Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I picked up this book on Sunday (2 days ago) and will probably finish it tonight. Fantastic book, well-paced and great language. I've read some very long books lately and this was a nice change since it's quite a bit shorter.
Update: Very interesting book that communicates well the atmosphere of Thessaloniki and the unique circumstances Greece faced in the build-up to WWII. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the ending - it just wasn't quite as interesting as I had hoped.
Update: Very interesting book that communicates well the atmosphere of Thessaloniki and the unique circumstances Greece faced in the build-up to WWII. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the ending - it just wasn't quite as interesting as I had hoped.
Good Alan Furst fare. The repercussions of the affair were rather underwhelming. But I really enjoy Furst's explorations of the impacts of WW2 on people and places I wasn't aware of.
About the spies and refugee smuggling that went on through the Balkans leading up to the German occupation of Greece. Furst deserves his stellar reputation as a historical novelist but the novel had a special resonance for me because some years ago I worked for several months in northern Greece updating a guidebook there. I was headquartered in Salonica where the book mainly takes place. So it was especially wonderful to have the city and the region evoked for me so beautifully.
I like how not all the threads in the plot are completely resolved by the end of the novel. I appreciate that the author didn't tell the reader everything - it made for an interesting, ruminative read.
"A lot of love got made when lovers were apart, he thought."
"A lot of love got made when lovers were apart, he thought."
Another exciting book by Alan Furst. He spins a great yarn. The map at the front of the book is essential for me to keep the cities and countries clear in my head.
Furst at his best. Starts out a little slow, but stick with it, and you will be rewarded.
Spies Of The Balkans is Alan Furst's 2010 espionage thriller in his "Night Soldiers" series of books. This one features Greek "senior police official" Consta Zannis in 1941 Greece, in the Balkans. He works out of Salonika, which until only a few decade before was a Turkish city. He solves tricky political problems and lives alone with his dog Melissa.
But he soon gets wrapped up in helping Jews escape the Nazis through an acquaintance, who sets up a kind of underground railroad from Berlin to Salonika and beyond. But he also has to worry about first the invading Italians, who want to show the Germans, ineffectually, how good they are by coming through Albania. He helps out at the front and then, when he comes back, Greece has to worry about the encroaching German might, as they annex by treaty or force, all their neighboring countries. Soon, he is no longer worried about Jewish flight, but rather his own skin.
I didn't really like this book as much as I did my previous Furst book, [b:The Spies of Warsaw|2294328|The Spies of Warsaw (Night Soldiers, #10)|Alan Furst|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320510011s/2294328.jpg|2300636]. This book is more about the strategic strokes of the war, of little people caught up in a crazy world, and not nearly the personal level found in Spies of Warsaw. Zannis was a good, honest character, but he really was just push along by events beyond his understanding or control, right down to the end of the book.
He also had some strange relationships, that came and went, with little or no explanation. And the motives for a couple of his missions were either missing or murky. But it did have the effortless prose that Furst is so good at, and he really gave you a feeling for the confusion at the start of World War 2 in this part of the world. In fact, it was a little too confusing sometimes! But if you like any of his espionage books, you will certainly like this one. And I am anxious to try some more.
But he soon gets wrapped up in helping Jews escape the Nazis through an acquaintance, who sets up a kind of underground railroad from Berlin to Salonika and beyond. But he also has to worry about first the invading Italians, who want to show the Germans, ineffectually, how good they are by coming through Albania. He helps out at the front and then, when he comes back, Greece has to worry about the encroaching German might, as they annex by treaty or force, all their neighboring countries. Soon, he is no longer worried about Jewish flight, but rather his own skin.
I didn't really like this book as much as I did my previous Furst book, [b:The Spies of Warsaw|2294328|The Spies of Warsaw (Night Soldiers, #10)|Alan Furst|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320510011s/2294328.jpg|2300636]. This book is more about the strategic strokes of the war, of little people caught up in a crazy world, and not nearly the personal level found in Spies of Warsaw. Zannis was a good, honest character, but he really was just push along by events beyond his understanding or control, right down to the end of the book.
He also had some strange relationships, that came and went, with little or no explanation. And the motives for a couple of his missions were either missing or murky. But it did have the effortless prose that Furst is so good at, and he really gave you a feeling for the confusion at the start of World War 2 in this part of the world. In fact, it was a little too confusing sometimes! But if you like any of his espionage books, you will certainly like this one. And I am anxious to try some more.