Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Random House (2019), 224 pages
Description
"After the Nazi victory over Poland in 1939, thousands of Poles were sent to Germany as slave laborers. From inside enemy territory, they found ways to get valuable information to resistance fighters in France. Paul Ricard, a French writer of detective novels, is drawn in to working in the resistance, as a spy against the Reich, and is charged with getting the information from the Polish prisoners to the Allied forces. Alongside him in the fight against Germany are an émigré girl and a mysterious Turkish woman who is in the contract espionage business."--
User reviews
LibraryThing member camharlow2
As in all Alan Furst’s novels, he captures the atmosphere, excitement, tension, fear and mundanity of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, on this occasion in German occupied Paris in 1942 and 1943. We follow the exploits of Paul Ricard, as by chance he becomes involved with the French resistance and
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bit by bit, he becomes more deeply involved and committed to their cause. However, despite Faust’s accomplished writing, at times the novel appears rather disjointed, such as Ricard’s trip to Sweden and his subsequent unexplained reappearance in Paris a few days later. At several points this gives a feeling of a series of vignettes which do not quite join up, meaning that although an entertaining read, the book does not reach the high standard of Furst’s best novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member bereanna
My first and likely last Alan Furst book. An ARC from Random House, I’d vied for it because I like WWII novels. It read like a tv show without depth of story or characters, but I learned some interesting tidbits about the Paris occupation and the resistance networks there.
LibraryThing member etxgardener
Alan Furst is the king of Worls War II thrillers, and in his latest installment we are in occupied Paris in 1942. Paul RIcard is a writer of noir thrillers and one night as he walks home from a book signing, a man running from the Gestapo is shot in front of him and with his dying breath puts a
Furst expertly paints a picture of his world weary, middle-aged heroes who are smart enough to outwit the Nazi's, but also sensible enough to be terrified of them. Why no one has ever made a movie of his books is a mystery to me. They'd be great "on the edge of your seat" thrillers.
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piece of paper into Paul's hands. It is a drawing of what looks to be a part for a military weapon. Ricard knows that he should get rid of it, but instead decides to turn it over to the Resistance. Thus Ricard is drawn ever deeper in the Resistance network, their plots against the Germans and dangerous trips into Germany to act as their courier. Furst expertly paints a picture of his world weary, middle-aged heroes who are smart enough to outwit the Nazi's, but also sensible enough to be terrified of them. Why no one has ever made a movie of his books is a mystery to me. They'd be great "on the edge of your seat" thrillers.
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LibraryThing member Doondeck
A disjointed story, hopping from one plot line to the next. Perhaps designed to show the chaos of Paris under occupation
LibraryThing member ShellyS
While I've never found a novel by Alan Furst impossible to put down, I've always found them to be immensely readable. This one was a quick read for me, fairly short with less description than his earlier books, as if he expects that his regular readers are, by now, familiar with the situation in
The book takes a familiar direction, that of a civilian drawn into the realm of espionage, in this case, doing jobs for the French Resistance. Ricard is aided by a Polish ex-patriot named Kasia, who works in a bookshop and is a thief on the side. Kasia is a bit of a surprise, in that her sexual partners of choice are female, which eliminates her as a lover for Ricard. In a change of pace, there are fewer scenes of lovemaking than usually are found in Furst's novels. His more recent WWII spy novels follow an episodic formula and, in a way, fill in gaps of a giant jigsaw puzzle, all connecting in some way to form a picture of what life in Europe was like as Hitler moved to conquer Europe.
I do wish Furst would turn his attention to the time around the Normandy invasion, but for now, I'm content with whatever he feels compelled to write. Given the current world situation, it's almost a comfort to be reminded of a time when right and wrong were clear.
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France during fall of 1942 and early 1943. The main character, Paul Ricard, is a writer of popular detective novels. When a man is shot in front of him by the police and slips Ricard a drawn schematic of a torpedo detonator before he dies, Ricard -- a French patriot -- endeavors to get the drawing to the right people.The book takes a familiar direction, that of a civilian drawn into the realm of espionage, in this case, doing jobs for the French Resistance. Ricard is aided by a Polish ex-patriot named Kasia, who works in a bookshop and is a thief on the side. Kasia is a bit of a surprise, in that her sexual partners of choice are female, which eliminates her as a lover for Ricard. In a change of pace, there are fewer scenes of lovemaking than usually are found in Furst's novels. His more recent WWII spy novels follow an episodic formula and, in a way, fill in gaps of a giant jigsaw puzzle, all connecting in some way to form a picture of what life in Europe was like as Hitler moved to conquer Europe.
I do wish Furst would turn his attention to the time around the Normandy invasion, but for now, I'm content with whatever he feels compelled to write. Given the current world situation, it's almost a comfort to be reminded of a time when right and wrong were clear.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ritaer
An author of mysteries and thrillers accidently becomes involved with espionage and Resistance in occupied Paris.
LibraryThing member Michael_Lilly
Good but not Furst at his best.
LibraryThing member RickGeissal
Alan Furst is an accomplished writer in the war/spy genre, and I have always had a good time reading his books. This one is very good.
LibraryThing member librorumamans
Furst's plot has become so frayed its threads are in tatters. Characters appear; characters disappear. People get into scrapes and incredibly get out of them because the author needs to spin out the tale to its inevitable end after a decent number of pages. There's clumsy context, obvious plot
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turns and a final escape that requires Gestapo officers who can't follow footprints in the snow. Not recommended. Show Less
Original language
English
Original publication date
2019
Physical description
9.6 inches
ISBN
039959230X / 9780399592300