The Polish Officer

Alan Furst

This one is kind of realistic spy fiction. It's set during WW1, and the hero starts in Poland, and moves west as the Germans moved west, ending up in France. The hero is Polish, hence the name of the book :-), and he becomes a spy for the Polish government-in-exile. It's a realistic portrayal of what I'd expect a spy to do during wartimes, not the heroic, derring-do of James Bond, but more prosaic yet no less dangerous work. I was impressed by how grim the wartimes was portrayed to be. The narrative is also sometimes understated. The author doesn't connect all the dots for you, usually he sets up the scene, and lets you imagine the rest. I like that. However, I felt that the hero was just a little distant, and I couldn't quite connect with him. But perhaps it is what the author meant to portray, perhaps the character himself was trying to disconnect himself from the rest of the world. Anyway, ... Harry, I think you might enjoy this, mainly because you like Robert Harris's stuff. He's written other books too, mostly connected with the war, and I think I may pick another one of his work.