Dark Star

March 4, 1991
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.

In this involving novel of espionage and intrigue, Furst is in familiar territory: middle-Europe in the late 1930s and early '40s. Andre Szara, a Polish-born Russian Jew writing for Pravda from Paris, becomes a Russian spy working against Germany. Witness to German aggression in Poland and to Russian complicity in the persecution of Jews, Szara finds himself in increasingly dangerous circumstances. He struggles to stay alive, while trying to understand the maelstrom around him. George Guidall, who has read all of Furst's novels for Recorded Books, delivers an outstanding performance. His mastery of multiple foreign accents seems limitless, and he handles female voices exceptionally well. His nuanced pacing and changes of tone heighten the action and characters' emotions without overdramatization. This is an example of all-around audio excellence. R.E.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine