"When Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold." Prince Metternich
It is autumn 1938 and the German government has decided to make Paris sneeze violently as it carries on its preparations for war. Determined to avenge the ignominy of Versailles, the German Foreign Ministry seeks to destabilize the already fragile French Third Republic by co-opting willing and unwilling fifth columnists to do their bidding. It was a cold war designed to soften the French before the onslaught of the real war that everyone seemed to know was coming. That is the historical back drop for Alan Furst's new novel, "Mission to Paris."

Furst comes from a line of writers that can be traced back to both Graham Greene and Eric Ambler. Like Ambler, Furst often takes an unassuming, or unwitting civilian and immerses him in a world of mystery and intrigue in pre-World War II Europe. Mission to Paris follows this format and Furst does it in such a masterful way that I think it fair to say that Furst truly is worthy of the comparison to Ambler. He stands on his own now and really does not need to be compared to anyone to establish his bona fides.

Mission to Paris is set (as the title suggests) in Paris with side-trips to Berlin, Morocco, and Hungary. The unwitting protagonist is one Fredric Stahl. Born in Austria, Stahl made his way to California as a young man and is now one of Hollywood's leading men. He is sent to Paris by his studio head Jack Warner to do a movie with an international cast. The German foreign ministry has decided that Stahl should be enlisted to aid them in their cause and that sets up the story to follow.

I think it unwise to get into plot details so I'll simply state that Furst's strong point has always been how he sets the scene. His descriptions of the streets of Paris and Berlin reek of authenticity. Similarly, Furst has a keen eye for the inner life of his protagonists. Almost invariably Furst manages to convey a real sense of how those protagonists think and feel. Both of these elements of his writing generally dominate his plotting and are primarily responsible for getting the reader to turn to the next page. In this instance, Furst takes a frog in the pot of water approach to his story. Stahl's introduction to the dark world of Germany's `political cold warfare' is set on low and finally brought to a boil. Stahl's reactions to the heat being turned up is handled exceptionally well. The story kept me engaged and the ending was very well done.

In addition to Stahl, Furst introduces us to a very well-drawn cast of characters, especially that of Olga Orlova. Orlova, a Russian émigré living in Berlin is reputed to be Russian novelist Mikhail Lermontov's daughter. A film star in Germany she is known to be on of Hitler's favorite actresses. She may or may not be everything she appears to be and Stahl's relationship with her is one of the keys to the plot. This was of particular interest to me because it appears clear that Orlova is based on the very real Olga Chekhova, Anton Chekhov's niece, a well-known actress in pre-war Germany and quite likely a Soviet spy. In my 2004 review of historian Anthony Beevor's excellent The Mystery of Olga Chekhova I noted that the real Olga's story reminded me "of the noir-like novels of Alan Furst, whose tales of Soviet espionage and counter-espionage center on tales of similar acts of espionage taken on by Russian and other East European émigrés in the 1930's and 1940's". Needless to say I was delighted by this coincidence and it confirmed for me what I always suspected, that Furst's attention to historical detail is very strong.

Ernest Hemingway once said that "[I]f you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." Alan Furst's "Mission to Paris" is a moveable feast in its own right. Enjoy