A Friday Look at the Spy / Thriller Genre

Friday started off cloudy, but nice for my morning walk. I treated Jo and I to our first Tim Horton's breakfast in ages. It was nice. 

OK, before I get to my ongoing look at the Spy / Thriller genre, I want to rant a bit. I've been amazed and frustrated at the large numbers of people who don't seem to want to wear masks during this pandemic. When I shop there are usually about half who don't bother. Now, having said that, in our district, there have been few reported instances of Covid. We seem to be handling the whole thing fairly responsibly in British Columbia. Will that continue as things start opening up? Who knows.

I've watched quite closely what's been happening to our southern neighbors. At first it seemed that for the most part, especially in New York and California and other states, that people took this responsibility quite responsibly. But while this was going on, you had the purported leader of the free world and his administration refusing to do so. In fact, trump makes a point of saying he won't and going to events without wearing them and encouraging everyone around to not do so. After his failed rally in Tulsa, dozens of Secret Service agents and White House staffers have had to self-isolate because they contracted the disease. But that doesn't matter to Trump. And his idiotic followers (sorry, but what else can you call them?) make it a rallying cry. It's an affront to their freedoms to make them wear a mask!!

Good heavens! It's not a complicated matter. Personally, I will say that back in the day, pre-Covid, when I would travel and see people at airports wearing masks, I thought it was kind of silly. But these people were right. With Covid, it's become so much more important. I don't like wearing a mask. It fogs my glasses up. But that's a minor inconvenience. It's about being respectful of everyone around you, not about yourself. It keeps you from passing Covid on.

I was watching a hearing in Florida. Person after person came to the podium demanding their right to not wear a mask, or saying it was illegal to mandate mask wearing or to threaten health experts for daring to tell them that wearing masks saves lives. The sheer stupidity of these people. Do they still smoke in restaurants since it's been mandated not to? Do they still drink and drive since it's been mandated not to? These laws were put in place to save people, not to inconvenience people. That's what mask wearing laws  are for. It's this whole, science is bad, education is bad, I'm dumb and proud of it attitude that permeates Trump's base that makes me shake my head. Anyway, now I'm starting to ramble.

Oh wait, one last thing. This is for my Canadian government. If you want to encourage people to wear masks, if you're not going to mandate it, send masks to your citizens. Start with those most at risk, the elderly or those with medical conditions. They can be distributed from doctor's offices, or local governments or just mailed to them. The expense is a small investment in your citizens' health. Think about it anyway. (Ed note: I think I'll email to pass on my idea.. 😄 

Basically, please wear a mask. It's to respect and keep people around you and people you care about safe!

WEAR A MASK!

OK, now on to my ongoing look at the Spy / Thriller genre. This will be a quick one; one author, one book.

The Spy / Thriller Genre - Jason Matthews

Jason Matthews

Jason Matthews, born in 1951, worked previously for the CIA and is author of the Red Sparrow trilogy. The first book was turned into a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence in 2018. I have read the first book thus far. My review below.

1. Red Sparrow (2013).

"Red Sparrow is a spy thriller by ex-CIA officer Jason  Matthews and the first book in series of 3 books (so far anyway).

Dominicka Egorova is a Russian ballerina whose career comes to a crashing end when a jealous competitor shatters her leg. Dominicka manages to get a job with the Russian SVR (the new KGB) with some help from her uncle who is a senior member of the organization. After an incident involving a French bureaucrat in Moscow, she is sent to Sparrow school, to learn to become a seductress so she can blackmail foreign diplomats.

Nate Nash is a CIA operative working in Moscow. His big job is being the contact for a major Russian mole, code name MARBLE. After a close call during one meeting when Russian SVR agents almost capture MARBLE, Nash is sent to another assignment in Helsinki, Finland.

Because of this, the two protagonist's paths will now cross. Dominicka is sent to Helsinki to try and find out from Nate who the mole is. She will use all of her training to find out. This begins a fascinating story of spycraft, political intrigue, with an excellent exploration of the internal workings of both the US and Russian intelligence agencies.

The spycraft itself, the following of agents without their awareness, the counter-measures, the information drops. The story is a slow burn but as it progresses you find yourself drawn more and more into the activities. I liked the use by the CIA of retired agents, seemingly harmless elders to monitor and track enemy agents. It's so very interesting.

There is of course a budding romance between Nate and Dominicka. There is constant tension. Will they be caught, with the Russians succeed in their efforts to discover MARBLE? The story moves from Moscow, to Helsinki, to DC, to Greece, etc. Great characters and a great suspenseful story.

There were little things I enjoyed as well. Dominicka has a quality where she sees emotions as colors which makes it interesting as she observes those around her. At the end of each chapter there is a recipe of one of the particular meals that the characters enjoy in that chapter. So even some culinary goodness for you. While it was a slow burn, all in all an excellent story. Looking forward to the 2nd book. (4 stars)"

The complete list of Matthews' books can be found at this link. Enjoy your weekend. Wear a mask, wash your hands and stay safe.

A Reading Update & The Spy Novel Continued

I finally found a store with masks for sale yesterday. It made me feel much safer even if my glasses fogged up. So I kind of walked around blindly, putting glasses on when I needed to read labels.. lol

Yesterday I finished my fifth book of May. I'll update that and provide the synopsis for the next book in line. I'll also continue with my ongoing look at the Spy / Thriller novel, this time focused on WWII.

Just Finished

1. Daughter of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (Fu Manchu #4).

"Daughter of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer is the 4th book in Rohmer's Fu Manchu thriller / fantasy series. I've probably said this before when discussing the other books I've read, but it reminds me of my days of attending Saturday matinees at the cinema when my dad ran the theater. He always started off the movie with the 15 minute serial, some adventure that always ended with the hero facing a cliff hanger and making you go back the next Saturday to see how it would all come out in the wash.

Daughter of Fu Manchu is the literary equivalent of this serial. Each chapter is a mini-serial with the hero Naylan Smith and his friends, Inspector Weymouth of Scotland Yard, Dr. Petrie and archeologist Shan Greville battling with their enemies the Si Fan, lead by Fu Manchu's daughter, Fa Lo Suee. She has taken over this evil organization after her father was defeated (died) in previous book. The story starts at an archeological dig in Egypt where Shan works for Sir Lionel Barton. Barton has collapsed and Shan is rushing to Luxor to find Dr Petrie who may have a potion to cure Barton. Upon his return with Petrie and Weymouth, they discover Barton's body missing.

An investigation of the dig, especially the Tomb of the Black Ape turns up Barton and a dead Dacoit. The tomb has been ransacked and items removed, items that might be of import to the Si Fan in their plans to create an evil Eastern empire in Russia, including China and Turkey, etc. The hunt for this group will lead them to an encounter with the Si Fan in a house north of the dig, where Smith and Shan will be endangered. It's a steady theme as the story moves from Egypt to London. The battle is interminable with Naylan Smith and his friends always seeming to be a step behind, but at the same time, seeming to the tide before disaster strikes.

It's a non-stop action - filled story and somewhat confusing as it jumps from location to location. But always entertaining and with a nice surprise at the end. I'm enjoying reading this series and have a few more on my book shelf still to enjoy. (3 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. Kat's Cradle by Karen Kijewski (Kat Colorado #3).

"She's a hard-boiled Sacramento P.I. with a soft spot for the unlucky, the unloved, and one special cop named Hank. Her name is Kat Colorado and in  her line of business curiosity can be more than an occupational hazard -- it can be  murder.

She said her name was Paige Morrell and she came to Kat Colorado hoping to untangle the twisted mystery of her past. She was a twenty-one-year-old "orphan," a poor little rich girl on the verge of inheriting a wealthy old river estate -- and some very nasty surprises. But when Kat set out to solve the case, she found herself following a thread of lies, greed and deceit that led straight to the corpse of a key source to Paige's past.  Now the Sacramento private eye was about to learn that in the California Delta some family secrets were better left buried . . . because uncovering  them could be murder."

The Spy / Thriller Novel

Alan Furst

1. Alan Furst (Night Soldiers). Alan Furst was born in New York City in 1941. He is best known for his war / spy series, the Night Soldiers. The novels are pretty well standalones and are set during WWII and feature those people who worked at night, in the shadows, to hinder and stop the Nazi war effort. They were the untold heroes and heroines who worked behind enemy lines, helping people escape, hindering the war machine, risking their lives, etc. Since 1988, there have been 15 novels in the series and I've read 3 so far and have another 5 or so sitting on my book shelf.

a. Night Soldiers (#1 / 1988).











"This is the second of Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series that I've read; the first being Spies of the Balkan, which really grabbed my attention. Night Soldiers is the first book and features Bulgarian Khristo Stoianev, who is recruited by the Russian NKVD in 1933 after the murder of his brother by Bulgarian fascists. 

The story moves to Russia, through the Spanish civil war and around Europe as WWII progresses. I enjoy how Furst develops characters and portrays Europe in the pre-war and during the actual war. His characters wander through momentous times and in their small way, as they deal with the events around them, provide heroic actions. The feel of the time really comes through, from the desperation, the way people manage to live on. I also enjoy the aspects of the story dealing with spying, the training of the NKVD, the OSS, the actual activities, passing of messages, communication, etc. All around a fascinating book. (3 stars)"

b. The Polish Officer (#3 / 1995).
 
"This is one of my favourite series, the Night Soldiers, by Alan Furst. Each story features a different person, but the underlying theme is one of heroism in the face of the onrush of Nazi tyranny, usually set during the period 1939 to the end of the war.

This book, as the title says, is about a Polish officer, a cartographer by profession, who, with the Nazi invasion of Poland, becomes a spy for the Polish intelligence service. His missions take him to Romania, France and ultimately back home. He finds himself and his friends in dangerous, life-threatening situations as he works amongst the Nazi army, trying to gather information useful to the war effort; helping prevent the invasion of England and other things.

I like how these people are thrust into these roles, generally accept them without question, and, ultimately, perform such heroic actions. The portrayal of the characters and the tenseness and seeming hopelessness of the period is so very well drawn. Excellent series so far. I highly recommend. (4 stars)"

c. Kingdom of Shadows (#6 / 2000).



"In spymaster Alan Furst's most electrifying thriller to date, Hungarian aristocrat Nicholas Morath becomes embroiled in a daring and perilous effort to halt the Nazi war machine in eastern Europe."

d. Blood of Victory (#7 / 2003).











"'In 1939, as the armies of Europe mobilized for war, the British secret services undertook operations to impede the exportation of Romanian oil to Germany. They failed.
 
Then, in the autumn of 1940, they tried again.'

So begins Blood of Victory, a novel rich with suspense, historical insight, and the powerful narrative immediacy we have come to expect from bestselling author Alan Furst. The book takes its title from a speech given by a French senator at a conference on petroleum in 1918: “Oil,” he said, “the blood of the earth, has become, in time of war, the blood of victory.”

November 1940. The Russian writer I. A. Serebin arrives in Istanbul by Black Sea freighter. Although he travels on behalf of an émigré organization based in Paris, he is in flight from a dying and corrupt Europe—specifically, from Nazi-occupied France. Serebin finds himself facing his fifth war, but this time he is an exile, a man without a country, and there is no army to join. Still, in the words of Leon Trotsky, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” Serebin is recruited for an operation run by Count Janos Polanyi, a Hungarian master spy now working for the British secret services.

The battle to cut Germany’s oil supply rages through the spy haunts of the Balkans; from the Athenée Palace in Bucharest to a whorehouse in Izmir; from an elegant yacht club in Istanbul to the river docks of Belgrade; from a skating pond in St. Moritz to the fogbound banks of the Danube; in sleazy nightclubs and safe houses and nameless hotels; amid the street fighting of a fascist civil war."

e. The Foreign Correspondent (#9 / 2006).

"From Alan Furst, whom The New York Times calls “America’s preeminent spy novelist,” comes an epic story of romantic love, love of country, and love of freedom–the story of a secret war fought in elegant hotel bars and first-class railway cars, in the mountains of Spain and the backstreets of Berlin. It is an inspiring, thrilling saga of everyday people forced by their hearts’ passion to fight in the war against tyranny.

By 1938, hundreds of Italian intellectuals, lawyers and journalists, university professors and scientists had escaped Mussolini’s fascist government and taken refuge in Paris. There, amid the struggles of émigré life, they founded an Italian resistance, with an underground press that smuggled news and encouragement back to Italy. Fighting fascism with typewriters, they produced 512 clandestine newspapers. The Foreign Correspondent is their story.

Paris, a winter night in 1938: a murder/suicide at a discreet lovers’ hotel. But this is no romantic tragedy–it is the work of the OVRA, Mussolini’s fascist secret police, and is meant to eliminate the editor of Liberazione, a clandestine émigré newspaper. Carlo Weisz, who has fled from Trieste and secured a job as a foreign correspondent with the Reuters bureau, becomes the new editor.
Weisz is, at that moment, in Spain, reporting on the last campaign of the Spanish civil war. But as soon as he returns to Paris, he is pursued by the French Sûreté, by agents of the OVRA, and by officers of the British Secret Intelligence Service. In the desperate politics of Europe on the edge of war, a foreign correspondent is a pawn, worth surveillance, or blackmail, or murder.

The Foreign Correspondent is the story of Carlo Weisz and a handful of antifascists: the army officer known as “Colonel Ferrara,” who fights for a lost cause in Spain; Arturo Salamone, the shrewd leader of a resistance group in Paris; and Christa von Schirren, the woman who becomes the love of Weisz’s life, herself involved in a doomed resistance underground in Berlin."

f. Spies of the Balkans (#11 / 2010).











"I loved this book and couldn't put it down. I bought it by chance, saw the cover, it looked interesting, read the synopsis; it sounded like a story I might like. I was right; it was great! A historical spy novel set in Greece 1940 as Greece and the Balkans prepare for the Nazi invasion. The main character is Costa Zannis, a police official who by accident almost becomes involved in working an escape route from Berlin to Salonika. He is heroic in an understated way, his friends as well. The story is so matter of fact but at the same time very exciting. Extremely well-written, it will draw you in, make you wait impatiently to see what happens next. I will definitely be reading more Alan Furst. (5 stars)"

g. Mission to Paris (#12 / 2012).

"Late summer, 1938. Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie. The Nazis know he’s coming—a secret bureau within the Reich has been waging political warfare against France, and for their purposes, Fredric Stahl is a perfect agent of influence. What they don’t know is that Stahl, horrified by the Nazi war on Jews and intellectuals, has become part of an informal spy service run out of the American embassy. Mission to Paris is filled with heart-stopping tension, beautifully drawn scenes of romance, and extraordinarily alive characters: foreign assassins; a glamorous Russian actress-turned-spy; and the women in Stahl’s life. At the center of the novel is the city of Paris—its bistros, hotels grand and anonymous, and the Parisians, living every night as though it were their last. Alan Furst brings to life both a dark time in history and the passion of the human hearts that fought to survive it."

h. Midnight in Europe (#13 / 2014).











"Paris, 1938. As the shadow of war darkens Europe, democratic forces on the Continent struggle against fascism and communism, while in Spain the war has already begun. Alan Furst, whom Vince Flynn has called “the most talented espionage novelist of our generation,” now gives us a taut, suspenseful, romantic, and richly rendered novel of spies and secret operatives in Paris and New York, in Warsaw and Odessa, on the eve of World War II.

Cristián Ferrar, a brilliant and handsome Spanish émigré, is a lawyer in the Paris office of a prestigious international law firm. Ferrar is approached by the embassy of the Spanish Republic and asked to help a clandestine agency trying desperately to supply weapons to the Republic’s beleaguered army—an effort that puts his life at risk in the battle against fascism.

Joining Ferrar in this mission is a group of unlikely men and women: idealists and gangsters, arms traders and aristocrats and spies. From shady Paris nightclubs to white-shoe New York law firms, from brothels in Istanbul to the dockyards of Poland, Ferrar and his allies battle the secret agents of Hitler and Franco. And what allies they are: there’s Max de Lyon, a former arms merchant now hunted by the Gestapo; the Marquesa Maria Cristina, a beautiful aristocrat with a taste for danger; and the Macedonian Stavros, who grew up “fighting Bulgarian bandits. After that, being a gangster was easy.” Then there is Eileen Moore, the American woman Ferrar could never forget."

So there you go. The complete listing of Alan Furst's novels can be found at this link.

Pandemic Activities Post

Bonnie and Clyde interested in the goings-on

Things to do during the Pandemic (Part 1)
 
Tomorrow I'll be getting back to my look at the Spy / Thriller genre. I just wanted to do a quick post tonight about my new haircut. Yup, that's it. It was my first haircut since we were told to social distance. Of course, I didn't go to a barbershop because, of course, they are still closed. Hence my post about a seemingly trivial subject. My lovely wife Jo volunteered to do the work so we set up out on the deck with the puppies as interested spectators.

Front before

My hair was really getting on my nerves. I have been playing with my sideburns almost steadily (previously I'd mentioned my sideburns reminded me of Isaac Asimov)

Front after

So Jo went to it with a pair of scissors and a comb while we sat out on the deck in the sunshine. (It did try to rain once or twice).

Side before

I only winced once or twice as she was quite enthusiastic; hair was flying every which way. Have you ever seen Edward Scissorhands? (Just kidding)

Side after

Her aim was find my inner Gibbs (Mark Harmon on CSI if you weren't aware) (Ed Note: As Jo pointed out to me this morning, Harmon is in NCIS. *sigh* I blame error on the fact we were watching CSI reruns). I think she succeeded, don't you? 😋

Back before

When my hair gets too long, it gets quite thick at the back and uncomfortable on my pillow when I'm trying to sleep.

Back after

It all feels a pound or so lighter. Do you approve? I think I may never have to go for a haircut again. It will be kind of cold getting it done on the deck in the winter mind you.

As payment for this excellent haircut I barbecued hamburgers for Jo.

Tomorrow I'll get back to my normal posts. See you on Thursday.