Science Fiction, Spies, Television
TV: Andor (Season 1)
I can’t be alone in my complicated relationship with Star Wars; the franchise did, after all, play a huge…
December 4, 2022-
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Film, HistoryFilm: Mr. Jones
Knowledge of history can sometimes mitigate the eye-opening sense of discovery a good historical film can provide. I had…
December 19, 2020 -
Fiction, History, SpiesNovel: Under Occupation by Alan Furst
Early in Alan Furst’s latest World War II spy thriller Under Occupation (2019), there’s a casual, telling passage that…
May 26, 2020 -
FictionNovel: Defectors by Joseph Kanon
During browsing sessions, Joseph Kanon’s books have been flickering through my peripheral vision for years now, so I finally…
September 11, 2017 -
Fiction, History, Spies, World War IINovel: A Hero of France by Alan Furst
Alan Furst’s more recent releases are less standalone novels than collected episodes from the greater metanovel that is his…
August 1, 2016 -
Fiction, Mystery, SpiesNovel: The Envoy by Edward Wilson
A complex portrait of mid-twentieth century geopolitics is the primary asset of Edward Wilson’s The Envoy (2008), an unforgiving…
January 11, 2016 -
Drama, Spies, Television, ThrillerTV: Spies of Warsaw
I’ve often wondered how Alan Furst’s work would translate to the screen. The 2013 BBC miniseries Spies of Warsaw…
November 10, 2014 -
Fiction, SpiesNovel: Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst
Nobody writes historical espionage like Alan Furst, and his latest, Midnight in Europe (2014), is just as beautifully written…
June 27, 2014 -
Fiction, SpiesNovel: The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer
Spy fiction’s most structurally dazzling writer, Olen Steinhauer, returns with The Cairo Affair (2014), a rare singleton novel from…
May 19, 2014 -
Fiction, SpiesNovel: Mission to Paris by Alan Furst
Alan Furst writes brilliant historical espionage novels set just before, during, and after the Second World War. His latest,…
November 30, 2013 -
Fiction, Mystery, SpiesNovel: The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer
Olen Steinhauer’s The Bridge of Sighs (2003) is the first book in a five-volume series of historical spy thrillers…
September 14, 2012 -
Fiction, SpiesNovel: Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst
After months of considerable control, I finally broke down and read the final Alan Furst novel on my shelf,…
September 12, 2011 -
Fiction, SpiesNovel: The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
On the strength of his volume-closing novella “You Know What’s Going On” from Agents of Treachery, I moved on…
May 3, 2011 -
Drama, Film, History, ThrillerFilm: Army of Crime
The French film Army of Crime (2009) is an effective WWII historical examining a faction of the French Resistance…
March 6, 2011 -
Fiction, SpiesNovel: The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
The latest, excellent Alan Furst adventure, The Spies of Warsaw (2008), takes us to Warsaw in the mid-thirties, where…
July 11, 2010