Dark Star [Audio CD]

Alan Furst (Author), George Guidall (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: RecordedBooks (1999)
• ISBN-10: 1402586906
• ISBN-13: 978-1402586903
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,339,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Furst is widely recognized as the master of the historical spy novel. Now translated into seventeen languages, he is the bestselling author of Night Soldiers, Dark Star, The Polish Officer, The World at Night, Red Gold, Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory, Dark Voyage, and The Foreign Correspondent Born in New York, he now lives in Paris and on Long Island.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly set and paced novel of Europe just before WWII, August 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Star (Paperback)

I had read "The Polish Officer" first and wanted more of Alan Furst's evocative pre WWII novels of espionage. "Dark Star" surpasses the later novel, it simply hits on all cylinders. Historically accurate, with a twisting plot, vivid characters, and settings that make the reader feel the darkness and gloom enveloping Europe on the eve of WWII. This novel goes beyond the genre of espionage and paints a differently humane approach to the times. The main character, Andre Szara, while heroic, is "everyman" in that he fears, struggles and fails and succeeds and gets lucky at times. Truly the opposite of the Tom Clancy, James bondish type spy, Alan Furst offers us a hero who we can understand without suspending our disbelief. "Dark Star" is a wonderful piece of work by an author who amazes with his breadth of knowledge on Central Europe in the 30's

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Historical Spy Novel, August 18, 2005

By 

Beth Fox "Beth A. Fox" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Star: A Novel (Paperback)

"Sooner or later, . . . things fall into place and, often as not, you'd rather they hadn't." Andre Szara, a Soviet Jewish journalist originally from the Pale of Settlement, is ordered to retrieve a package from Prague. Hidden within is a secret dossier that initially seems of little worth. As the story unfolds, however, Szara is drawn into rings of spies, factions and counter-factions, Gestapo and anti-Gestapo, Old Bolsheviks and new Stalinists. Szara does not know who is working for whom, who will be killed next, or whether he can trust any of them.

As the story takes place from the end of 1937 through 1940, the backdrop to all of this is an increasingly bellicose and anti-Semitic Nazi Germany, echoed by the Stalinist purges of intellectuals in the NKVD and throughout Soviet society. And no one knows this period -- right down to the details -- better than Alan Furst. From doors that open "the width of an eye" to wireless transmitters humming through the night, from Gestapo boarding trains to pre-war diplomats in formal suits, Furst owns this turf. Thanks to his skill, you can feel throughout the drumbeat of impending war.

Five stars does not begin to do justice to the works of Alan Furst. The history, both the broad events and small details, is impeccable. (In this novel, Furst presents a fascinating, and to my knowledge, original, explanation for the Hitler-Stalin pact.) And he really knows how to write. I found myself rereading sentences because they expressed thoughts or feelings to perfection.

This novel is rich in history, lyrically written with a master's eye. If you like it, you will also enjoy Night Soldiers, Furst's novel of a Bulgarian NKVD agent during the Spanish Civil War.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Star Continues Furst's Espionage Classics, April 11, 2006

By 

Prauge Traveler (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Star: A Novel (Paperback)

The protagonist of "Dark Star" is a smalltime NKVD operative, born in Poland and working in the newspaper business. As usual, Furst sets his spy novel in occupied Eastern Europe during the opening years of the Second World War. Andre Szara, the reporter, becomes involved more and more heavily in providing reports on a German factory that produces an important component for the production of airplanes. As the Stalinist purges begin and continue, Szara finds his loyalties conflicting between his own survival and his Jewish ancestry. Soon a mysterious French-born Jew working with the British is requesting Szara's reports in exchange for certificates of immigration for Jews trapped in Europe and attempting to escape. As Szara becomes involved, he falls further and further into the labyrinthine world of espionage- a world from which he may never escape. . .

Although this novel can easily be read as a stand-alone book, some readers will enjoy beginning their foray into Furst's world with "Night Soldiers", his original and possibly best spy novel. This book introduces several characters who make appearances throughout Furst's other novels set in the same period of time and general geographical local. Because of this fact, I highly recommend reading "Night Soldiers" first, although those that follow can typically be read in any particular order (the exception being the stories involving Jean Casson - World at Night and Red Gold).

What makes Furst's loosely structured series so compelling is that 1; they are very well researched and historical very accurate, especially with regard to spy craft - as I understand it through academic experience only. 2; the characters are extremely flawed, very believable and interesting to empathize with - all of the characters and their adventures provoke much thought. 3; the novels do not attempt to achieve a false sense of conclusion at their end - they always allow the reader to decide for him/herself what happens, and they rarely resolve the feeling of tension that pervades Furst's works. 4; the secondary characters are always very well developed and much more interesting than their sometimes small roles would have the reader believe- so one is always off balance (who will live, who will die - who can be trusted, who cannot?). 5; Furst does an excellent job of setting the atmosphere of terror that resulted from the conflict between fascism and stalinism during the secret wars preceding the outbreak of the Second World War.

You cannot go wrong with this novel. While not Furst's best spy novel, for anyone interested in reading and enjoying spy stories, or stories of world war two, this book is a must read.