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stevenk's review against another edition
4.0
A novel of espionage that starts on the fringes of WWII and ends with the German Invasion of Greece. Furst does a great job of setting the scene, Greece right before Italy invades, and establishing the mindset of his main character. In this book it is Constitine Zannis a Greek police official in the town of Salonika, who helps Jewish refugees out of Germany. I enjoy Furst's books because they give you a window into the mindsets of ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things in the face of war, and they are often set on the fringes, the places that don't come to the forefront of your mind when you think about WWII. This book is another enjoyable trip into the world of espionage that took place in and around WWII. The writing and realistic characters give you a sympathy for the situations that they faced that really brings the events of the story, and the era in which they are set, to life
kayswear's review against another edition
5.0
Alan Furst is just the best at what he does: telling consistently excellent World War II stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Mostly their motivation is moral, which makes them admirable characters that are strong enough to risk everything because of what they believe. If you've read any of his other books you know what you're getting here; another great story with good guys and bad guys and indeterminate guys and close calls and quick thinking to mostly save the day. This time the setting is Greece with Mussolini poised to invade, centered on an underground railroad made of tissue paper and lies. Includes spies, Nazis, love, small town cops, extended families and a dog. No need to read these stories in order, you can just start with this one and be immersed.
moosegurl's review against another edition
3.0
"A lot of love got made when lovers were apart, he thought."
juliechristinejohnson's review against another edition
3.0
Aegean harbors shrouded in mist, Parisian cafes crowded with SS and prostitutes, refugees sheltered in Balkan villages: once again Furst conjures up an elegant, deft, Bogart-and-Bacall tale of WWII intrigue.
It is so easy to let the modern world sink away and the curtains fall open to the soft-focus black and white screen of the Spies of the Balkans. Furst shows his most sentimental side, infusing his hero, police detective Costas Zannis, with tenderness and vulnerability, particularly when it concercens his irresistible sidekick, Melissa. That Melissa is a soulful dog, rather than one of the host of beauties who fall helplessly for Zannis at the raise of an eyebrow, makes her devotion endearing. She was my favorite character and I'm a bit heartbroken, wondering what happened to her after Germany invaded Greece, as of course you know they do in the end. Hope that wasn't a spoiler.
The hard boiled aspects of the plot suffered at the expense of romance. The Berlin to Salonika network that spirited Jews out of Germany before the Gestapo could detain and destroy them came late in the story and played too small a role in the narrative, as did the Gestapo search for Zannis. There was a strange detour into combat that disrupted the spy story tension. And frustratingly, there was only a half-finished sense of what happens inside a small but fierce nation as a cloud of doom- inevitable invasion and war- fills the horizon.
Terribly hard not to enjoy, but I know Furst is capable of tighter writing, fuller characters and breathtaking tension. This was cafe au lait to his usual double espresso.
It is so easy to let the modern world sink away and the curtains fall open to the soft-focus black and white screen of the Spies of the Balkans. Furst shows his most sentimental side, infusing his hero, police detective Costas Zannis, with tenderness and vulnerability, particularly when it concercens his irresistible sidekick, Melissa. That Melissa is a soulful dog, rather than one of the host of beauties who fall helplessly for Zannis at the raise of an eyebrow, makes her devotion endearing. She was my favorite character and I'm a bit heartbroken, wondering what happened to her after Germany invaded Greece, as of course you know they do in the end. Hope that wasn't a spoiler.
The hard boiled aspects of the plot suffered at the expense of romance. The Berlin to Salonika network that spirited Jews out of Germany before the Gestapo could detain and destroy them came late in the story and played too small a role in the narrative, as did the Gestapo search for Zannis. There was a strange detour into combat that disrupted the spy story tension. And frustratingly, there was only a half-finished sense of what happens inside a small but fierce nation as a cloud of doom- inevitable invasion and war- fills the horizon.
Terribly hard not to enjoy, but I know Furst is capable of tighter writing, fuller characters and breathtaking tension. This was cafe au lait to his usual double espresso.
canadianbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
This story takes place in 1940 and early 1941, mostly in Greece. The main character here is Constantine "Costa" Zannis, who has a senior position in the police force in the port city of Salonika.
Greece fights back an Italian invasion coming from the north and pushed the Italian forces back to Albania. There is increasing pressure on the Balkans from the Germans, and Zannis begins to see signs of spies from a variety of countries. Zannis himself also becomes involved in facilitating an escape route from Germany to Turkey. As time goes on the danger escalates and Zannis finds that he has come to the notice of the Germans as well.
We see his personal life as well as the issues he deals with as a policeman, and this novel provides great plot and characters. For those who, like me, like novels set during the early twentieth century, this novel is a great read. There is danger, suspense, romance, and humour.
Greece fights back an Italian invasion coming from the north and pushed the Italian forces back to Albania. There is increasing pressure on the Balkans from the Germans, and Zannis begins to see signs of spies from a variety of countries. Zannis himself also becomes involved in facilitating an escape route from Germany to Turkey. As time goes on the danger escalates and Zannis finds that he has come to the notice of the Germans as well.
We see his personal life as well as the issues he deals with as a policeman, and this novel provides great plot and characters. For those who, like me, like novels set during the early twentieth century, this novel is a great read. There is danger, suspense, romance, and humour.
darwin8u's review against another edition
3.0
“And, with much of Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, and Mussolini's armies in Albania, on the Greek frontier, one wasn't sure what came next. So, don't trust the telephone. Or the newspapers. Or the radio. Or tomorrow.”
― Alan Furst, Spies of the Balkans
(***1/2) Iloved enjoyed 'Spies of the Balkans' (Night Soldiers #11). It wasn't Furst's best in the series, but it was a sweet Kataïfi of a novel. Emotionally it fed me. Furst highlights the little things people do with just a nudge here and a twist there to make a dark world just a bit better. 'Spies of the Balkans' focuses on the sacrifices people made during fascism's push into Southern Europe. The novel's center of gravity is Costa Zannis, a senior police official in Salonika, who sometimes finds his talents needed by both the Jews seeking to escape Germany and British spy networks. It is a novel that drips with the hidden goodness of those amazing men and women who refused to let dark circumstances dictate their character.
For reference, I've included below the 14 books of the Night Soldiers series along with my star rating:
1. Night Soldiers (1988) - 4 stars
2. Dark Star (1991) - 5 stars
3. The Polish Officer (1995) - 4 stars
4. The World at Night (1996) - 3 stars
5. Red Gold (1999) - 3 stars
6. Kingdom of Shadows (2000) - 3 stars
7. Blood of Victory (2003) - 4 stars
8. Dark Voyage (2004) - 4 stars
9. The Foreign Correspondent (2006) - 3 stars
10. The Spies of Warsaw (2008) - 4 stars
11. Spies of the Balkans (2010) - 3 stars
12. Mission to Paris (2012) - 3 stars
13. Midnight in Europe (2013) - 3 stars
14. A Hero of France (2016) - 3 stars
― Alan Furst, Spies of the Balkans
(***1/2) I
For reference, I've included below the 14 books of the Night Soldiers series along with my star rating:
1. Night Soldiers (1988) - 4 stars
2. Dark Star (1991) - 5 stars
3. The Polish Officer (1995) - 4 stars
4. The World at Night (1996) - 3 stars
5. Red Gold (1999) - 3 stars
6. Kingdom of Shadows (2000) - 3 stars
7. Blood of Victory (2003) - 4 stars
8. Dark Voyage (2004) - 4 stars
9. The Foreign Correspondent (2006) - 3 stars
10. The Spies of Warsaw (2008) - 4 stars
11. Spies of the Balkans (2010) - 3 stars
12. Mission to Paris (2012) - 3 stars
13. Midnight in Europe (2013) - 3 stars
14. A Hero of France (2016) - 3 stars
rosseroo's review against another edition
4.0
I've been reading Furst since his first book, and I'm thrilled that he's finally gotten around to setting something in my ancestral homeland (Greece). That said, he does have a very distinctive style that is definitely not to everyone's taste. His narratives tend to unfold in a somewhat fractured way, in vignettes that can sometimes skip large swathes of time and geography. His characters can often have a somewhat detached tone to them, which can make them somewhat less empathetic than your average spy/thriller protagonists. Personally, I feel no one does WWII atmosphere better, and I'm always glad to step back in time to a world that he's captured so wonderfully.
This book revolves around Constantine Zannis, a Greek police detective serving in Salonika (present-day Thessaloniki, historically, Greece's second-largest city). He works for a shadowy high-ranking police patron on "special" cases that involve more discretion and nuance than called for in common crimes. Although in 1940 the war has yet to reach Greece, it's clear that it's only a matter of time before it does, and the city is crawling with Allied and Axis spies. As the war creeps closer and closer to the border, we see him change roles, from policeman to spycatcher to activated reserve officer to Allied agent.
In these roles we first see Zannis get involved in an underground railroad helping Jews escape German-controlled territory into Turkey. This is handled very well, as we see all aspects of the operation, from the German enablers, their SS hunters, the scared couples on trains chugging through the Balkans, the palms that need to be greased at the Turkish border, etc. And when he gets trucked north to serve in a unit along the border, it brings home the human scale of the war in Europe. The biggest storyline involves British agents (which include a former girlfriend) convincing him to go to Paris and bring out a British scientist caught in the occupied city. But what might be the central high stakes premise in another writer's thriller is in Furst's war just another task to be grimly undertaken by a committed and principled man.
The one area in which this book stumbles is in some of Zannis' personal relationships, especially an insipid affair with the stunning wife of a shipping magnate. It comes out of nowhere and does nothing for the story except drag it kicking and screaming into the realm of conventional Hollywood blockbuster ("they found passion amidst the winds of war"). Fortunately, it's just a minor glitch, and there is none of the grand sweep and heft of typical spy thrillers. Furst is more of miniaturist, working in fine detail to create a series of stories that, read together, accrue a heft of their own.
This book revolves around Constantine Zannis, a Greek police detective serving in Salonika (present-day Thessaloniki, historically, Greece's second-largest city). He works for a shadowy high-ranking police patron on "special" cases that involve more discretion and nuance than called for in common crimes. Although in 1940 the war has yet to reach Greece, it's clear that it's only a matter of time before it does, and the city is crawling with Allied and Axis spies. As the war creeps closer and closer to the border, we see him change roles, from policeman to spycatcher to activated reserve officer to Allied agent.
In these roles we first see Zannis get involved in an underground railroad helping Jews escape German-controlled territory into Turkey. This is handled very well, as we see all aspects of the operation, from the German enablers, their SS hunters, the scared couples on trains chugging through the Balkans, the palms that need to be greased at the Turkish border, etc. And when he gets trucked north to serve in a unit along the border, it brings home the human scale of the war in Europe. The biggest storyline involves British agents (which include a former girlfriend) convincing him to go to Paris and bring out a British scientist caught in the occupied city. But what might be the central high stakes premise in another writer's thriller is in Furst's war just another task to be grimly undertaken by a committed and principled man.
The one area in which this book stumbles is in some of Zannis' personal relationships, especially an insipid affair with the stunning wife of a shipping magnate. It comes out of nowhere and does nothing for the story except drag it kicking and screaming into the realm of conventional Hollywood blockbuster ("they found passion amidst the winds of war"). Fortunately, it's just a minor glitch, and there is none of the grand sweep and heft of typical spy thrillers. Furst is more of miniaturist, working in fine detail to create a series of stories that, read together, accrue a heft of their own.
ssindc's review against another edition
3.0
This was my second foray into Furst's historical detective/action/thriller not-really series, and I enjoyed it (although not as much as the first). Here, most of the action takes place in WWII Greece (but that's not fair to the scope of the storyline, which is far broader). The history is light, the sense of time and place is rich (and that I enjoy), but - for whatever reason - I felt that (unlike is the first book of his I read) I was less intrigued with the protagonist (who seemed like "just another detective" to me, and, alas, he tried to do too much in this (nonetheless slim) installment. Too many characters, too many "missions," too many romances, too many trips, too many crises (large and small). Nonetheless, my guess is I'll give him another try (at some point).
ebeyrent's review against another edition
5.0
I've read many of this author's novels, and personally, I feel this one is the best.
In some of his older works, the narrative felt stuttered, and disjointed. Not the plot, but the writing style itself. It was almost distracting at times.
Spies of the Balkans doesn't suffer from this. In fact, the narrative was laugh-out-loud funny at times, heartbreaking in others, and downright tense in places. It's rare when you have a novel that produces such strong emotions while reading, and I readily admit to having a nervous stomach while reading some parts.
I loved the characters, I loved the deep emotional pull of both the subject matter in general and the plot, and in my opinion, this is Furst's best work yet.
In some of his older works, the narrative felt stuttered, and disjointed. Not the plot, but the writing style itself. It was almost distracting at times.
Spies of the Balkans doesn't suffer from this. In fact, the narrative was laugh-out-loud funny at times, heartbreaking in others, and downright tense in places. It's rare when you have a novel that produces such strong emotions while reading, and I readily admit to having a nervous stomach while reading some parts.
I loved the characters, I loved the deep emotional pull of both the subject matter in general and the plot, and in my opinion, this is Furst's best work yet.
nigellicus's review against another edition
5.0
Reading Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series is a bit like reading Patrick O'Brian. Furst's first (heh) was Night Soldiers, a massive epic of war and espionage, probably the best novel about spies in the Second World War you're likely to read. But in many ways it set the parameters for his subsequent works, while Red Gold set the template. None of the other books have been as epic - except inasmuch as anything touched by the Second World War is touched by the epic - tighter, briefer, sharper, more focused. Few of them go past 1941 or '42 in timeframe. At first this can seem disappointing and the books begin to seem samey and repetitive. But, like O'Brian, they are only samey and repetitive in terms of theme and format. The broad strokes of the War are, to us, predetermined. Within those strokes wind the lives of the men and women in the secret, murky world of espionage. Describing these lives is what Furst excels at, and he has perfected that style and format. If Night Soldiers was his Epic, these are his sonnets.
Our setting is Salonika, 1940. Our slightly shabby, vaguely disreputable, incurably romantic hero is Consta Zannis, a police officer responsible for peacefully resolving knotty political difficulties. He becomes involved in a secret route for Jews and dissidents fleeing Berlin. Time, of course, is running out, and the question is how long the route can be kept open, and whether it can survive the attentions of the British Secret Service.
Drenched in atmosphere, heroism and romanticism, with doom coming down on all sides and the shady, shadowy world of criminals and spies and secret lovers intermingling, this is thrilling, tragic, marvelous stuff. A kind of escapism, sure, but of such elegance and subtlety and the sense of intelligent people making small gestures in the face of unstoppable evil, it always leaves you wanting more.
Our setting is Salonika, 1940. Our slightly shabby, vaguely disreputable, incurably romantic hero is Consta Zannis, a police officer responsible for peacefully resolving knotty political difficulties. He becomes involved in a secret route for Jews and dissidents fleeing Berlin. Time, of course, is running out, and the question is how long the route can be kept open, and whether it can survive the attentions of the British Secret Service.
Drenched in atmosphere, heroism and romanticism, with doom coming down on all sides and the shady, shadowy world of criminals and spies and secret lovers intermingling, this is thrilling, tragic, marvelous stuff. A kind of escapism, sure, but of such elegance and subtlety and the sense of intelligent people making small gestures in the face of unstoppable evil, it always leaves you wanting more.
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