false 435897 8 Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Prague, 1937. In the back alleys of nighttime Europe, war is already under way. André Szara, survivor of the Polish pogroms and the Russian civil wars and a foreign correspondent for Pravda, is co-opted by the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and becomes a full-time spymaster in Paris. As deputy director of a Paris network, Szara finds his own star rising when he recruits an agent in Berlin who can supply crucial information. Dark Star captures not only the intrigue and danger of clandestine life but the day-to-day reality of what Soviet operatives call special work. 1769710 1991 Dark Star total:290|5:105|4:127|3:52|2:3|1:3| 290 1198 431 33 5 3 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 18 09:35:50 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 18 09:52:44 -0800 2008
Alan Furst really has an incredible talent for bringing history alive and this book is a fine example.

Generalities aside for the moment, I particula...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Feb 08 21:41:28 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 21:52:28 -0800 2009
Since I started the series, I've been living in 1939, wearing my rain coat and I'm thinking of sewing my passport into the lining of my briefcase. Is that too obvious?

It's true what everyone says about Furst. ...more...]]> 4 0 false true Fri Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 08 17:51:10 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 17:51:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 18:11:57 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 28 20:10:12 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 06:37:27 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 15:49:10 -0700 2009 Furst's work. [Dark Star:] is definitely a darker work than the last Furst I read The Polish Officer, and that really is saying something. I'm really not sure how accurately Furst portrays the thinking of a Soviet citizen living through Stalin's purges, bu...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 21 20:55:09 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 21:09:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 19:16:16 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 06:42:03 -0700 2009 "Politicians were like talking dogs in a circus: the fact that they existed was uncommonly interesting, but no sane person would actually believe what they said." (pg 35 in trade paper)

Dark Star is another sm...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Feb 27 19:36:41 -0800 2009 Sun Sep 13 16:05:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 07:38:11 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 06:42:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 23 10:02:27 -0700 2009 Sat May 23 10:06:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995 Mon Jan 12 12:58:01 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 13:01:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 07 11:12:03 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 17 13:03:28 -0800 2009 This is the second volume in Furst's "Night Soldiers" series, although most of the series need not be read in the order published: only The World at Night and Red Gold relate directly as a sequential pair. For those that wish the read the books in sequence, Night Soldiers precedes this and...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Jan 07 12:15:07 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 12:21:21 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 17:13:58 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 17:53:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Nov 21 13:20:14 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 13:23:35 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 06:18:29 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 06:21:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Sep 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 06:17:37 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 06:43:55 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Dec 11 17:08:22 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 17:11:17 -0800 2008 5 0 true false Thu Apr 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 16 20:48:53 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 11:41:49 -0700 2008
His main character Andre Szara grew on me until I found myself thinking, "Could I do what he did and maintain my essential self?"...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Mar 18 08:45:47 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 08:47:31 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=196779