The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst

 

One of the most enjoyable books I have read. The foreboding of the second World War is there the whole time. You know what horrors are about to befall Poland. You know the people in the story are doomed in one way or another. You know that peopel who are involved in espionage are asking for trouble and causing death and destruction to others. Yet, I had sympathy for most of the characters and could place many of the locations in Warsaw. It made me want to go to Paris to see the places mentioned there as well. The period setting and those associated values remind me of much of my grandparents generation.

Alan Furst is compared with Robert Harris and that is fair. The story telling from the first person is similar and so is the history as a background/canvas style. I just find Alan Furst’s writing more compelling.

Very worth reading.


Genre: Spies