I love spy novels. A lot. I don't care when or where they're set, there's something about a lone operative working through tremendous danger to fight for their cause that hooks me every time. I've had a bunch of highly acclaimed spy novels on my "to-read" list for a while now and I recently checked one of them off thanks to David Tennant.
Not literally, of course. I don't mean to say that he sat down and read me the book; I'm not sure I could've handled that. I did, however, watch an interview with him in which he talked about his upcoming BBC mini-series based on The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst and think to myself, "Hey! I've been meaning to read that book for ages! I need to go to the library right now." I'm a avid believer in reading the book before the movie/tv adaptation (hence my week-long Hunger Games trilogy binge prior to the movie release earlier this year and failure to keep up with the Game of Thrones show) and as I wouldn't dream of missing a period spy drama staring my favorite Doctor, reading this book was suddenly an urgent matter.
The book was awesome. I love exciting and suspenseful stories. I love books that are well-written. The Spies of Warsaw was both. I've already checked out two other Furst books from the library since I finished Spies. The best part of the book was the way Furst manages to immerse the reader in the setting. There's nothing better than being in the middle of a book and feeling like you've been transported to its world. I've never been to Warsaw or any of the other European cities the characters visit in the book, and I certainly didn't experience the 1930s, but I felt like I was there with them. I wanted to be a part of their world and help them out. There are parts of the book in which I want to reach through the pages and shake the characters by the shoulders and warn them about what Hitler has in store for them. ("You idiots! He's going to invade through Belgium and make your stupid Maginot Line irrelevant!) As far as I'm concerned, that's the mark of a great book.
The book focuses on a French military attache named Jean-Francois Mercier (Tennant is going to be great as Mercier [duh]. I could really picture him in the role as I read the book.) who is stationed in Warsaw and is set a bit prior to the German invasion of Poland that started WWII. These were the murky years just before the war in which Hitler was already beginning to menace the rest of Europe. Mercier struggles to turn up information that could give the French government clues as to Germany's intentions, but the leaders in charge don't necessarily want to listen when his intelligence contradicts what they believe the Germans will do. It's a classic problem that we can all relate to even today.
I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy of Spies. It really is a great read, and I've loved every bit of Furst's writing so far. I'm currently working my way through The Polish Officer which is one of his earlier novels. One of the smaller characters from Spies is also in this book. It's a little less polished than Spies, but it's still a great read. I also picked up Red Gold and I'm anxious to start that one.
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