To say that Alan Furst writes spy novels is misleading. What he writes are novels about how ordinary men and women responded to the greatest crisis to confront Western civilization in the 20th century, namely the rise of fascism in Europe. His heroes are ship's captains, mapmakers, writers, soldiers, who are pressed into service as spies and saboteurs. This book features his most unlikely hero to date, a Hollywood movie star named Fredric Stahl. Stahl, born in Austria, is now being sent to Paris on the eve of World War II to film a movie about the end of World War I. Furst doesn't play up the irony -- he doesn't have to. Stahl stumbles into a world of shadows where he's being pulled in several different directions -- the Nazis want to manipulate him into being an agent of influence for their propaganda campaign in France, while the Americans want to recruit him to help with gathering intelligence on the Nazis' activities. A few scenes in this book -- particularly one involving a German film festival that was showing 38 movies about mountaineering -- made me think that Furst had seen Quentin Tarantino's over-the-top World War II film and thought: "I can do better." The plot builds its tension nicely, and Stahl's character and resolve are both tested when he falls for an emigre' who is part of the film's crew. I started off this book thinking it would be a minor entry in his oeuvre, and it still does not measure up to "The Polish Officer" and "Dark Voyage." But as a character study with occasional gunfire, I have to say it was a pleasure to read and I enjoyed Mr. Stahl's charming company far more than I ever expected.