Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780375758270
ISBN: 0375758275
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2001-10-09
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: 2001-10-09
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks

September 1939. As Warsaw falls to Hitler’s Wehrmacht, Captain Alexander de Milja is recruited by the intelligence service of the Polish underground. His mission: to transport the national gold reserve to safety, hidden on a refugee train to Bucharest. Then, in the back alleys and black-market bistros of Paris, in the tenements of Warsaw, with partizan guerrillas in the frozen forests of the Ukraine, and at Calais Harbor during an attack by British bombers, de Milja fights in the war of the shadows in a world without rules, a world of danger, treachery, and betrayal.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Another great one from Furst
Comment: Get yourself a comfortable chair and settle in for another of Alan Furst's outstanding novels of clandestine warriors in World War II. As always, his tremendous knowledge of the era is on display, as well as great descriptive writing. You really feel the bite of the wind in the Polish forests in winter. And there's always a phrase or two that makes you say, "That's it exactly." For me it de Milja's describing the Germans as "War's own children." Perfect !

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Read "Night Soldiers" and "Dark Star" first
Comment: If The Polish Officer were the first Alan Furst book I read, I might be reluctant to sample another of his novels. The Polish Officer is too disjointed and reads like a collection of short stories. It simply lacks the story development to draw the reader into a relationship with the characters. However, having already read Night Soldiers and Dark Star, I knew that Furst's wonderful ability to convey the never-ending darkness that gripped Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s would keep me turning the pages. I look forward to reading more of his books.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Just did not like it
Comment: I just didn't like this book. Quit reading it at about page 160 because it flipped around too much and no good character development.
Just plain poor writing..hi brow I though.
bummer!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: In darker times
Comment: A good book. The main character is a little cold compared with others by Furst. The book does keep the tension up though.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: "As you get older, you accept venality. Then you learn to like it - a certainty in an uncertain world."
Comment:
Alan Furst follows a formula that has proven so successful for him. A more or less ordinary man finds himself in the midst of World War Two. In these extraordinary conditions, the ordinary man finds himself capable of surprising acts of courage and even heroism. `The Polish Officer' opens with the German invasion of Warsaw and within a few hours Captain Alexander de Milja, a cartographer by profession, is recruited into the Polish resistance's intelligence service.

Many of the characters occupying Furst's novels are not so devoted to the good fight as de Milja or Jean Casson (Red Gold and World at Night). As one of de Milja's compatriots says, "As you get older, you accept venality. Then you learn to like it - a certainty in an uncertain world." Furst excels at giving the reader a feel for what it might have been like to risk betrayal to the SS in every hour of the day.

Furst always does his homework when he writes what he calls his `historical spy novels' and it shows. The details provide the sense of verisimilitude that makes his books so enjoyable. His characters are always interesting and often multi-dimensional. My only gripe with `The Polish Officer' is that de Milja moves swiftly across Europe serving in at least four separate major undertakings in four different locations. That seems like an unlikely set of circumstances. It is a minor quibble because each episode can stand on its own merit once de Milja's back story is established in the opening pages.

An excellent read for fans of the spy genre, which has produced a surprisingly long line of excellent writers. Alan Furst's name belongs aside Eric Ambler, Graham Greene, John LeCarre, Charles McCarry, and Robert Littell.

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