Marian, I think the general themes of the novels appeal more to men, but I also think his heroes are attractive to women: they are handsome, virile, vulnerable and brave.

Alan Furst personalizes the histories of the countries involved in WWII. I believe in the accuracy of his facts. He gives such good information about the attitudes of the people in the Central European countries, which I have had insufficient information about. The stories are immediate and believable. He must have some wonderful sources in the people he meets in his travels. He keeps a positive view in many characters' wills to survive which helps to make the horrors more in perspective with average Europeans outlooks.

I too love the Furst oeuvre. I've read them all. I tried to get my wife interested in them. She read one, liked it, but hasn't read another. Maybe I'm obsessive, compulsive (I am), but once I latch on to a great author, I don't like to let go.

Let me go out on a limb. I think men, when they read at all, tend towards tragedy and women to comedy (in the classic sense i.e. what you might call the happy ending). While Furst's books usually end on a happy note for the hero, or at least one that is ambiguously good, for after all, the war goes on, their path through the novel is littered with bad endings for good people. Also, war is traditionally a male domain and we like to think of ourselves as brave and true like the heroes of the novels, even if they're not always absolutely brave or continuously true.

I have been reading Alan Furst's novels for awhile, ever since I read a review that described them as atmospheric. I think his books are terrific, and I'm surprised no one else I know reads them. Reading one of his books is one of those rare pleasuable experiences when you are enveloped by the world created by the author. I can believe that Mr. Furst "teleports to another time and place when he sits down at the typewriter." When I am interrupted from reading one of his books, I can't wait to dive back in. I also love his heroes and the fact that their romantic attachments are secondary to their commitment to save the world from the Nazis. I can't wait to read his newest novel. Thank you! I do have one question: do his novels appeal more to men than to women? I think so, even though I am a woman. I'd hesitate to recommend him to most of my female friends, who, I think, would not be interested. But they don't know what they are missing.
Marian Hartstein