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Dark Star (Paperback)

by Alan Furst (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; New edition edition (16 Feb 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006511317
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006511311
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 88,357 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #7 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > F > Furst, Alan

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Product Description

Review
'Imagine discovering an unscreened espionage thriller from the late 1930s, a classic black-and-white movie that captures the murky allegiances and moral ambiguity of Europe on the brink of war . . . Nothing can be like watching Casablanca for the first time, but Furst comes closer than anyone has in years.' Time 'The time-frame of the late 1930s on the continent was once the special property of Eric Ambler and Graham Greene: Furst has ventured into their fictional territory and brought out a story that is equally original and engaging.' New York Times 'Espionage oozing from every shadow - writing of a high calibre.' Sunday Express 'Mesmerising.' Sunday Telegraph 'A jewel.' Daily Mail

Product Description
It is 1937, and in the back alleys and glittering salons of night time Europe, war is already underway as the Soviet NKVD and the Nazi Gestapo confront each other in a brilliant duel of espionage. Into the fray comes Andre Szara, foreign correspondent for Pravda and spy.

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars compelling account of claustrophobic pre-war Europe, 23 Jul 1999
By A Customer
Furst is a revelation. He writes leagues ahead of Le Carre, Deighton et al. Furst combines the eloquent first person observations of Deighton's Bernard Sampson and the unrelenting intelligence of Le Carre's George Smiley.

Dark Star is set in pre-war Paris, a Soviet journalist (Andre Szara) fights to stay alive caught between the approaching menace of Nazi Germany and the ruthless savagery of the NKVD. The oppressive atmosphere of uncertainty can almost be felt like a breath of fetid air as you open the book and remains convincing throughout as Furst resists applying the wisdom of hindsight - Szara knows war will happen, but when? It seems certain that Hitler must fight, but who as alliances are shifting and often meaningless?

Szara's efforts to cling to a life (any life) are further complicated as he is used by warring factions in the NKVD who view Szara's inevitable death as an acceptable write off. Szara's friend consoles him with "In [any] work there is competition, alliance, betrayal. Unhappily when an intelligence apparat plays these games, they are equipped with very sharp tools ....... and the level of play can be frightful. A journalist .... will simply be eaten alive."

A man driven by love, anger and desire, trying to survive in a world between competing ideologies that have a savage and feral momentum.

"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you" (Leon Trotsky) best seems to summarise Szara's quiet terror and the reader's compulsion to read on.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Contrived, Flawed and Wonderful, 21 Mar 2002
The woeful tale of Szara, the Polish/Russian journalist, trapped in the intrigues of the intelligence services of Europe prior to WWII is gripping. We feel an imediate empathy with the character as he tries to make sense of the nonsensical, dodging the bullets as he goes.

There is a marvellous Flashman-esque element to this story, wherein the author lands his main character into the most improbable, historically important events leading up to the outbreak of hostilities between Germany and Russia. How he remains alive is of as much a mystery to him as to us, as he is hunted by the world's most devious men. Yet, there is a thin thread of possibility that it may have been possible for him to do so.

It is this thread that pulls us as readers from one unlikely scenario to another as he cheats death time and again. And before you know it you have been convinced that the parallel lives of Stalin and Hitler were inevitable through fate.

I recommend this book to all who enjoy the suspension of reality, with a tinge of historical activity to spice it all up.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably his best one, 24 May 2006
There is something true in saying that all of Furst books are similar, but then again they serve their purpose (high quality entertainment, not literary masterpiece) so well that one does not really mind. In this type of literature, as in Le Carré, one prefers sustained quality rather than novelty. However Dark Star and Night Soldiers differ from the others in that they have some very itneresting historical comments to make. There are two pages in Dark Star where the author goes through the purging of jews from the soviet communist party that are very interesting; how the party went from having a huge jewish presence ("We were in the paradise businnes" as General Bloch, s beautifully penned character, says) to almost none after Stalin took control of things. It is in inserting considerations of these kind (certainly not original) that makes Furst's first books so interesting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many unfinished plotlines
A very unsatisfying 'read'. Book can't seem to make its mind up about which plotline to follow evetually settling for a thin implausible equation linking Hitler and Stalin (I... Read more
Published 6 months ago by John Harpur

4.0 out of 5 stars thrilling but flawed
This is a very good read indeed, which brilliantly evokes the atmosphere, uncertainties, etc. of pre-war Europe. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Trilby

4.0 out of 5 stars A convert
My first 'Alan Furst' and there will be more. Really enjoyed this novel. With complex characters, interesting plot and ambitious but fairly convincing insights into the history... Read more
Published 22 months ago by P. McAllister

2.0 out of 5 stars Bit short on actual plot.....
Alan Furst is a brilliant descriptive writer: He can capture a scene perfectly. When reading his books you are instantly transported to late 1930's Europe with all the sights,... Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2004 by Peter Symonds

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, dark & literary thriller
Alan Furst is a superb writer with a very sure and evocative touch. I have enjoyed all of his books, but Dark Star shines out as the finest. Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2003 by A. Weston

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