Foreign Correspondent

By: Alan Furst

Narrated by: George Guidall

2007 Audie Award Finalist for Thriller/Suspense

Step into a world we would never know otherwise.

Alan Furst writes a slice of life in prewar France, Germany and Italy in the first half of 1939. A well-travelled Italian journalist, a German heiress in Berlin, and a group of immigrants in Paris who publish an underground newspaper, conspire to defeat the Fascists no matter the risk. They don't know what's coming, but we do. This book is like watching an old film noir spy movie. The narration is George Guidall at his best but, well, he's always at his best.

Not Furst's Best

Any additional comments?

George Guidall is a genius, but not even he can turn this into an Alan Furst classic. I love Furst's rambling style and that he doesn't hew to the cookie cutter outline that dominates all fiction today. But. . . the characters here just aren't interesting to sustain Furst's style of writing. I never connected with any of the characters, least of all the main character, Weiss.

If you read Enid Blyton as a child, the "board"--who publish a subversive paper aimed at undermining Mussolini's regime--are about as sophisticated as The Famous Five, possibly less so.

I'm disappointed, but I'm going to try the next in the series. I just wish Furst could bring back the excitement and complexity of the first books in Night Soldiers, especially the first. If you haven't read/listened to it, download it right now! You won't be disappointed.

Did I say that George Guidall is a genius?

Best in Series

Another great story but I am hooked on the series. Simply the historical descriptions and characters keep me coming back for more.

Another excellent story

Love Alan Furst stories. The narrator sets the mood perfectly at just the right tempo.

One of the best of a great series

If you could sum up Foreign Correspondent in three words, what would they be?

All Time Great!

What other book might you compare Foreign Correspondent to and why?

The other eight in Alan Furst's first nine in the series that were narrated by George Guidall.

Have you listened to any of George Guidall’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Many, many times over the years. Been a recorded book listener for almost 20 years. George Guidall is one of the all time great narrators and I consider his performance of the Furst's novels to be a highlight of his career. I've actually read a couple of the Furst novels in this series and they rate a 4. George elevates them to a 6. It saddens me that he stopped narrating Furst's novels. The subsequent recorded novels were, at best, a 2. A case, that is all too common, of the narrator ruining the novel.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A story of real resistance spies in World War II. They were scared, tired and bored most of the time.

Any additional comments?

The saddest part of the book and narration is "The End"I've listened to all the first 9 novels in the series at least 3 times and a few like "The Foreign Correspondent" 5 times.