Spies of the Balkans

April 12, 2010
Set in Greece in 1940, this powerful WWII thriller from Furst (The Spies of Warsaw
) focuses on Costa Zannis, a senior Salonika police official known for his honesty and ability to settle matters “before they got out of hand.” As the Nazis’ intentions for Europe’s Jews becomes clear, Zannis goes out of his way to aid refugees seeking to escape Germany. When Mussolini’s troops invade Greece, Zannis joins the army, where he meets Capt. Marko Pavlic, who as a policeman in Zagreb investigated crimes committed by the Ustashi, Croatian fascists. With their similar politics, Zannis and Pavlic soon become friends and allies. Subtle details foreshadow the coming crimes perpetrated by the Nazis in the Balkans. For example, Zannis learns from a colleague that someone has been taking photos of the contents of a synagogue so that the Germans can more easily identify what to plunder. Furst fans will welcome seeing more books set in less familiar parts of Europe.

April 15, 2010
As the Nazi invasion threat looms in Greece, a detective undertakes various secret missions in this latest from the master of European spy fiction.

Furst's 11th novel (The Spies of Warsaw, 2008, etc.) covers the six months between October 1940 and April 1941, when German troops occupied Athens, and is set mostly in the port city of Salonika, an embarkation point for neutral Turkey. Though Greece is ruled by the dictator Metaxas, the Salonika cops have a live-and-let live attitude, personified by their deputy commander, Costa Zannis, Furst's protagonist. The tough but likable Zannis is a Mr. Fix-It with a wide-ranging portfolio. The city is on edge with rumors about German intentions; in an early sequence, Zannis runs a German spy to ground in a warehouse. A bachelor and a ladies man, Zannis's current girlfriend is Roxanne, an English ballet teacher, but naturally he's happy to oblige the"stunning" Emilia Krebs, the Jewish wife of a Wehrmacht officer, who's trying to arrange an escape route for other German Jews. After Mussolini, without Hitler's approval, invades Greece but stumbles, her project advances; Zannis, in the mountains, recruits the anti-Nazi Pavlic, his opposite number in Zagreb. His subsequent trip to Budapest secures another part of Emilia's pipeline. In Salonika, Zannis has a new love interest, exchanging Roxanne (a self-revealed British spy) for Demetria, gorgeous wife of a superrich banker. His attempts to free her from her gilded cage are interrupted by two more missions, these at the behest of the Brits. (Who can refuse Greece's oldest ally?) The first takes him to Paris, to spirit away a top British asset, and the second to Yugoslavia, to assist an anti-German coup d'etat, but these episodes have no cumulative effect, and Zannis's role as a stand-tall hero is undercut twice; in France it's an unidentified deus ex machina who saves the day, while in Yugoslavia he's a bit player.

There's a scattershot quality to this Balkan imbroglio that leaves it a few notches below Furst's best work.

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Starred review from May 15, 2010
In his intense yet subtle way, Furst ("The Spies of Warsaw") takes readers to the Greek city of Salonika (now more commonly known as Thessaloniki) in October 1940, just months before the Germans hoist their occupying flag on the Acropolis the following April. Senior police official Costa Zannis, calm yet passionate in his lusty body and loyal soul, has insinuating ways that lead him to deep and sensitive knowledge that others covet. Just as Fascist Italy starts its attack on Greece, Zannis begins working with confederates in other Balkan cities to shepherd escaping German Jews to safety in Turkey until time runs out for them all. VERDICT With ten novels behind him, Furst has perfected a historical espionage genre that illuminates an ordinary man whom fate has picked for quiet heroism. Furst fans will argue about their favorite books, but the Balkan twists and turns in this masterly triumph of plotting, history, and character development will be a hit this summer. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/15/10.]Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2010
Fursts early WWII espionage novelsThe World at Night (1996) and Red Gold (1999)took place in Paris during the Occupation, but lately he has moved earlier in time, to the wars beginnings, when spies of all stripes, official and unofficial, were gathering information and securing alliances for the conflagration to come. He has also moved to the edges of the European theater, to Poland in Spies of Warsaw (2008) and now to Greece and the Balkans. When this story begins, Greece is at war with Italy, and Costa Zannis, a policeman in the northern Greek port city of Salonika, recently injured in battle, has reported back for duty at his old job. SpiesEnglish, Turkish, Bulgarianare swarming the city, as everyone awaits the Nazi response to the Greek victories over the Italians. Inevitably, Zannis becomes involved in the intrigue, helping to ferry German Jews from Berlin through Greece to neutral Turkey. And, just as inevitably, he falls in loveFurst has always excelled at portraying the way passion blooms while storms gather. There is nothing especially new about this entry in the Furst canon, but the Balkan setting adds another element of tension, as the oft-invaded region faces yet another onslaught. And, once again, Furst captures in brilliant high-definition the roiling, contradictory emotions that flare when in wartime. When somebody takes your country, you help them or you fight them, Zannis friend, Pavlic, a patriot from Zagreb, says. Yes, but Zannis is equally driven by desires to protect his family and claim a separate peace for himself and his lover. On that delicate psychological fault line, Furst has carved a fabulous career.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)