Blood of Victory : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Good Thriller
Review: This is the most recent espionage novel from Alan Furst. Set in WWII, it concerns the efforts of British Intelligence to impede the flow of Rumanian oil into Germany. As with all of Furst's books, the quality of writing is good, the plot interesting, and his attention to period detail is excellent. This book is clearly superior to most thrillers. Despite these positive features, this book has a major shortcoming. Furst seems to be writing the same book over and over again. The plots and central characters of his books are all relatively similar. It is not fair to say that if you've read one, you've read them all but the repetitive elements are becoming stale.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining formula
Review: To be honest, it seems as if when you have read one Alan Furst novel you have read 'em all -at least as far as period & character development. That being said, I enjoy Furst's novel and look forward to each new variation-on-a-theme that he puts out. Basically this book is another "nouvelle-noire" novel if there is such a thing, populated by characters that Bogart would be type-cast playing if we still had Bogart to play them. The period is the early stages of the Second World War, the characters are all a bit jaded-but-on-the-right-side. If you have seen Casablanca as often as I have, you will feel right at home with the mood. In this particular outing Furst's Ur-heroe is supposedly trying to block the transport of Roumanian Oil (the title subject) to Nazi Germany, but the plot kinda wanders around & by the end one doesn't really care all that much about whether he succeeds or not -I guess that is the best part of a Furst novel, one can simply wallow in period & let the action swirl around one. Overall a pleasant diversion for a rainy afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining formula
Review: To be honest, it seems as if when you have read one Alan Furst novel you have read 'em all -at least as far as period & character development. That being said, I enjoy Furst's novel and look forward to each new variation-on-a-theme that he puts out. Basically this book is another "nouvelle-noire" novel if there is such a thing, populated by characters that Bogart would be type-cast playing if we still had Bogart to play them. The period is the early stages of the Second World War, the characters are all a bit jaded-but-on-the-right-side. If you have seen Casablanca as often as I have, you will feel right at home with the mood. In this particular outing Furst's Ur-heroe is supposedly trying to block the transport of Roumanian Oil (the title subject) to Nazi Germany, but the plot kinda wanders around & by the end one doesn't really care all that much about whether he succeeds or not -I guess that is the best part of a Furst novel, one can simply wallow in period & let the action swirl around one. Overall a pleasant diversion for a rainy afternoon.