The One with An Officer and a Spy

289. Title & Author: An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (429 pages)
Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Completed: 23 March 2014

Summary & Review:
In 1894, the French army was rocked with the revelation that a spy had been working in their midst passing information to the Germans. The man convicted was young Jewish captain, Alfred Dreyfus, and he was sentenced to exile and imprisonment on a deserted tropical island off the coast of South America. After taking over as chief of the secret intelligence section of the army, Colonel Georges Picquart discovers the case against Dreyfus was little more than rumor, hearsay, and anti-Semitism. Even after Piquart discovers the identity of the real spy, the top Generals in the army refuse to reopen the case and shut down anyone who dares question the “Dreyfus affair.”

This book is a novelization of actual events and I thought it was fascinating. Robert Harris often writes historical fiction, and his talent at doing so is what has made him my favorite contemporary author. He is able to transport the reader to worlds and scenarios far outside the reader's realm of familiarity—e.g. ancient Rome, and in this case nineteenth century France—with ease. This book was no exception. Harris deftly dramatized the actual invents using Picquart as the narrator allowing the reader to uncover the truth behind the Dreyfus affair in much the same way Picquart did, in bits and pieces until the whole of the terrible conspiracy was made plain.

It was also fun to read about locations I am increasingly familiar with such as Bayreuth, which is only a forty-five minute drive away.

Rating: 8.5