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A review by heritage
Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst
3.0
A high-ranking police officer in Greece gets caught up in espionage and anti-Nazi activities in the months leading up to the invasion of Greece by Germany during World War II.
After reading most of Alan Furst's novels about spies in World War II, one has a sense of what to expect: great atmosphere, sex, espionage, history, intrigue, inevitability. It seems unusual, then, for Furst to fumble the novel when he's done it so well so many times before. That's not to say the novel is without merit--it does open and close well--but it seems lacking when compared to his others.
For starters, I think he tried to copy Kingdom of Shadows in the basic premise of the novel: living in the time period leading up to the inevitable invasion. And, like Kingdom of Shadows, it is also one of his least plot-intensive ones. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to capture the atmosphere, intrigue, and romance that makes him so renown. Indeed, the mission to Paris in the middle smacks of contrived conveniences and inconveniences, and the whole love affair is halfheartedly written. Even the dog seems forced in there just to add filler.
It's not a bad novel, but merely okay. Perhaps a reader new to Furst's writing would be better off seeking out The World at Night, Dark Voyage, Blood of Victory, or The Foreign Correspondent instead.
After reading most of Alan Furst's novels about spies in World War II, one has a sense of what to expect: great atmosphere, sex, espionage, history, intrigue, inevitability. It seems unusual, then, for Furst to fumble the novel when he's done it so well so many times before. That's not to say the novel is without merit--it does open and close well--but it seems lacking when compared to his others.
For starters, I think he tried to copy Kingdom of Shadows in the basic premise of the novel: living in the time period leading up to the inevitable invasion. And, like Kingdom of Shadows, it is also one of his least plot-intensive ones. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to capture the atmosphere, intrigue, and romance that makes him so renown. Indeed, the mission to Paris in the middle smacks of contrived conveniences and inconveniences, and the whole love affair is halfheartedly written. Even the dog seems forced in there just to add filler.
It's not a bad novel, but merely okay. Perhaps a reader new to Furst's writing would be better off seeking out The World at Night, Dark Voyage, Blood of Victory, or The Foreign Correspondent instead.