Night Soldiers Books In Order

Publication Order of Night Soldiers Books

The Night Soldiers series is a popular book series of historical spy and espionage thriller novels written a noteworthy American author named Alan Furst. It is comprised of a total of 14 books, which were released between the years 1988 and 2016. The events in this spy thriller series took place in Europe beginning in the 1930s and also depict the impact of the World War Two. Author Furst has described in this bestselling series a very dark phase of time in Europe in the form of the World War. He has written the prose in the lyrical style. It appears that he has done a meticulous research work before writing the series. Author Alan Furst began writing the series in 1988 and also released its first novel in the same year. As of today, the series is still going and author Furst seems to have been working on developing the plot of a new book in this series, which he is expected to publish very soon in the coming days. All the books in this interesting series are quite successful. They were liked by many readers from across the world. Author Furst was praised a lot and motivated to write new books every time a book of this series came out. Such was the impact of his writing style on the readers that they used to wait in eagerness for the release of his book.

The debut book of the Night Soldiers book series written by author Alan Furst is entitled ‘Night Soldiers’. It was released by the Random House publication in the year 2002, after its first release in 1988. Author Alan has mentioned the lead characters in this story as Khristo Stoianev, Vassily Antipin, Ilya Goldman, Sascha Vonets, etc. The story is said to have taken place in Bulgaria in 1934. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that a young man gets murdered by some local fascists. Later, the victim’s brother named Khristo Stoianev gets recruited in the NKVD, a division of the secret intelligence service of the Soviet Union, and is sent to the city Spain for serving in the civil war. After reaching there, Khristo Stoianev is warned by some of the locals that he will become the victim of the purges of Stalin. Khristo gets frightened because of many such warnings and flees away to Paris. This novel seems to have recreated the Europen world between 1934 and 1945 in a masterful way. It wonderfully depicted the struggle between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany for taking control of Eastern Europe. Finally, the novel has narrated beau monde’s last desperate gaiety in Paris in 1937. The guerrilla operations along with the underground forces of France in 1944 is also depicted in an excellent manner by Alan Furst in the novel. As the story proceeds further, the readers get to read about darker twist & turns taking place. All those who read the book felt for the characters very much. This book appears to have emerged from its aura sporadically when a girl America gets introduced in the plot. The heroes appear to be infinitely resourceful loners, who manage to form a bond of brotherhood amongst themselves over a long period of time. Author Alan has provided the readers with a taut, gritty, captivating, and detailed read in the form of this story. He seems to have deftly captured the disillusioned simplicity of the confusion and youth of the main character, Khristo Stoianev. The narrative is such that it reflects the process of maturation from idealize concepts to acceptance and forced realizations. In his own subtle way, Alan Furst has slowed down the pace, thereby lulling the audience with day-to-day life’s mundane concerns along with keeping the uncomfortable, unstable edge. The novel gets added with a new pulse with the constant shifting of the viewpoint in third person. Overall, the novel is densely populated with rich characters and exciting locales. All of this feels richly rendered. Many readers felt after reading the story that it needed their full attention and did not hesitate in providing it. Even though the author has described many action sequences, they do not seem related to the central story. This book is actually filled with adventure, historical, thriller, and action with lots of pain, hope, heart, betrayal, loss, and joy.

Another mind blowing book of this series is called ‘The Polish Officer’. This novel was also published by Random House in 2001, after the original publishing in 1995. Alan Furst has penned the chief characters in this historical thriller story as Anton Vyborg, Alexander de Milja, and several others. This particular story is set in Bucharest, Warsaw, Paris, and Ukraine at the time of the year 1939. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Warsaw comes falling down to the onslaught of Hitler. Just after this sad incident, the underground intelligence service of Poland recruites Captain Alexander Milja as a spy. He is given the task of transporting all the gold reserves of the nation to safety. Captain Milja decides to hide the reserve on a train carrying refugees to Bucharest. After this, Alexander Milja goes on to fight in wars of shadows surrounded by a world that has no rules and is full of danger, betrayal, and treachery. Some of the places where Captain Milja fights include the black market bistros and back alleys of Paris, Warsaw’s tenements, Ukraine’s frozen forests, and the Calais Harbor at the time of the attack from the British bombers. In this book’s description, author Alan has given the broad and rich context of the economic, cultural, and military aspects of the initial phase of the 10th century. Alan has done this in a vivid, poignant stream of imagery and exegeses. Some critics felt that a few of the characters looked underdeveloped, but they fared very well in the overall story description. The book serves as an interesting study of Polish’s historical vagaries as the country was trapped between Russia and Germany. Alan has worked out smoky, foggy atmospheres quite splendidly and has populated them with clever, deadly serious characters. This book too went on to become a great success and helped to increase the popularity of author Furst even more. It helped him achieve worldwide name and fame in the genre of historical spy stories.