Jonathan Arnold reviewed The Polish officer by Alan Furst
Review of 'The Polish officer' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The Polish Officer is the third book written by [a:Alan Furst|49941|Alan Furst|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1226085973p2/49941.jpg] in the Night Soldiers series of, currently, 12 books. It's not a real series, in that there isn't a main character that stars in each book. In this case, the connection is the milieu - the 1930s and 40s in war ravaged Europe, each featuring a spy or intelligence officer fighting the good fight.
This is my third book in the series and features Captain Alexander de Milja, an officer in the Polish Army who is recruited by the underground as the Nazi Blitzkrieg rages across Europe. His first mission is to see the Polish national gold reserve safely into Hungary. Then he goes off to Paris, where soon the Nazis arrive and he works diligently behind the scenes to create as much havoc for the war machine as he can. Then it is off to the Ukraine, …
The Polish Officer is the third book written by [a:Alan Furst|49941|Alan Furst|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1226085973p2/49941.jpg] in the Night Soldiers series of, currently, 12 books. It's not a real series, in that there isn't a main character that stars in each book. In this case, the connection is the milieu - the 1930s and 40s in war ravaged Europe, each featuring a spy or intelligence officer fighting the good fight.
This is my third book in the series and features Captain Alexander de Milja, an officer in the Polish Army who is recruited by the underground as the Nazi Blitzkrieg rages across Europe. His first mission is to see the Polish national gold reserve safely into Hungary. Then he goes off to Paris, where soon the Nazis arrive and he works diligently behind the scenes to create as much havoc for the war machine as he can. Then it is off to the Ukraine, again just ahead of the Nazis as they invade Russia. Here he once again works behind the lines during the brutal winter, rescuing prisoners and trying to stay one step ahead of the counter intelligence.
The writing in these books is uniformly wonderful. There are many brilliant turns of phrase and you really get wrapped up in the environment of betrayal, treachery and selfish sacrifice. de Milja tries to maintain a grip on his humanity yet feels it slipping away, wondering if, when the war should finally end, he will ever feel again. Relationships are fierce and brief, often ending in death. A cold cruel world, to be sure.
It didn't feel quite as disjointed as [b:Spies of the Balkans|7440139|Spies of the Balkans (Night Soldiers, #11)|Alan Furst|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320471796s/7440139.jpg|9446079], but not quite as good a story as [b:The Spies of Warsaw|2294328|The Spies of Warsaw (Night Soldiers, #10)|Alan Furst|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320510011s/2294328.jpg|2300636]. There were some really intense moments, but the narration was still a bit distant, maybe reflecting de Milja's internal detachment. But I still enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to more readings in the series.
