the European setting... Read more
Published on Jan 29 2004 by mathieu laine
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Adventure of Thoroughly Layered Historical Fiction
Dark Star follows the travels of Soviet Journalist cum Intelligence Agent Andre Szara through the nooks and crannies of Europe in the four years (1937-40) immediately preceding the... Read more
Published on Jan 27 2004 by A. B. Cost
2.0 out of 5 stars
Improbable, unlikable, inscrutable
Improbable events occur to an unlikable person, but luckily someone acting on inscrutable motives shows up at the last second to rescue him. Read more
Published on Jan 4 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, vivid period piece
Dark Star is a great novel, spy/espionage tale and period piece. It is not a chills-spills-adventure thriller (no Furst spy novel is). But it is Furst's most powerful novel. Read more
Published on Sep 4 2003 by newyork2dallas
5.0 out of 5 stars
Furst's manifesto
At one point in "Dark Star", Szara, the protagonist, ponders how such evil men as Hitler and Stalin could be allowed to live. Read more
Published on Jun 20 2003 by Ian Fowler
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reveals Europe's heart of darkness in 1930s. Soviet crimes
Dark Star is the tale of a disenchanted, world weary, jewish poet and reporter who works for the communist, soviet controlled publication Prada. Read more
Published on May 7 2003 by "iriley1979"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shining Star !
For the history lover, a book by Furst satisfies like a lemonade on the 4th of July. In addition to bringing the WW ll era into focus, he is also able to paint, with detail, a... Read more
Published on April 1 2003 by Mary Haber
4.0 out of 5 stars
strange book
It is a strange novel. The chief protagonist is a despicable human being (a communist eagerly participated in the killing of millions who started to think about all things human... Read more
Published on Dec 1 2002 by Does Not Matter
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good history & emotionally compelling.
I have enjoyed all of Mr. Furst's novels but Dark Star is my favorite. I suppose, in part, this is true because I read it last and was thus fully immersed in Mr. Read more
Published on Nov 19 2002 by "att7"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another atmospheric thriller from Alan Furst
This work has a lot in common with "Night Soldiers", because it, once again, concerns itself with Russian espionage prior to World War II. Read more
Published on Aug 30 2002 by Frank J. Konopka
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