Rating: 
Summary: Atmoshphere Extraordinaire
Review: Dark Star is an enjoyable read and simply seeths with the atmosphere of late 1930's Europe as Hitler's Germany militarized and ultimately mobilized east through Poland and then west. The descriptions of Paris are fabulous and could only have come from someone who has lived in the city of light. Scenes in pre-war Berlin and Poland during Germany's attack give a real picture to the history. Worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Atmoshphere Extraordinaire
Review: Dark Star is an enjoyable read and simply seeths with the atmosphere of late 1930's Europe as Hitler's Germany militarized and ultimately mobilized east through Poland and then west. The descriptions of Paris are fabulous and could only have come from someone who has lived in the city of light. Scenes in pre-war Berlin and Poland during Germany's attack give a real picture to the history. Worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: WWII intrique set against the horror of the Stalinist Purges
Review: Dark Star is the follow up novel the Furst's Night Soldiers. Like Night Soldiers and all of Furst's recent novels, Dark Star takes place in and around WWII Europe. Like all of Furst's later novels, Dark Star wanders its way into Paris at some point. There is at least one common character from Night Soldiers, although seen from a completely different point of view, and another character from this book will appear the Polish Officer.
Dark Star tells the story of Andre Szara, a Polish Jew working as a correspondent for Pravda. Of course, Szara is much more than a journalist but is also pressed into service for the NKVD. Szara eventually runs a Soviet spy network in Paris, and 'controls' a Jewish German industrialist turned agent for Moscow. This is the simple version of the story... Szara's story is in fact a human story set against the horror of the purges. People drop around Szara, be it from Stalin or from Kristalnacht.
Furst also uses Szara as a personal foil against which to paint Stalin's guilt in general. Stalin is shown to be as much a partner or twin of Hitler than an innocent victim. Well, a lot of this is established history... the purges are painted as an anti-semitic pogrom, a way to clear the intelligentsia and Soviet government of Jews. In this, I think Furst is stretching. Sure, a lot of the Bolsheviks were Jews, and most of them died in the purges, but they had a lot of company. I think this is trying to paint order on something that was in fact largely random and arbitrary, except for a very small percentage of individuals.
In any case, Dark Star is not pretending to be a history book but instead a historical novel set against the backdrop of WWII. In this, the book succeeds. Furst does what he does best: he drops the reader head first into a highly detailed version of Europe on the eve of war... of the fear and horror of Hitler and Stalin.
Rating:
Summary: Reveals Europe's heart of darkness in 1930s. Soviet crimes
Review: Dark Star is the tale of a disenchanted, world weary, jewish poet and reporter who works for the communist, soviet controlled publication Prada. This novel occurs during the height of Stalin's purges, 1937 to 1938, and maintains a high level of suspense. Furst is the absolute master of creating atmosphere altough his plots can be confusing. This is because usually the main character in the novel, from whose eyes the reader sees the world, has no idea what is going on either. Furst does a spectacular job of transmiting the political horror of the times to the reader. Eastern Europe during this time is trapped between two evil tyrants and their respective evil empires, Stalin and the Soviet Union and Hitler and Nazi Germany. A backdrop of hopelessness and perverted idealism contribute to a gritty tale of a nightmare world slowly but surely sliding toward the greatest war of all time and the holocaust. Andre Sarza, is but a little man, literally and figurtaivly, in this huge epic drama of powerplays and intrigue but he can and does make a difference. Although he is trapped in the Soviet Union he despises Stalin and his "communist" regime. But Nazi Germany seems an even worse alternative. Eventually Szarsa starts to make alliances with others who see the disastouros course that Europe is on and wish to prevent the triumpth of of totilteranism. A tour de force of Europe on the eve of World War 2 that takes the reader to Moscow, Berlin, Paris, and other european cities. Szarsa leads a triple life that multiplies the danger he faces. He is danger becasue he is a Soviet citizen during a time when Soviet citizens are being rounded up, imprisoned and or executed as traitors with no evidence required. Szarza is also in danger because he is a Jew at a time when anti-semitism was evolving from a primitive hatred to becoming the primary political philosophy of much of Europe. Finally, Szarsa is in danger because he is spy who is helping others to fight for what is right. This novel starts out slow but picks up speed and finishes strong. In a world where it is wise never to trust anyone Szarsa has no choice but to trust some of the people he encounters in a brave but futile effort to stave off the worst disaster in human history.
Rating: 
Summary: Shining Star !
Review: For the history lover, a book by Furst satisfies like a lemonade on the 4th of July. In addition to bringing the WW ll era into focus, he is also able to paint, with detail, a motly crew of characters that really flesh out the sense of being in the " powder keg" that was Europe, in 1939.
After a few chapters, thanks to Furst's penchant for details, the reader can feel the texture of the crumbs on the bistro table , he describes.
It was a fabulous read, evoking many emotions.
Rating:
Summary: One of the 3 best spy novels I've read
Review: Furst has a fluid, evocative style, and right from the start you're submerged into the dark paranoia of a pre-WWII Russian. This isn't airport fiction and it isn't a "mood piece." it's the careful and fascinating unraveling of a mystery surrounding Josef Stalin's past, as well as a tale of a man trying to evade his fate. Some of the sections (the description of the lost soldier's bag and its contents, the escape across the Polish countryside after Sep 1 1939) are the best of their kind. Along with Deighton's "Funeral in Berlin" and Le Carre's "Spy who Came in from the Cold" it is one of the finest spy novels I've read.
Rating:
Summary: A real find!
Review: Furst has done an incredible job of bringing pre-war Europe alive.His attention to historical detail is astonishing. And this story is absolutely gripping and will not disappoint anyone that enjoys good narrative and finely crafted story telling
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful insight into the mind of the 1930s
Review: Furst's recreation of the mind of a Soviet citizen going through the Stalinist purges while operating as a KGB spy in France, Germany, and Poland is an astounding achievement. Beautifully written, the book is remarkable for its ability to create three dimensions of even minor characters. I have reread it with pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read...hard to believe it's fiction!
Review: I bought this book after reading the various reviews listed here. I was captured by it on the first page, and could only put it down reluctantly. The fact that Alan Furst used real historical facts to weave the plot of this book made it a winner with me. There was only one part of the book that ran rather slowly, but all in all, I rate this book at the top along with the "Smiley" trilogy from John LeCarre. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A truly remarkable reading experience.
Review: I don't know how I missed this when it came out. It is as good, if not better than any other spy novel that I've read over the past 20 years.
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