Greece, 1940. Not the Greece of sunny vacations, but the Greece of the North, of Macedonia, of the Balkans - and, more specifically, Thessaloniki. In this port with its ancient history, the docks and the brothels, the dark alleys, and the Turkish mansions, an agonizing political drama unfolds.
At the northern borders, the Greek army has halted Mussolini's attack, pushing the Italian divisions back into Albania - marking the first victory against a member of the Axis that has already subdued most of Europe. But Adolf Hitler will not tolerate such an affront: in the spring he will invade the Balkans, and all the people of Thessaloniki can do is watch and wait.
At the center of this drama is Konstantinos - Kostas - Zannis, a high-ranking police official, head of a department that handles politically sensitive "special" interests. And as the Nazi invasion looms, the dance of spies begins - the Turkish consulate, German secret services, the British...
At the same time, romantic passions flare up in the city. Zannis is no exception; he experiences love in the arms of an expatriate Englishwoman, the owner of a ballet school, a Greek woman with somewhat particular tastes, and the wife of a local extremely wealthy shipowner...
From Thessaloniki to Paris, to Berlin and back again, "The Spies of the Balkans" is a gripping novel about a man who tries everything and risks everything to stand tall against the greatest atrocity the world has ever known.
“There are many ways to keep the reader in suspense in crime novels... Alan Furst does not follow the formula. And he is great in his genre.” (Stathis Efstathiadis, "To Vima")
11 Coins
To earn Skroutz Coins, join Skroutz Plus and accept the terms of the reward program.