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A review by left_coast_justin
Red Gold by Alan Furst
4.0
Another better-than-average spy story from Alan Furst.
Furst is the master of the little telling detail that reminds you life was very, very different seventy years ago, when Europe was at war. Little things like cars having running boards, the US having 48 states, commercial airliners having propellers still; things like that.
Red Gold is set primarily in France, dealing with resistance to German rule. Another thing Furst describes well is that humans can be nasty little creatures; and the small day-to-day humiliations that keep accumulating upon the Jewish population. We learn about people who suddenly find (and abuse) power over others, using German rules to further their own greedy ends. You want to keep reading in hopes that these pricky little tyrants suffer for their sins.
An interesting question arises: If your soldiers simply cannot beat the enemy's soldiers, is there any way to win the war? As it turns out, there's lots of ways to render an enemy powerless other than shooting them. This book has fun with that idea, and I had fun reading it.
Furst is the master of the little telling detail that reminds you life was very, very different seventy years ago, when Europe was at war. Little things like cars having running boards, the US having 48 states, commercial airliners having propellers still; things like that.
Red Gold is set primarily in France, dealing with resistance to German rule. Another thing Furst describes well is that humans can be nasty little creatures; and the small day-to-day humiliations that keep accumulating upon the Jewish population. We learn about people who suddenly find (and abuse) power over others, using German rules to further their own greedy ends. You want to keep reading in hopes that these pricky little tyrants suffer for their sins.
An interesting question arises: If your soldiers simply cannot beat the enemy's soldiers, is there any way to win the war? As it turns out, there's lots of ways to render an enemy powerless other than shooting them. This book has fun with that idea, and I had fun reading it.