Dark Star: A Novel [Paperback]

Alan Furst (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 9, 2002

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Furst ( Night Soldiers ) will make his mark with this intelligent, provocative and gripping novel. In 1933, Andre Szara, a highly regarded Polish-born foreign correspondent for Pravda , is asked to perform small espionage tasks by the NKVD. These assignments escalate, until Szara finds himself responsible for obtaining vital production figures from a German-Jewish industrialist who fabricates steel wire essential to airplanes. Inevitably, Szara's integrity as a journalist is also compromised. During this period of Stalinist purges, clearly and chillingly described by Furst, only unpredictability is certain. Szara senses the precariousness of his position, which is compounded by an urgent appeal from a wealthy Jewish Frenchman for Szara to honor his own Jewish heritage by trading his steel wire information to the British in exchange for desperately needed immigration certificates to mandated Palestine. Furst depicts the historical, geographic and political context in lucid and highly readable prose; his observation that Russia annexed Lithuania and Estonia while the world's attention was focused on France's struggle with Germany has an eerie timeliness. As darkness descends over Europe, Szara clings to life while simultaneously attempting to make some meaning of it. His story is not a pretty one; but it is beautifully and compellingly told.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is an intriguing combination of spy story and historical novel. It is about a Pravda journalist forced to become a Soviet intelligence agent in the years immediately before World War II. It is also about a Europe being driven into war, not simply by supposedly irresistible social forces but by the genuinely evil men who manipulate and direct events. Seen in this way, Stalin is as responsible for the coming of war as Hitler, and Stalin's Russian purges signal the future deaths of millions in Central Europe. Agents in this novel are not just spies but metaphors for the actors, large and small, on the stage of history. Entertaining, exciting, and thought-provoking reading.
- Charles Mi chaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (July 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375759999
• ISBN-13: 978-0375759994
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,320 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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 129 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

Format: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

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful

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

By Beth Fox

Format: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.

40 of 41 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

Format: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.