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The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel (Paperback)

by Alan Furst (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 17.50
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Furst (The Foreign Correspondent) solidifies his status as a master of historical spy fiction with this compelling thriller set in 1937 Poland. Col. Jean-François Mercier, a military attaché at the French embassy in Warsaw who runs a network of spies, plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with his German adversaries. When one of Mercier's main agents, Edvard Uhl, an engineer at a large Düsseldorf arms manufacturer who's been a valuable source on the Nazis' new weapons, becomes concerned that the Gestapo is on to him, Mercier initially dismisses Uhl's fears. Mercier soon realizes that the risk to his spy is genuine, and he's forced to scramble to save Uhl's life. The colonel himself later takes to the field when he hears reports that the German army is conducting maneuvers in forested terrain. Even readers familiar with the Germans' attack through the Ardennes in 1940 will find the plot suspenseful. As ever, Furst excels at creating plausible characters and in conveying the mostly tedious routines of real espionage. Author tour. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“Entertaining from first page to last . . . [Alan] Furst is that rarity, a writer of popular fiction who is also a serious novelist.”—Washington Post Book World

“Teeming with intrigue . . . Furst’s novels of World War II Europe are not just atmospheric. They’re transporting.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Wildly atmospheric . . . Furst’s novels combines the research habits of a top-shelf historical novelist with a taste for psychic warfare that recalls the work of British writers like W. Somerset Maugham . . . , Anthony Powell . . . , and Evelyn Waugh.”—Men’s Vogue

“This engaging historical fiction should be read by anyone who loves a compelling story well told.”—Houston Chronicle


“A rare thing: an engrossing, deeply emotional, thinking person’s love story.”— San Francisco Chronicle
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The Coming Storm of World War II from a French Spy's Perspective, Aug 4 2008
This review is from: The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel (Hardcover)

Prior to World War II, most people either thought that Hitler and his generals were intent on world domination based on using any tool available or that these were reasonable people who could be persuaded to go elsewhere if you cut a deal with them. In between those views were the French, who thought that their Maginot Line could stop the Germans at the border in any future European war. Those who bet that Hitler and his generals were serious were right.

This book examines those perspectives from the vantage point of the Western spies operating in Warsaw in 1937 and 1938. The fictional Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier steals enough secrets to come to the right conclusion about what France faces. In the process, you learn a lot about spy tradecraft in that era and how the various countries oriented to one another.

The book has an oddly cold tone, as though this story was written in an attempt to keep out emotion, patriotism, and strong feelings of any kind. As a result, the plot, although interesting, failed to engage me into the story. I felt like I was reading a light, nonfiction magazine article about pre-World War II espionage instead.

For a reading public that likes to exalt the importance and impact of espionage, this story is a sort of anti-story . . . suggesting that perhaps espionage was then more a game than serious business.

To me, the best parts of the book were those that attempted to capture tradecraft in that era. Those were well done.

Unlike many spy stories where the ending is up in the air . . . due to an optional, fictitious result, The Spies of Warsaw ends up being a bit too predictable in leading up to the well-known events of 1939 and 1940.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Good spy story, April 9 2009
By Emmaursula (Small town BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel (Hardcover)
I read this book a few months ago and was surprised to find negative reviews here. It's a very good book; interesting characters, good plot, and a good spy story. Check out the reviews at the UK site of Amazon to get a more valid perspective on this book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great Spy Fiction, Dec 15 2009
By Craig Jenkins (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel (Hardcover)
A believable period piece in an unusual locale and time period, between the world wars with Germany on the ascendency. The lead character is likable, vulnerable and very human, and the plot twists and turns its way to a satisfying if imperfect conclusion.

A great read, and for me the beginning of many more from the same author.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Not his best. Maybe his worst.
I write historical novels and I know what it takes. I've read several of Furst's novels: the Polish Officer was superb; evocative of the times, lucid, detailed, understated... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Dr. R. A. Alexander

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