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Review
“Unfolds like a vivid dream . . . One couldn’t ask for a more engrossing novel.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Impeccable historical fiction . . . intelligent [and] entertaining.”—Los Angeles Times
“Furst vividly [mixes] love and adventure. . . . His books combine exhaustive research with exceptional narrative skill.”—The Washington Post
“Brilliant . . . told with unusual detail and flair.”—Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
Los Angeles Times • The Seattle Times • St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel • The Globe and Mail
From the Trade Paperback edition.
“Impeccable historical fiction . . . intelligent [and] entertaining.”—Los Angeles Times
“Furst vividly [mixes] love and adventure. . . . His books combine exhaustive research with exceptional narrative skill.”—The Washington Post
“Brilliant . . . told with unusual detail and flair.”—Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
Los Angeles Times • The Seattle Times • St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel • The Globe and Mail
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Description
Greece, 1940. Not sunny vacation Greece: northern Greece, Macedonian Greece, Balkan Greece—the city of Salonika. In that ancient port, with its wharves and warehouses, dark lanes and Turkish mansions, brothels and tavernas, a tense political drama is being played out. On the northern border, the Greek army has blocked Mussolini’s invasion, pushing his divisions back to Albania—the first defeat suffered by the Nazis, who have conquered most of Europe. But Adolf Hitler cannot tolerate such freedom; the invasion is coming, it’s only a matter of time, and the people of Salonika can only watch and wait.
At the center of this drama is Costa Zannis, a senior police official, head of an office that handles special “political” cases. As war approaches, the spies begin to circle, from the Turkish legation to the German secret service. There’s a British travel writer, a Bulgarian undertaker, and more. Costa Zannis must deal with them all. And he is soon in the game, securing an escape route—from Berlin to Salonika, and then to a tenuous safety in Turkey, a route protected by German lawyers, Balkan detectives, and Hungarian gangsters. And hunted by the Gestapo.
Meanwhile, as war threatens, the erotic life of the city grows passionate. For Zannis, that means a British expatriate who owns the local ballet academy, a woman from the dark side of Salonika society, and the wife of a local shipping magnate.
Declared “an incomparable expert at his game” by The New York Times, Alan Furst outdoes even his own finest novels in this thrilling new book. With extraordinary authenticity, a superb cast of characters, and heart-stopping tension as it moves from Salonika to Paris to Berlin and back, Spies of the Balkans is a stunning novel about a man who risks everything to right—in many small ways—the world’s evil.
Inside This Book
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greece before the war..by Alan Furst,
By
This review is from: Spies of the Balkans: A Novel (Hardcover)
Salonika, Greece (now Thessalonika), is Greece's second largest city, after Athens. However, it is located in the northeastern part of Greece, much closer to the Balkan nations than to Athens. And it is here where Alan Furst, author of so many excellent WW2 novels, has based his new "spy thriller".The summer and fall and winter of 1940 was the end of the "Phoney War" in Europe. Hitler had invaded west and had taken France and the Low Countries, and were threatening the Balkan States, some of whom were already "allied" with Germany. Greece had just been invaded by Mussolini's Italy, jealous of the success of Hitler's Germany and all the land they had conquered. The Greeks were able to hold off Italian advances, but everyone was waiting for Hitler to come to the aid of his Axis-partner, and finish off Yugoslavia and then Greece. (Understanding the politics of the Balkans is way above my pay-grade, but I can sort of appreciate the machinations of all involved). Costa Zannis is a "special" police officer in Salonika, assigned to the city's "special" cases - those involving high-ranking officials and foreign dignitaries. "Special cases" which needed tact and discretion to handle. He has a small squad at his disposal, and extra funds from the government to help him along with his job. Furst has Zannis handle many cases, from aiding a refugee underground devoted to getting Jews from Germany to safety in Turkey and Egypt, to helping sneak a shot-down British scientist trapped in Occupied France escape back to England by taking him down the Balkans to Greece. Zannis is not an ambiguous hero. He does what he does from an honest belief in helping those who need it. He is quite honestly a good man. Furst writes quite a nuanced book here. The plot is sometimes a little pot-boiler, but only a little. It's all in all a great read, particularly for those of us WW2 "junkies".
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Subtle Combination of Stealth and Romance in War,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Spies of the Balkans: A Novel (Hardcover)
Without recounting too much of this story that has already been told in other reviews, I am going to restrict my remarks to why I think this is a novel worth reading: one, Furst, as he has done in other novels about the murky world of espionage and WW II, creates a very real and dynamic main character in the person of Detective Costa Zannis. Here is a man who has a razor-sharp conscience that allows him to confidently test all kinds of moral dilemmas and come out a winner. In his work he not only deals with sensitive cases involving safe passage for people escaping from the Nazis, but he is keeping a keen eye on those shadowy criminals and spies that threaten the very integrity of Greek life. He is a well-connected person who is thorough in upholding the law, but also compassionate in his desire to help the needy and still have time to have a romantic fling or two. It is his noble efforts that give hope to what otherwise would be a very bleak situation. Two, Salonika is portrayed as a city rife with trouble and uncertanity, on the edge of being overrun by the Nazis. Yet it is in this hour of need that the city triumphantly starts to come alive as a main connecting point for other resistance movements within the Balkans and greater Europe. The lights have not gone out in Europe because good men and women are standing up to be counted. Furst does a commendable job in taking his readers through a maze of back streets of this ancient port as they yield their dark secrets. Three, Furst has a wonderful way of developing a greater world of espionage on both sides of the war by allowing its its tentacles of influence to spread well outside of northern Greece. What Zannis is trying to do to make travel arrangements for Jews and political dissidents connects with what Captain Hauser is doing back in Greater Germany to thwart their escape. The reader gets to see how these two contrasting mission styles join to create a very captivating sense of mounting drama. And finally, the Europe that Furst describes in "Spies of the Balkans" is truly one that accurately reflects the historical record. It is 1940 and the Balkans are ready to be overrun by the Nazi war machine and there are many safe places to go except out through Salonika. His timely actions and persistance in standing up to evil clearly remind of the work of the Swedish diplomat,Raoul Wallenberg, in saving hundreds of Jews in Prague from the gas chambers by giving them sanctuary in his embassy. All these factors combined make for a five-star rating and worth a read for anyone intent on making a difference in very trying circumstances.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Furst Consistently Delivers,
By
This review is from: Spies of the Balkans: A Novel (Hardcover)
I was first exposed to Alan Furst's books on a visit to the Spy Museum in Washington. Having no background on his work, I was first attracted to the engaging packaging of his books and the period he covers - largely 1936 to 1942. Since that introduction I have read all eleven books and have been struck by their realism, detail, atmosphere, and intrigue. I would enjoy learning his method of research given the familiarity of culture, language, military and intelligence organization and more, which brings his books to life.This latest effort centered in Greece but with travels through the Balkans, France and Germany and is another demonstration of the detail and entertainment Furst consistently delivers. I will not expand on the plot because that is ably done by both professional and my fellow aspiring reviewers. What I will say is, 'when is then next one!?'. And, a final comment, I love how he weaves in the story of the bullet in the mirror above table 14 in a Paris brasserie into each of his books.
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