Furst is a very capable, serious, intelligent writer. He obviously researches his books to death. And he writes very well. Unfortunately, at the same time, he only too obviously pitches his work to the dominant demographic for his kind of spy story: ladies of a certain age with certain educational attainments and certain rather specific expectations as to morals and political correctness. For me, this spoils his work.

We have here one of many modern examples of a very modern trend: the formulaization of adult fiction. Why it wasn't done before is beyond me. I have no idea. But while we've been dealing with series for children since the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries, what with Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys, and whatever was churned out for girls, it's only been in the past thirty years or so that writers and their publishers and agents have conspired to foist on us what are in effect series for adults. Before, of course, there were large numbers of genre writers who had created and exploited formulas in all kinds of novels. But I never had the impression, while consuming their works, that they were tailoring their prose to anything other than a general audience, at least in the cases of mysteries, thrillers and spy stories.

Mr. Furst's grasp of and taste for history, with all its details and nuances, is of the highest order. There isn't the slightest doubt, in my mind at least, that he not only is capable of, but would prefer, not having to introduce all kinds of anachronisms to placate his modern, female readers. And those anachronisms really ring false. Chalk-on-a-blackboard false. A terrible "klang." They're ugly, they stand out like lipstick on a photograph of Sigmund Freud, and they really, really interrupt and dismay anyone who has bought a "history/mystery" in a reliance on the author's historical skills.

I can imagine the kinds of chatter between Mr. Furst and his guardian angels in publishing and agentry. Can't say this, can't say that. Have to mention this, always use that. And I very much wonder whether their obvious insistences are indeed really necessary to Mr. Furst's success. How do they know, for instance, whether or not a particular inclusion or exclusion is actually going to make a difference in the number of people buying his books? That such things happen, and are believed, by most people in publishing is obvious. But are they backed up by hard data? Really hard data? Or is this a matter of personal taste on the part of publishing personnel or agents? Is the public being duped and sold a bill of goods because of cultural censorship on the part of publishers and agents?

I'd really like to see more material on these issues. I'd really like to know what happens in today's publishing world in terms of their shaping what their public is going to be allowed to read. I'm wondering very much if there's anything that we, as readers, can do to get better information and in some manner take a stand. I'd much appreciate hearing from anyone who reads this review and knows more about this subject. Please shoot me a message if you do.