As an espionage writer, Furst excels at capturing characters' emotions, and the atmosphere in which they are acting. As the action progresses from country to country, and year to year (1934-1945), each milieu has its own distinctive personality, geography and history. The overall theme is the protagonist's attempt to maintain his integrity in a world gone mad. There is a certain amount of contrivance in the plot, but the reader does not mind. Faye Berns was a fine secondary character, as was Sascha. Having read other Furst novels I was already familiar with the insanity of the Russian spy system and Stalin's government; I found the take on pre-WWII political life in a small village in Bulgaria especially enlightening.

This is not just a great spy novel, but a great novel, period. The reader follows Khristo Stoianev on his odyssey through his recruitment by the NKVD, his work for the Soviets in the Spanish Civil War, fighting alongside the French resistance in WWII, and much more. Furst pays great attention to period detail and backs that up with great writing. I was especially impressed by his knowledge of NKVD tradecraft in the 1930's.

Furst is one of those writers who makes every passage worth savoring. The prosaic descriptions of the minor events make this a great read. The fascinating subject matter of the eastern european perspective on the period leading up to, and during world war II make for a great story. We're carried through an extraorinary range of experiences in this book, but it never feels implausible.

As dry as the best of John Le Carre, Furst's spy and adventure tale focuses on the swelter of southeastern European borders whose twisted distant pasts and not so distant outbursts of violence have shaped the history of the world. Modern superpowers of the West have marginalized this region to their peril, and Furst does an excellent job capturing the spirits of ethnicity and nationality that arise from land and drive its spirit and soul.

Bulgarian Khristo Stoianev is recruited into the Russian spy service in 1934, grieving for a dead brother and leaving a family he would never see or communicate with again. Furst places Stoianev at the center of the hotspots of Europe in this volatile period between the two world conflicts of the 20th century--Spain during its internal test run for the alliances and military technologies that would shape the 2nd world conflict to come, Paris in the frantically vibrant and violent days before the outbreak of the war and the German occupation, at the founding of the American spy network in Europe as the fledgling CIA (then the OSS) was openly combating its German enemy but struggling with the rules and rightness of targeting its Russian allies, and finally back in the Balkans where the Germans were being pushed back toward their homeland while the distant Russian Soviet leadership was forging the iron bonds that would contain the region for the next half-century. This writer's conceit both propels the dramatic story (stories about stay-at-home Bulgarian World War II freedom fighters being pretty much a non-starter on bookstore and library shelves) and enables Furst to use his dramatic skills to draw these grand historical conflicts and characters into reader's hands in a highly-readable story.

Furst's stoic style and skill at compact descriptive writing keeps the story moving and the reader engaged. In the end, however, while Stoianev remains a hero of character and stays true to his character, I was left with the thought that in light of subsequent history his sacrifices and (ultimately his story) amounted to little. Perhaps in Furst's mind (as in, for example Le Carre's The Spy Who Came In from the Cold) this is the message of what is left of the horror shows of the 20th century--while the problems of one little person (or three) don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, one can only do what one can with personal integrity and diligent effort and leave the results to history.

An interesting study in comparison and contrast might be William T. Vollman's Europe Central, where the abilities and actions of the leaders and elites also seem to amount to nothing against the collapse of civilization in Germany and Russia in those turbulent times.

I've read and own quite a lot of Furst books and this one was my favorite. I was truly captivated by the story and had a hard time putting the book down. A good story coupled with real history make this book a winner.

I managed about 120 pages of this book before I gave up. Pretty slow start. Historical fiction is my favorite genre but just could not get my arms around this one. Writing seemed very stilted to me. I am really surprised at the high ratings.

This was my "first" Furst novel. Given to me as a gift several years ago, it worked its way to the top of my read "stack." What a pleasant surprise! An excellent novel. A great spy story, with characters that are interesting and nicely developed. I would highly recommend it. But be forewarned that it helps, greatly, to have some knowledge of 1930's Europe and the war-before-the-war among fascism, communism, and democracy. It will add a lot to enjoyment of the book. A friend knew virtually nothing of the era and put the book down after reading only the first chapter.

The author writes very authoritatively and realisticially about events leading up to WWII beginning in 1934 and continuing till the end of the war. The main character was Khristo Stoianev, a young Bulgarian whose younger brother was murdered by a group of local fascists. Khristo was recruited into the NKVD and subsequently sent to Spain as an agent. He began to become disillusioned with Soviet politics and moved to Paris to try to live a normal life as a waiter. But, once involved in espionage it's not easy to break away. He was imprisioned as a result of a purge. But released by a Priest. He was thus free to return to his homeland and attempt along the way to cause problems for both the Germans and Russians. The key message I got from the interesting read was how the original idealism faded away with reality. A worthwhile read.

Based on the good reviews from Amazon readers, I was really looking forward to this novel. Unfortunately, it is very long winded and boring. I resorted to skimming the text just to get through with the book.

Alan Furst's Night Soldiers, takes us first to 1934 Bulgaria, where 19-year-old Khristo Stoianev witnesses his younger brother being beaten to death by local fascists simply for being a smart-aleck. As a result, Khristo allows himself to be recruited to go to Moscow and train with the NKVD, the Soviet spy service.

Though intelligent and thoughtful, Khristo has almost no real power over his own life. Instead, he is buffeted through the conflicts of his time, serving the Soviet cause in the Spanish Civil War, struggling to find love and dignity in pre-war Paris, and surrendering to the inevitability of fighting the Germans as part of the French Resistance. Finally taking a gamble on the meaning of friendship and his past, he journeys through the heart of eastern Europe to help an old friend and perhaps regain his own humanity.

Night Soldiers is episodic in plot, with each episode in Khristo's life only loosely linked to that which came before. Through no fault of his own, Khristo seldom drives the events of the story, and is instead often the victim of the unseen forces of history. The book's central weakness is that the many people who touch Khristo's life are not nearly as well defined as they should be, robbing the story of some of the emotional impact that it could have had.

Yet Night Soldiers is a superior book. I'm not familiar enough with the period to know whether Furst made any historical boo-boos, but I doubt it. I felt deeply immersed in the real history and geography in each of the many different settings of the novel; I feel that if I traveled the Danube on a tugboat, I would see the shining mountains, river flotsam, and fishing villages at each turn of the river just as Khristo sees them on his final epic journey.

More importantly, Night Soldiers is deeply satisfying as a human drama. The exciting thriller aspects are certainly present, but they're secondary to the re-creation of one man's life emeshed in the great historical forces of the 20th century. Khristo seems real, one small human who finally stops trying to tell the good guys from the bad guys and simply puts it all on the line to be a decent human being.

Alan Furst's Night Soldiers, takes us first to 1934 Bulgaria, where 19-year-old Khristo Stoianev witnesses his younger brother being beaten to death by local fascists simply for being a smart-aleck. As a result, Khristo allows himself to be recruited to go to Moscow and train with the NKVD, the Soviet spy service.

Though intelligent and thoughtful, Khristo has almost no real power over his own life. Instead, he is buffeted through the conflicts of his time, serving the Soviet cause in the Spanish Civil War, struggling to find love and dignity in pre-war Paris, and surrendering to the inevitability of fighting the Germans as part of the French Resistance. Finally taking a gamble on the meaning of friendship and his past, he journeys through the heart of eastern Europe to help an old friend and perhaps regain his own humanity.

Night Soldiers is episodic in plot, with each episode in Khristo's life only loosely linked to that which came before. Through no fault of his own, Khristo seldom drives the events of the story, and is instead often the victim of the unseen forces of history. The book's central weakness is that the many people who touch Khristo's life are not nearly as well defined as they should be, robbing the story of some of the emotional impact that it could have had.

Yet Night Soldiers is a superior book. I'm not familiar enough with the period to know whether Furst made any historical boo-boos, but I doubt it. I felt deeply immersed in the real history and geography in each of the many different settings of the novel; I feel that if I traveled the Danube on a tugboat, I would see the shining mountains, river flotsam, and fishing villages at each turn of the river just as Khristo sees them on his final epic journey.

More importantly, Night Soldiers is deeply satisfying as a human drama. The exciting thriller aspects are certainly present, but they're secondary to the re-creation of one man's life emeshed in the great historical forces of the 20th century. Khristo seems real, one small human who finally stops trying to tell the good guys from the bad guys and simply puts it all on the line to be a decent human being.

The first in Alan Furst's series of novels about ordinary people caught up in intrigues and espionage before and during WWII, NIGHT SOLDIERS is one of the longest of these books and often characterized as one of the best. The canvas is truly immense, encompassing village life in Bulgaria, France, and Bessarabia, not to mention Moscow, Seville, Madrid, Paris, New York, Prague, Budapest, and even life along the Danube. At the same time, Furst's command of fine historical and character detail is precise and thorough; it seems literally incredible that he knows so much about so many countries during a time in which he never lived. There are times when the novel becomes as berserk as a Hieronymous Bosch painting, given that there's not much really to tie everything together other than the central character of Khristo Stoiaev, a Bulgarian recruited to spy for the NKVD, the Maquis, and finally the OSS; the early sequences involving Khristo's training in the USSR are a bit dreary, and the final sequence along the Danube does seem to wear on quite a bit. The middle sections of the novel in revolutionary Spain, Paris on the eve of invasion, and the French countryside during the Occupation are absolutely engrossing, however, making the novel as a whole difficult to put down. I recommend this especially for readers interested in what it was like for non-military combatants to survive the second World War.