The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel (2008 original; edició 2008)

I really had to work my way through this book. If I hadn't been reading it for a class (history of espionage) I don't think I would have made it through. It's not bad, I don't think the genre works for me. ( )

French attaché runs agents in Poland as war approaches

I got a strong sense of the humanity of many of these characters. Mercier with dog-hair covered furniture in his country house. The German Lutheran couple who prayed over it and decided to offer their services to France as spies. The action and intrigue is arrhythmic enough to be real. ( )

The year is 1937 and German-born engineer, Edvard Uhl, finds himself caught up in smuggling German industrial plans relating to armament and arms. Like joining a gang, Edvard is drawn deeper and deeper into the fold. The tightening entanglement causes Uhl to become more and more paranoid about being exposed. But how to get out? This is how The Spies of Warsaw begins but it is not about Edvard. He is just a pawn; one little cog in the world of espionage. The real protagonist is Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, military attaché to the French Embassy. War is eminent and the stakes couldn’t be higher in the struggle for intel. Mercier, familiar with war as a decorated 1914 veteran, must make his moves carefully. One never knows who is counterintelligence and who is an ally. Who is a betrayer? In the midst of the political drama, Furst gives Mercier a love interest. Anna’s role is not to lighten the story but to add another layer of tension and mystery. While the book only covers seven months before World War II, the shadowy sense of place is heavy across Poland, Germany, and France.
As an aside, I particularly liked the train scenes: travelers waiting on the platform with the falling snow and paranoia circling in equal amounts. ( )

Great read. ( )