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| The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Furst
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 2334
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400066026
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781400066025
ASIN: 1400066026
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 One of Furst's Best June 6, 2008
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
1937. A German engineer working for a military contractor. A Polish countess who probably is not a countess. The French military attache. Welome to Alan Furst country. "The Spies of Warsaw" is yet another in Furst's cycle of novels set in the 1930s and WW2, dealing with spies and the shadow world. Reading a Furst novel is, in the best sense, like watching a classic black-and-white movie with a plot by Eric Ambler.
Alan Furst's plots are more John leCarre than Ian Fleming, but there is no shortage of desperate action and tense drama in "The Spies of Warsaw", combined with some very real-world espionage activity that could have come straight from the files of any spy agency. The central character, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier is a decorated veteran of the First World War who discovers a real talent and genuine passion for the war of espionage. And there is the usual supporting cast of shadowy characters living on the knife's edge. And of course -- as any Alan Furst reader will expect -- there is a visit to the Brasserie Heininger and its famous Table 14.
I bought a copy of the novel early this afternoon, and read it straight through to its conclusion in a marathon reading session. "The Spies of Warsaw" is one of Alan Furst's best, and that is saying something. It reminded me, in a very good way, of Furst's "The Polish Officer", perhaps my favorite of the entire cycle.
Posh Polish "Polish" June 15, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Alan Furst and Joseph Kanon have re-defined the historical spy thriller - and all for the better. Furst's "The Spies of Warsaw" is a great read with memorable lines, arresting characters and, rarely for Furst, a group of exceptionally interesting female players. There's a tolerable amount of heterosexual sex, but never a description of "the act," and a few humorous, inept thugs who bring a sort of comic relief when it's most needed.
Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, the primary character is believable, always true to his character and --- surprise --- lives to see a satisfying end to his exploits, all of which take place in 1937 and 1938, at the dawn of the darkest moments in modern European history.
Mercier is not like other spies (such as Zig-Zag, the overblown most famous British double agent during World War II, who in his self-love was close to being a lunatic), because he is quite decent, well-mannered and does not ever shoot himself in the foot. He's likable and charming, not the ill-fitting sociopath that so many famous literary and real life spies are shown to be. Many of Mercier's asides to himself are also very funny.
What's great about Furst is his economy of dialogue. No, this is not really the way people talk to each other - except in his correct writing of ordinary cocktail party chatter, which is, of course by necessity and design, boring and superficial. Furst is a master of this kind of picture-painting - people meeting at obscenely elegant parties only to bore each other to death with their mindless chatter, except, of course, if it is a married couple of Russian spies who are dickering for asylum.
"Tell me," he said, "how are things back in the motherland?" ... "The trials..." "The trials of winter." Malka cut him off, and gave him a look. "That's it," Viktor said. "Always difficult, our winter, but we seem to survive." "Did you go home for the holidays?" Mercier said. "No." .... "You know what I think, Victor? I think that Colonel Mercier won't come to dinner unless he gets an invitation. A written invitation." These conversations are masterfully written and expose the human flaw of superficiality mixed with intense fear in the midst of political, life-threatening crisis. Of course your own cocktail parties are identical.
Mercier is attached to the French embassy in Warsaw, but the story takes the reader to Paris, the South of France, Belgrade, Berlin, the then-Czechoslovakia, and various places in-between, on airplanes, trains and the cars of the era. It's all great fun, and the calm, cool and collected Mercier maneuvers himself through it all in his service as a spy for the French government. Well, he is in charge of himself in all things except in his over-the-top, 40-something adolescent-and-out-of-control love for Anna Szarbek, a Parisian of Polish blood, also living in Warsaw and lawyer for the League of Nations. He takes risks only in pursuit of Anna.
Nice moments. Page 31, "Ou le Dieu a vous seme, il faut savoir fleurir. Wherever God has planted you, you must know how to flower." Page 207, "Przedwiosnie: an ancient term for this time of year, it meant `prior to spring.' The streets were white with snow, but sometimes, early in the morning or toward evening, there was a certain gentle breeze in the air - the season wasn't turning yet, but it would."
So, we have romance, good, cogent spy stuff and history, all neatly packaged in a superbly written 266-page novel. From De Gaulle to Hitler the context is all there. even with delicious Polish donuts and an excess of fine French champagne. You do have to endure the very slow beginning while Furst sets the stage with all the actors, the overall scenario and hints of what's to come. I think the beginning of the story is its only flaw - rather too slow.
Mercier, as a character, reminded me of Arturo Perez-Reverte's Father Quart in his excellent "The Seville Communion." Both Quart and Mercier are in their 40's, handsome, polished, erudite, calm, obedient to authority, smart, trusted agents of the establishment, and sought-after by women. They could have been twin brothers and, if movies are to be made of these two stories, the same actor could play both major roles - Quart and Mercier. And, of course, both Furst and Perez-Reverte are among the best writers of fiction of our time. So far, however, Furst has not fallen victim to the beauty of his own words and has not produced mediocre recent work, as has Perez-Reverte (his "Painter of Battles" is really awful).
One suggestion to all these great novelists. Why not, as in a published drama, have a list of all the players right near the map in the front of the book? The cast of players, by name and major role? That would certainly help a reader, as even in a short, crisp novel like this one, I forgot who Voss, Lapp, Madame Dupin, and the Vyborgs were. Such a quick reference would be helpful to every reader.
This book is great. Read it and enjoy. And Alan, keep up your consistency. I look forward to the next one. Soon, I hope!
Close your eyes and be in 1937 June 9, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
The Spies of Warsaw is Furst at his best...elegiac, heart-beat tense, full of the sights, sounds and deatils of a bygone era. Characters live on the page: their hopes, fears, ambitions and dreams drive the narrative forward. Close your eyes and be in 1937. Superb.....
 Brainy bubblegum June 27, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
There are a lot of positive qualities to Furst, but now that I've read six or seven of his WWII-era espionage novels, his shortcomings seem more glaring to me. The physical details of the novels ring true, but the overall story arc is pedestrian. Character development is not really a feature at all. This is well-researched genre fiction, entertaining but not deeply moving or satisfying. I enjoyed The Spies of Warsaw and the others, especially The Polish Officer, but I rate them as airplane or vacation reading for smart people. The comparisons to John le Carre are unearned.
Another superlative "what if?" from Alan Furst June 16, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
No one plays "What if?" better than Alan Furst.
What if the Wehrmacht high command had managed to assassinate Hitler in 1937 (Kingdom of Shadows)? What if the British had crippled shipping up the Danube to choke off Hitler's supply of Balkan oil (Blood of Victory)? Better than that, though, Furst wonders aloud how it could have been done. You know the outcome--Furst isn't Harry Turtledove--but you read on anyway, hoping against history for success and an early end to the Nazis.
In his latest, The Spies of Warsaw, Furst wonders what if the French military had taken seriously the potential for German attack through Belgium. The spectacular failure of the Maginot Line was clearly a failure of strategy and imagination, but Furst rightly damns it as a failure of arrogance and a determination to read only those parts of intelligence that fit within a preconceived construct of the world. (Sound familiar?)
In Colonel Mercier, we have a typically Furstian character. Patriotic but jaded, resourceful but wary, cognizant of the inevitability of war but bent on preventing (or fighting) the spread of fascism. Mercier is in a unique stage of life for a Furst character: he is a widower. This adds an autumnal quality to The Spies of Warsaw that is entirely appropriate.
My one complaint is that I wish the book had been longer. One cannot expect the length of Blood of Victory or Dark Star (which I just started reading) from Furst every time out, and I realize that the book ends in the most appropriate place--after its climax, everything that follows until June 1940 (when Germany invades France) is inevitable. But the epilogue describing de Gaulle's flight to resistance and Petain's acquiescence seemed on first reading like short shrift. It was distasteful, but that might be what Furst was going for here.
Highly recommended.
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