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A review by jacki_f
Blood of Victory by Alan Furst
3.0
Alan Furst has written fourteen books set in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. They form the "Night Soldiers" series and while they are loosely inter-connected, each is a standalone novel in its own right. Blood of Victory is set between November 1940-July 1941 and is about a British plot to disrupt the supply of Romanian oil to the Germans. Our hero is Serebin, a writer and journalist, originally from Odessa but now living in Paris.
This book showcases both what is good about Furst's writing and what is not so good. He has a wonderful economical writing style - he can pack more into a short paragraph than almost any other author I know. He creates a world full of richly realised characters and brings the settings to life with telling details. His stories are fictional but they feel real.
However as with so many of his books, the storyline takes a back seat to the characters and settings. There are long periods in this book where you kind of wonder where its going or what is the point of the little story we've got waylaid in. Sometimes, masterfully, he will weave it back in 100 pages down the track, but at other times it's just about creating layers of atmosphere, building up a scene in depth. Generally I like this aspect of his writing but this time round it felt like he'd let it go a little too far. The pace is sluggish and the plot seems murky right up until the final 40 pages, which are densely packed with heart in your mouth action.
This book showcases both what is good about Furst's writing and what is not so good. He has a wonderful economical writing style - he can pack more into a short paragraph than almost any other author I know. He creates a world full of richly realised characters and brings the settings to life with telling details. His stories are fictional but they feel real.
However as with so many of his books, the storyline takes a back seat to the characters and settings. There are long periods in this book where you kind of wonder where its going or what is the point of the little story we've got waylaid in. Sometimes, masterfully, he will weave it back in 100 pages down the track, but at other times it's just about creating layers of atmosphere, building up a scene in depth. Generally I like this aspect of his writing but this time round it felt like he'd let it go a little too far. The pace is sluggish and the plot seems murky right up until the final 40 pages, which are densely packed with heart in your mouth action.