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Night Soldiers #14
A Hero in France
Spring, 1941. Britain is losing the war. Paris is occupied by the Nazis, dark and silent at night. But when the clouds part, and moonlight floods the city, a Resistance leader called Mathieu steps out to begin his work. The fighters of the French Resistance are determined not to give up. These courageous men and women - young and old, aristocrats and nightclub owners, teachers and students - help downed British airmen reach the border with Spain. They risk everything to open Europe's sealed doors and lead Allied fighters to freedom. But then Mathieu and his team face a new threat, dispatched from the Reich to destroy them all.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published May 31, 2016
878 people are currently reading
4402 people want to read
About the author
Alan Furst
39 books1,567 followersAlan Furst is widely recognized as the current master of the historical spy novel. Born in New York, he has lived for long periods in France, especially Paris. He now lives on Long Island.
Night Soldiers novels
* Night Soldiers (1988)
* Dark Star (1991)
* The Polish Officer (1995)
* The World at Night (1996)
* Red Gold (1999)
* Kingdom of Shadows (2000)
* Blood of Victory (2003)
* Dark Voyage (2004)
* The Foreign Correspondent (2006)
* The Spies of Warsaw (2008)
* Spies of the Balkans (2010)
* Mission to Paris (2012)
* Midnight in Europe (2013)
* Under Occupation (2019)
Stand-alone novels
* Your day in the barrel (1976)
* The Paris drop (1980)
* The Caribbean Account (1981)
* Shadow Trade (1983)
For more information, see Wikipedia.
Night Soldiers novels
* Night Soldiers (1988)
* Dark Star (1991)
* The Polish Officer (1995)
* The World at Night (1996)
* Red Gold (1999)
* Kingdom of Shadows (2000)
* Blood of Victory (2003)
* Dark Voyage (2004)
* The Foreign Correspondent (2006)
* The Spies of Warsaw (2008)
* Spies of the Balkans (2010)
* Mission to Paris (2012)
* Midnight in Europe (2013)
* Under Occupation (2019)
Stand-alone novels
* Your day in the barrel (1976)
* The Paris drop (1980)
* The Caribbean Account (1981)
* Shadow Trade (1983)
For more information, see Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 789 reviews
October 12, 2019
”He didn’t want her to be in love with him because it was possible that some night he wouldn’t come home and she would never see him again and he knew what that would do to a woman who loved you.”
Occupied Paris 1941, the street lamps are painted blue. Every window is hung with thick, black curtains, turning the apartments into small dark boxes. Curfews curtail the Parisian nightlife. The city of light has become the city of midnight.
The French want their city back.
Mathieu is a man who has slowly and carefully put together a network of resistance fighters. To call them fighters gives the impression that they are soldiers, but they are not soldiers. They are just regular people who want to do what they can to undermine the efforts of the Germans to control Paris. ”Aiding Mathieu as part of his covert network are Lisette, a seventeen-year old student and courier; Max de Lyon, an arms dealer turned nightclub owner; Chantal, a woman of class and confidence; Daniel a Jewish teacher fueled by revenge; Joelle, who falls in love with Mathieu; and Annemarie, a willful aristocrat with deep roots in France.”
One of their main tasks is to make contact with downed British airmen, secure new identification documentation for them, and get them out of the country. The women of the resistance provide cover by escorting these men on trains and getting them to safety. It is dangerous work. If they are caught by the German Military Police, they will be tortured and killed.
Mathieu is trying to keep his group autonomous, but the longer they operate, the more money they require. He has friends who have given what they can, but it is simply not enough. The British have offered to finance him, but with their money comes strings. If they want him to do something, he won’t have any choice but to do what they ask. An old lover gets in touch with him and wants him to join the Communist resistance. They are currently sitting on their hands because Stalin and Hitler are uneasy allies, but they know the lust for conquest will eventually lead the Miniature Schnauzer in Berlin to declare war on Russia. The problem, of course, is knowing who to trust. He knows that by expanding his organization or by joining forces with another resistance group he is running a higher risk of exposure.
Mathieu has friends in the right places, but though they might offer him a discount to help him with his efforts, they still need money to make things work on their end. He meets one of his contacts in a hotel room, and the man is wearing only his underpants. Mathieu must take off his clothes to talk business. That is one way to have everything out in the open. ”Further into the room, three women, two blondes and a brunette, also in their underwear, were sprawled out amid the tangled sheets and blankets on the spacious bed. Prostitutes? Not quite, Mathieu thought. A classier version of the breed, Parisian ladies out for a night to make money. Tomorrow, proper bourgeois women.”
That scene conveys the state of affairs in Paris. Money is scarce. Food is scarcer. People are forced to do unconventional things to keep themselves from destitution. These women, just mere months ago, would have never thought they would ever have to barter sex to survive. Things change so quickly, and the safety nets that we feel give us so much security are quickly torn asunder when the underpinnings of civilization are destabilized.
Despite Mathieu’s best efforts, his group is betrayed.
What makes this book interesting is Alan Furst’s focus on the unexpected pressures that exist for Mathieu. It isn’t enough that he is risking his life and the lives of the people in his resistance group, but he also has to deal with the politics of his own “allies,” find enough money to keep in operation, and deal with blackmailers and gangs who are trying to muscle into his operation. The tenuousness of his position keeps the reader wondering when he will drop one of those numerous red balls he is trying to keep up in the air.
I’ve had a long reading relationship with Alan Furst. I’ve even met the man, and he was as elegant and dapper as one of the men he writes about. I’ve read almost all of his Night Soldiers books. This is the 14th in the series. There are books in the series that could easily qualify as literature, but some fall more under the heading of, as Graham Greene called some of his own books, “Entertainments.” Regardless of how these books should be designated, I have to say, as always, I was captivated and intrigued and will always look forward with anticipation to the next Alan Furst book.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Occupied Paris 1941, the street lamps are painted blue. Every window is hung with thick, black curtains, turning the apartments into small dark boxes. Curfews curtail the Parisian nightlife. The city of light has become the city of midnight.
The French want their city back.
Mathieu is a man who has slowly and carefully put together a network of resistance fighters. To call them fighters gives the impression that they are soldiers, but they are not soldiers. They are just regular people who want to do what they can to undermine the efforts of the Germans to control Paris. ”Aiding Mathieu as part of his covert network are Lisette, a seventeen-year old student and courier; Max de Lyon, an arms dealer turned nightclub owner; Chantal, a woman of class and confidence; Daniel a Jewish teacher fueled by revenge; Joelle, who falls in love with Mathieu; and Annemarie, a willful aristocrat with deep roots in France.”
One of their main tasks is to make contact with downed British airmen, secure new identification documentation for them, and get them out of the country. The women of the resistance provide cover by escorting these men on trains and getting them to safety. It is dangerous work. If they are caught by the German Military Police, they will be tortured and killed.
Mathieu is trying to keep his group autonomous, but the longer they operate, the more money they require. He has friends who have given what they can, but it is simply not enough. The British have offered to finance him, but with their money comes strings. If they want him to do something, he won’t have any choice but to do what they ask. An old lover gets in touch with him and wants him to join the Communist resistance. They are currently sitting on their hands because Stalin and Hitler are uneasy allies, but they know the lust for conquest will eventually lead the Miniature Schnauzer in Berlin to declare war on Russia. The problem, of course, is knowing who to trust. He knows that by expanding his organization or by joining forces with another resistance group he is running a higher risk of exposure.
Mathieu has friends in the right places, but though they might offer him a discount to help him with his efforts, they still need money to make things work on their end. He meets one of his contacts in a hotel room, and the man is wearing only his underpants. Mathieu must take off his clothes to talk business. That is one way to have everything out in the open. ”Further into the room, three women, two blondes and a brunette, also in their underwear, were sprawled out amid the tangled sheets and blankets on the spacious bed. Prostitutes? Not quite, Mathieu thought. A classier version of the breed, Parisian ladies out for a night to make money. Tomorrow, proper bourgeois women.”
That scene conveys the state of affairs in Paris. Money is scarce. Food is scarcer. People are forced to do unconventional things to keep themselves from destitution. These women, just mere months ago, would have never thought they would ever have to barter sex to survive. Things change so quickly, and the safety nets that we feel give us so much security are quickly torn asunder when the underpinnings of civilization are destabilized.
Despite Mathieu’s best efforts, his group is betrayed.
What makes this book interesting is Alan Furst’s focus on the unexpected pressures that exist for Mathieu. It isn’t enough that he is risking his life and the lives of the people in his resistance group, but he also has to deal with the politics of his own “allies,” find enough money to keep in operation, and deal with blackmailers and gangs who are trying to muscle into his operation. The tenuousness of his position keeps the reader wondering when he will drop one of those numerous red balls he is trying to keep up in the air.
I’ve had a long reading relationship with Alan Furst. I’ve even met the man, and he was as elegant and dapper as one of the men he writes about. I’ve read almost all of his Night Soldiers books. This is the 14th in the series. There are books in the series that could easily qualify as literature, but some fall more under the heading of, as Graham Greene called some of his own books, “Entertainments.” Regardless of how these books should be designated, I have to say, as always, I was captivated and intrigued and will always look forward with anticipation to the next Alan Furst book.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
June 1, 2016
A Hero of France broke my heart. Never before have I been so fully let down by a (used-to-be) favorite author. Night Soldiers blew me away as probably the most elegant, dark, subtle, historically detailed, and intellectual "spy" novel I'd ever encountered (I don't even like to describe it as a "spy" thriller because Night Soldiers is not genre fiction, but absolutely brilliant noir-historical WW2 literary fiction). I've read some others in the series, and loved them all (the last was #9, The Foreign Correspondent).
I couldn't believe this book was written by Furst; some developments from #1 to #14:
* all nuance has been obliterated in favor of simplistic moralizing and reeking explicitness
* lyrical, well composed prose has given way to a direct, factual-reporting style
* sex and nudity have been shoved in for purposes of titillation only, in ways that add nothing to the plot or characterizations
* the realistic gritty-noir moody tone has been replaced by that of a commercial, superficial action-thriller
One dimension I was not disappointed by was Furst's attention to historical detail and portrayal of aspects of WW2 I don't read much about in fiction (in this installment, the story is about the French resistance movement which helped stranded British pilots make it back to GB through an 'underground railroad' network). For the history lesson, one additional star.
I received my copy of this book through the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are solely my own.
I couldn't believe this book was written by Furst; some developments from #1 to #14:
* all nuance has been obliterated in favor of simplistic moralizing and reeking explicitness
* lyrical, well composed prose has given way to a direct, factual-reporting style
* sex and nudity have been shoved in for purposes of titillation only, in ways that add nothing to the plot or characterizations
* the realistic gritty-noir moody tone has been replaced by that of a commercial, superficial action-thriller
One dimension I was not disappointed by was Furst's attention to historical detail and portrayal of aspects of WW2 I don't read much about in fiction (in this installment, the story is about the French resistance movement which helped stranded British pilots make it back to GB through an 'underground railroad' network). For the history lesson, one additional star.
I received my copy of this book through the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are solely my own.
April 4, 2016
I always enjoy Alan Furst’s books, and this one was no exception. The plot was fascinating and moved along at a fast pace. I was a little disappointed with the ending; I felt the story was wrapped up a bit too neatly and quickly. Overall however, I really enjoyed this installment in the series.
Furst’s knowledge of Paris and the other areas of France is very apparent in his writing. His descriptions of daily life in France, particularly Occupied Paris in 1941 and 1942, transported me straight to that time period. The main character of the novel goes by “Mathieu” when operating as the leader of a French Resistance cell that manages to extract a large number of downed British pilots and other Nazi enemies during World War 2. I found it fascinating to learn how the Resistance workers outsmarted the Nazis amid blackouts, curfews, informants and food shortages that taxed the French population. Danger literally could be found on any street corner, and the courage, sacrifice and strength of the Resistance workers, particularly Mathieu, was without limit.
The politics of the time period are included as part of the story in such a manner that I gained a better understanding of the time period and the various forces at work during the middle parts of the war but in an interesting manner. I thoroughly savored this book and look forward to his next one!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Furst’s knowledge of Paris and the other areas of France is very apparent in his writing. His descriptions of daily life in France, particularly Occupied Paris in 1941 and 1942, transported me straight to that time period. The main character of the novel goes by “Mathieu” when operating as the leader of a French Resistance cell that manages to extract a large number of downed British pilots and other Nazi enemies during World War 2. I found it fascinating to learn how the Resistance workers outsmarted the Nazis amid blackouts, curfews, informants and food shortages that taxed the French population. Danger literally could be found on any street corner, and the courage, sacrifice and strength of the Resistance workers, particularly Mathieu, was without limit.
The politics of the time period are included as part of the story in such a manner that I gained a better understanding of the time period and the various forces at work during the middle parts of the war but in an interesting manner. I thoroughly savored this book and look forward to his next one!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2018
I find it difficult to believe that this is the same Alan Furst who wrote Spies of the Balkans.
The writing here is so flat and simplistic that it killed any engagement I could have had with the plot.
For really riveting stories of life and resistance in France, Jo Baker’s ‘A Country Road, a Tree’, Irene Nemirovsky ‘Suite Francaise’ and Peter Grose’s ‘A Good Place to Hide (true story and a revelation for me) are all excellent.
The writing here is so flat and simplistic that it killed any engagement I could have had with the plot.
For really riveting stories of life and resistance in France, Jo Baker’s ‘A Country Road, a Tree’, Irene Nemirovsky ‘Suite Francaise’ and Peter Grose’s ‘A Good Place to Hide (true story and a revelation for me) are all excellent.
August 21, 2018
Another great story by a master of WWII spy fiction ... beautifully described characters and settings which are a feature of Furst's writing ... a moving plot with twists and turns and difficulties ... keeps the pages turning ... PLUS ... some useful facts for me as I work on the sequel to A FLOOD OF EVIL ... who knew that La Samaritaine in Paris had a photomat that was used to take pictures for fake ID? ...
June 6, 2016
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."
-- Charles de Gaulle
I've been reading Furst novels for years. 'A Hero of France' is #14 in Furst's 'Night Soldiers' series. 'A Hero of France' is basically the tale of a small cell of French Resistance fighters in Paris, France and the French countryside who operate to return downed RAF pilots back to England to continue their work in the war. This book takes place through the early stage of Barbarossa, just as Nazi Germany invades Russia and ends right around the time the Gestapo enter France to combat the rising activities of the French Resistance.
I view the whole series as a giant canvas that allows Furst to paint the struggles and quiet heroism of those who battled Fascism in a variety of minor and major ways. These aren't books too concerned with the battles of WWII. These look at how villages, villagers, citizens, and spies in the Balkans, France, Eastern Europe, etc., fought against the rising tide of Fascism.
I've read ALL of his 'Night Soldiers' series. I only say that because lately, I've been reading these novels with some trepidation. It isn't that they aren't good anymore. 'A Hero of France' is just fine. It has interesting characters, fantastic details, a clean story. But the last three of his novels, this one included just seem average (OK, so perhaps they are barely fine). They all feel a bit phoned-in. I remember I started Furst with book 12 (Mission to Paris), and felt a bit let down too. Perhaps, it all goes back to Furst getting a bit lazy with his Paris books. I don't know. All I can say is I wasn't thrilled with this one.
For reference, I've included below the 14 books of the Night Soldiers series along with my star rating:
1. Night Soldiers (1988) - 4 stars
2. Dark Star (1991) - 5 stars
3. The Polish Officer (1995) - 4 stars
4. The World at Night (1996) - 3 stars
5. Red Gold (1999) - 3 stars
6. Kingdom of Shadows (2000) - 3 stars
7. Blood of Victory (2003) - 4 stars
8. Dark Voyage (2004) - 4 stars
9. The Foreign Correspondent (2006) - 3 stars
10. The Spies of Warsaw (2008) - 4 stars
11. Spies of the Balkans (2010) - 3 stars
12. Mission to Paris (2012) - 3 stars
13. Midnight in Europe (2013) - 3 stars
14. A Hero of France (2016) - 3 stars
-- Charles de Gaulle
I've been reading Furst novels for years. 'A Hero of France' is #14 in Furst's 'Night Soldiers' series. 'A Hero of France' is basically the tale of a small cell of French Resistance fighters in Paris, France and the French countryside who operate to return downed RAF pilots back to England to continue their work in the war. This book takes place through the early stage of Barbarossa, just as Nazi Germany invades Russia and ends right around the time the Gestapo enter France to combat the rising activities of the French Resistance.
I view the whole series as a giant canvas that allows Furst to paint the struggles and quiet heroism of those who battled Fascism in a variety of minor and major ways. These aren't books too concerned with the battles of WWII. These look at how villages, villagers, citizens, and spies in the Balkans, France, Eastern Europe, etc., fought against the rising tide of Fascism.
I've read ALL of his 'Night Soldiers' series. I only say that because lately, I've been reading these novels with some trepidation. It isn't that they aren't good anymore. 'A Hero of France' is just fine. It has interesting characters, fantastic details, a clean story. But the last three of his novels, this one included just seem average (OK, so perhaps they are barely fine). They all feel a bit phoned-in. I remember I started Furst with book 12 (Mission to Paris), and felt a bit let down too. Perhaps, it all goes back to Furst getting a bit lazy with his Paris books. I don't know. All I can say is I wasn't thrilled with this one.
For reference, I've included below the 14 books of the Night Soldiers series along with my star rating:
1. Night Soldiers (1988) - 4 stars
2. Dark Star (1991) - 5 stars
3. The Polish Officer (1995) - 4 stars
4. The World at Night (1996) - 3 stars
5. Red Gold (1999) - 3 stars
6. Kingdom of Shadows (2000) - 3 stars
7. Blood of Victory (2003) - 4 stars
8. Dark Voyage (2004) - 4 stars
9. The Foreign Correspondent (2006) - 3 stars
10. The Spies of Warsaw (2008) - 4 stars
11. Spies of the Balkans (2010) - 3 stars
12. Mission to Paris (2012) - 3 stars
13. Midnight in Europe (2013) - 3 stars
14. A Hero of France (2016) - 3 stars
April 17, 2016
Marvelous realism in this rendering of ordinary people carrying out dangerous efforts in the Resistance to the Nazi occupation of France in 1941. As usual Furst does not reach for entertaining thrills or romanticism in his plotting. Historical fiction tends to diverge between elucidating historical events with characters as in a stage play and stories that focus on characters with the historical events as a backdrop. Furst’s work lies exactly at the intersection of the approaches. His atmospherics always enchant me with the sense of being transported by a time machine. He continually comes to this pivotal period in the early 40s when the future of civilized humanity as represented by France was in doubt from the apparently total success of the conquering Nazis.
Usually Furst builds his resistance stories from the perspective of non-French characters and settings (e.g. Poles, Bulgarians, Dutch) with plots that end up with a focus on activities within France and interactions with the French. Here his main character, Leveque (under the nom de guerre Matthieu), is French, but a lot of the personal stories concern the British RAF crewmen downed in France on bombing runs to Germany. Matthieu is a businessman who develops his own clandestine network of citizens who work to get the airmen out of France and back to their valuable service in fighting the war. He had experience as captain of a tank crew in the brief but hopeless opposition to the invasion in 1940, but his essential talent is less in military skills than in recruiting people to his efforts and reading who is trustworthy. His “team” includes a colorful collection of people, e.g. a professor of anthropology, a Ukrainian Jewish nightclub owner and gangster, a bourgeois widow, a spiritualist shop owner, a teenaged girl, and a Macedonian smuggler.
As you can imagine, the work to get the airmen out by boat or over the mountains to Spain calls for safe hiding places, forged identity documents and travel papers, clothing and disguises, couriers for messaging, escorts for guidance and deceptive cover, means of transportation, and lots of money to pay for these things and for bribery of nosy officials. Mathieu leads these efforts in a low-key manner founded on the human warmth in his relations with his people. An ongoing love affair with a woman ignorant of his secret life sustains his own personal balance in the face of all the risks of discovery of his schemes. His main adversary, Otto Broehm, is a German police inspector reassigned from Hamburg to Paris to stop the successful Resistance help to the British war effort. He is very human and not a Nazi, but he is very effective in applying leverage on people to spy on Mathieu’s operations. The challenges and stakes get higher when the British engage Matthieu’s help in getting some of more important airmen out by seaplane and in facilitating the entry and work of sabotage agents from the exiled French in Britain. All this made for a fascinating and satisfying read, one with more action than Furst’s usual tales.
This book was provided for review by the publisher through the Netgalley program (publication date is May 31).
Usually Furst builds his resistance stories from the perspective of non-French characters and settings (e.g. Poles, Bulgarians, Dutch) with plots that end up with a focus on activities within France and interactions with the French. Here his main character, Leveque (under the nom de guerre Matthieu), is French, but a lot of the personal stories concern the British RAF crewmen downed in France on bombing runs to Germany. Matthieu is a businessman who develops his own clandestine network of citizens who work to get the airmen out of France and back to their valuable service in fighting the war. He had experience as captain of a tank crew in the brief but hopeless opposition to the invasion in 1940, but his essential talent is less in military skills than in recruiting people to his efforts and reading who is trustworthy. His “team” includes a colorful collection of people, e.g. a professor of anthropology, a Ukrainian Jewish nightclub owner and gangster, a bourgeois widow, a spiritualist shop owner, a teenaged girl, and a Macedonian smuggler.
As you can imagine, the work to get the airmen out by boat or over the mountains to Spain calls for safe hiding places, forged identity documents and travel papers, clothing and disguises, couriers for messaging, escorts for guidance and deceptive cover, means of transportation, and lots of money to pay for these things and for bribery of nosy officials. Mathieu leads these efforts in a low-key manner founded on the human warmth in his relations with his people. An ongoing love affair with a woman ignorant of his secret life sustains his own personal balance in the face of all the risks of discovery of his schemes. His main adversary, Otto Broehm, is a German police inspector reassigned from Hamburg to Paris to stop the successful Resistance help to the British war effort. He is very human and not a Nazi, but he is very effective in applying leverage on people to spy on Mathieu’s operations. The challenges and stakes get higher when the British engage Matthieu’s help in getting some of more important airmen out by seaplane and in facilitating the entry and work of sabotage agents from the exiled French in Britain. All this made for a fascinating and satisfying read, one with more action than Furst’s usual tales.
This book was provided for review by the publisher through the Netgalley program (publication date is May 31).
September 15, 2016
WWII French Resistance. In 1941, Mattieu is the head of a clandestine cell based in Paris, he organises daring operations where men and women smuggle downed RAF pilots out of the German occupied zone.
My expectations were met by the interesting story (and there were times where the tension so intense!), but I think the sex scenes could easily have been edited out, they didn’t add anything to Mattieu’s character nor the story, in fact I skipped ahead to the interesting parts LOL.
For me it was ok but, given the popularity of this series, I was expecting something more. I might try one of the earlier books, which are supposed to be better.
2.5 stars.
My expectations were met by the interesting story (and there were times where the tension so intense!), but I think the sex scenes could easily have been edited out, they didn’t add anything to Mattieu’s character nor the story, in fact I skipped ahead to the interesting parts LOL.
For me it was ok but, given the popularity of this series, I was expecting something more. I might try one of the earlier books, which are supposed to be better.
2.5 stars.
February 25, 2018
Alan First has carved out a niche for himself in writing historical thrillers set throughout Europe during WWII. I’ve read several and particularly enjoyed this one set in Paris, 1941, early on during the German Occupation of Paris.
June 28, 2023
Meh. The early Furst's had zero plot but max ennui. The book before this, he traded for max plot and zero ennui. "A Hero of France" has neither plot nor the shivering ennui that made his early work so good.
I guess once you write a masterpiece like "Kingdom of Shadows", it's impossible to up your game.
I guess once you write a masterpiece like "Kingdom of Shadows", it's impossible to up your game.
November 30, 2016
In his last three books, Furst has gone from bad to rotten.
May 31, 2018
“A HERO IN FRANCE” is a story set during the early months of the German Occupation of France during the Second World War. It is centered around a Frenchman with the nom de guerre “Mathieu” who has cast off the trappings of his previous life in Paris to join the ranks of the Resistance. Mathieu is in his early 40s, fairly fit, resourceful, tough, determined, yet not without charm and a knack for making friends in the most interesting places. Unlike most French people, who at this stage of the war (the novel begins in a wintry, melancholic Paris in March 1941) were largely resigned to the defeat France had suffered at the hands of the Third Reich in June 1940, Mathieu is determined to fight the Germans any way he can. To this end, he has been part of a network that has formed a pipeline between the Occupied Zone and Vichy France, spiriting downed RAF (Royal Air Force) flyers out of France into Spain, where they would be repatriated back to the UK.
Resistance activities had started off on a very small scale from late 1940. But as the months wore on, the Germans began to show their impatience and frustration from their efforts to discourage random acts of vandalism, the occasional murder of a German officer, and sabotage. Thus, a police inspector from Hamburg was enlisted by Berlin to go to Paris (as a temporary major in the Feldgendarmerie, the German Army Military Police) and see what he could do to break up the Resistance pipeline of which Mathieu is an instrumental part.
What I like about an Alan Furst novel is his knack for evoking the atmosphere of German-occupied Europe and creating a set of characters who struggle to survive, endure, and fight the Nazi yoke. Anyone who wants to lose him/herself in a taut, well-told story rich with cinematic overtones, look no further. “A HERO IN FRANCE” is the novel for you.
Resistance activities had started off on a very small scale from late 1940. But as the months wore on, the Germans began to show their impatience and frustration from their efforts to discourage random acts of vandalism, the occasional murder of a German officer, and sabotage. Thus, a police inspector from Hamburg was enlisted by Berlin to go to Paris (as a temporary major in the Feldgendarmerie, the German Army Military Police) and see what he could do to break up the Resistance pipeline of which Mathieu is an instrumental part.
What I like about an Alan Furst novel is his knack for evoking the atmosphere of German-occupied Europe and creating a set of characters who struggle to survive, endure, and fight the Nazi yoke. Anyone who wants to lose him/herself in a taut, well-told story rich with cinematic overtones, look no further. “A HERO IN FRANCE” is the novel for you.
July 12, 2016
The 14th novel in the loose Night Soldiers series
After the ok'ish but not quite top of the line Midnight in Europe, Alan Furst returns to France (which is the setting of a majority of his Night Soldiers books, while featuring in almost all) and delivers an excellent novel and a return to form.
While it is billed as his first novel set during WW 2 proper - as usually his books in the loose series ended when the war started or immediately after in 1939, though there were exceptions that kept the action going for a few years during the war as well as generally noting the fate of the main characters in an epilogue in 1945-46 - A Hero of France has most of the characteristics of the others as it takes place in a few months period from March till June 1941 in France where the war has actually ended with the catastrophic defeat of 1940 and the division of the country between the Northern Occupied part and the Southern Vichy Regime
similarly to most his other books we mainly follow "Mathieu", a single attractive Parisian man in his early forties, former tank commander for a very short time in the war and presumably of some position in society (without too many spoilers we actually find out his actual identity in the epilogue) who runs a proto-Resistance cell dedicated to smuggling downed English airmen from the RAF raids to Germany which go over France to the Vichy France where the authorities turn a blind eye to them and let them go back to England through neutral Spain; obviously the Germans are very annoyed about this and they try to destroy these cells in Paris and the rest of occupied France, but for the moment they are somewhat hampered by the Fuhrer's desire to woo the French on his side, so the German authorities tend to use mostly regular Police and their French counterparts and stay within the law as it is, rather than unleash the Gestapo and the SD and their terrorist tactics
in particular while the life of the cells tends to be about six months as an English high class operative cynically puts it to Mathieu (who with his Sorbonne past takes a cordial dislike to the Oxbridge aristocrat at first glance) at some point when he tries to buy Mathieu's cell with lots of cash and expand the resistance to deadlier (and obviously considerably riskier) goals, even if arrested the people of the cells tend to be tried under French law for relatively minor offenses like people smuggling rather than treason and with enough cash, stay in in local prisons for the usual year or two upon conviction, while the English airmen are taken to German POW camps where they are treated decently;
but there are ominous signs pointing to change as the increased number of informers and money rewards for turning in English airmen, the more and more obvious reluctance of the French authorities in both occupied France and Vichy to help or at least turn a blind eye can signal a turn of the somewhat civilized business of resistance to a brutal, take no prisoners one; and obviously waiting on the side the deep Soviet run cells which are notorious for their brutal methods (and to whom Mathieu also has a somewhat unwitting connection) in France are preparing for action as the relations between the Nazis and the soviets are deteriorating visibly...
And so it goes, with the aforementioned usual elements - including the love interest, a few recurrent secondary characters, the usual recounting of the Bulgarian waiter incident (told in the Night Soldiers novel which opened the series many years ago but recounted in most novels as a sort of "grounding place"), the intrigue, the moments of action and the rising tension as stakes grow higher and higher, while discovery becomes seemingly unavoidable...
A great ending and the expected epilogue round an excellent novel in the usual style of Alan Furst
overall, highly recommended as a return to form for the author and one of the best entries in the loose Night Soldier series
After the ok'ish but not quite top of the line Midnight in Europe, Alan Furst returns to France (which is the setting of a majority of his Night Soldiers books, while featuring in almost all) and delivers an excellent novel and a return to form.
While it is billed as his first novel set during WW 2 proper - as usually his books in the loose series ended when the war started or immediately after in 1939, though there were exceptions that kept the action going for a few years during the war as well as generally noting the fate of the main characters in an epilogue in 1945-46 - A Hero of France has most of the characteristics of the others as it takes place in a few months period from March till June 1941 in France where the war has actually ended with the catastrophic defeat of 1940 and the division of the country between the Northern Occupied part and the Southern Vichy Regime
similarly to most his other books we mainly follow "Mathieu", a single attractive Parisian man in his early forties, former tank commander for a very short time in the war and presumably of some position in society (without too many spoilers we actually find out his actual identity in the epilogue) who runs a proto-Resistance cell dedicated to smuggling downed English airmen from the RAF raids to Germany which go over France to the Vichy France where the authorities turn a blind eye to them and let them go back to England through neutral Spain; obviously the Germans are very annoyed about this and they try to destroy these cells in Paris and the rest of occupied France, but for the moment they are somewhat hampered by the Fuhrer's desire to woo the French on his side, so the German authorities tend to use mostly regular Police and their French counterparts and stay within the law as it is, rather than unleash the Gestapo and the SD and their terrorist tactics
in particular while the life of the cells tends to be about six months as an English high class operative cynically puts it to Mathieu (who with his Sorbonne past takes a cordial dislike to the Oxbridge aristocrat at first glance) at some point when he tries to buy Mathieu's cell with lots of cash and expand the resistance to deadlier (and obviously considerably riskier) goals, even if arrested the people of the cells tend to be tried under French law for relatively minor offenses like people smuggling rather than treason and with enough cash, stay in in local prisons for the usual year or two upon conviction, while the English airmen are taken to German POW camps where they are treated decently;
but there are ominous signs pointing to change as the increased number of informers and money rewards for turning in English airmen, the more and more obvious reluctance of the French authorities in both occupied France and Vichy to help or at least turn a blind eye can signal a turn of the somewhat civilized business of resistance to a brutal, take no prisoners one; and obviously waiting on the side the deep Soviet run cells which are notorious for their brutal methods (and to whom Mathieu also has a somewhat unwitting connection) in France are preparing for action as the relations between the Nazis and the soviets are deteriorating visibly...
And so it goes, with the aforementioned usual elements - including the love interest, a few recurrent secondary characters, the usual recounting of the Bulgarian waiter incident (told in the Night Soldiers novel which opened the series many years ago but recounted in most novels as a sort of "grounding place"), the intrigue, the moments of action and the rising tension as stakes grow higher and higher, while discovery becomes seemingly unavoidable...
A great ending and the expected epilogue round an excellent novel in the usual style of Alan Furst
overall, highly recommended as a return to form for the author and one of the best entries in the loose Night Soldier series
August 3, 2016
If you look at my reviews you will see that I read other Furst novels and gave them much higher ratings. You will also notice that I always comment on his writing style. There is just something off/odd/different about the way he writes that always makes me think I am reading a translation. Perhaps it adds to the atmosphere of the stories since they take place in Europe pre and post WWII.
In any case, in the novels I liked, I eventually get lost in the story, plot, characters and my attention to the actually writing fades into the background. In this one it didn't - in fact I felt that his style acted as a barrier and I could not immerse myself in the story. But I also think this was a particularly weak story with cardboard characters. It was almost like vignettes -moments - instead of one story. There were so many loose ends and characters/scenes that added nothing to the narrative. I kept waiting for MORE.
Also I got so tired/bored with the sex scenes. I know the main character is male and the author is male but really some of the scenes seemed awkward - again a style issue? Perhaps they were supposed to come off worldly and/or sophisticated or 'french'? But to me they often read as a guy's fantasy. Especially the scene were Mathieu (main character) and Chantal are watching a nude sunbather (woman) - of course Mathieu is turned on by the view (and activities) and is more turned because -holy male sex fantasy jackpot - so is Chantal!! There was no point at all to the entire scene as it added nothing to the plot, story, or character development...
Anyway, as harsh as this review is I have another Furst on my shelf waiting to be read because as I said in the beginning - I have liked some of his books.
In any case, in the novels I liked, I eventually get lost in the story, plot, characters and my attention to the actually writing fades into the background. In this one it didn't - in fact I felt that his style acted as a barrier and I could not immerse myself in the story. But I also think this was a particularly weak story with cardboard characters. It was almost like vignettes -moments - instead of one story. There were so many loose ends and characters/scenes that added nothing to the narrative. I kept waiting for MORE.
Also I got so tired/bored with the sex scenes. I know the main character is male and the author is male but really some of the scenes seemed awkward - again a style issue? Perhaps they were supposed to come off worldly and/or sophisticated or 'french'? But to me they often read as a guy's fantasy. Especially the scene were Mathieu (main character) and Chantal are watching a nude sunbather (woman) - of course Mathieu is turned on by the view (and activities) and is more turned because -holy male sex fantasy jackpot - so is Chantal!! There was no point at all to the entire scene as it added nothing to the plot, story, or character development...
Anyway, as harsh as this review is I have another Furst on my shelf waiting to be read because as I said in the beginning - I have liked some of his books.
August 18, 2020
I have thoroughly enjoyed early installments of Furst's Night Soldiers series. I had intended to read them in order, which is entirely unnecessary, but have apparently had trouble getting back to them. This is a later installment which focuses on the French Resistance. Those parts that deal with that subject are good and I quite enjoyed them.
By 1940, the Germans had rolled into northern France, including Paris, and controlled what was called the Occupied Zone. The southern part of France was controlled by France's complicit Vichy government. The novel involves only one resistance cell headed by a man called Mathieu. Contacts in Paris as well as those who work in the cell are the other characters. The goal was to return downed British pilots and crew to Britain. False identity documents and travel permits had to be obtained as the preferred method was to go south through the Unoccupied Zone and into neutral Spain. Furst manages to convey the danger and tension involved in such operations.
I have to say, though, that my recall of the first books of the series don't have so much gratuitous sex. I'm no prude and I don't mind sex in novels, even tending toward graphic sex. Call me whatever you like, I would prefer not to be reading fairly graphic sex in a novel put there for no other reason than that sex is a part of people's lives.
The result is that I would have appreciated less sex and more Resistance. At only 234 pages, it was just too short. Was this just a one-off, or was the author simply getting too much pressure from his publisher? Time for me to go back to the earlier novels. Just 3-stars for this one.
By 1940, the Germans had rolled into northern France, including Paris, and controlled what was called the Occupied Zone. The southern part of France was controlled by France's complicit Vichy government. The novel involves only one resistance cell headed by a man called Mathieu. Contacts in Paris as well as those who work in the cell are the other characters. The goal was to return downed British pilots and crew to Britain. False identity documents and travel permits had to be obtained as the preferred method was to go south through the Unoccupied Zone and into neutral Spain. Furst manages to convey the danger and tension involved in such operations.
I have to say, though, that my recall of the first books of the series don't have so much gratuitous sex. I'm no prude and I don't mind sex in novels, even tending toward graphic sex. Call me whatever you like, I would prefer not to be reading fairly graphic sex in a novel put there for no other reason than that sex is a part of people's lives.
The result is that I would have appreciated less sex and more Resistance. At only 234 pages, it was just too short. Was this just a one-off, or was the author simply getting too much pressure from his publisher? Time for me to go back to the earlier novels. Just 3-stars for this one.
June 14, 2016
I was once a fan of Alan Furst’s novels – the sequence right up to and including Dark Voyage are individual masterpieces of intrigue, suspense and menace set throughout Europe in a frightening period. The Polish Officer and Dark Star are among my favourite novels of all time. With Spies of Warsaw I began to feel that the formula was becoming tired and routine. The novels became shorter, the plots more perfunctory and episodic – as though the author was writing them while doing something else more interesting at the time.
A Hero in France is not bad. It reads like a fictional primer of the origins of the French Resistance to German occupation. The characters have potential and individual episodes read well. But there is a strong and repeated element of cliché and worse, all the strands tie up far too neatly. It was as though the author no longer really cared about producing a work that challenged the reader - that showed that not everything in such terrible times could turn out well. Gone, I am afraid, is the subtle ambiguity and sense of impending doom evident in the early novels.
A Hero in France is not bad. It reads like a fictional primer of the origins of the French Resistance to German occupation. The characters have potential and individual episodes read well. But there is a strong and repeated element of cliché and worse, all the strands tie up far too neatly. It was as though the author no longer really cared about producing a work that challenged the reader - that showed that not everything in such terrible times could turn out well. Gone, I am afraid, is the subtle ambiguity and sense of impending doom evident in the early novels.
April 26, 2021
An excellent spy thriller about the Resistance movement in Paris during the Nazi occupation.
July 1, 2021
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book. However, I felt like the ending was wrapped up too quickly.
June 6, 2016
Mathieu is his nom de guerre, and, like many of Alan Furst's leading men, he's something of a loner, a considered risk-taker who hides his intelligence and sophistication behind a quiet demeanor. He's good at sizing up people, figuring out if they can be trusted. "And I'd better be,'' he says, ''because I can only be wrong once.''
Mathieu is the capable leader of a small Resistance cell in A Hero of France (Random House, digital galley), Furst's excellent new novel of the shadowy world of espionage. In previous books, he has focused mostly on the twilight years leading up to the war, but here it is March of 1941, and German-occupied Paris is dark and under curfew. Mathieu and his cell help rescue downed RAF pilots and crew members, hiding them in safe houses, securing false identity passes, providing disguises and escorting them to safety -- perhaps by train through Vichy France and then to Spain, or in the back of a truck to the countryside and coast to await safe passage to England. It is dangerous, heart-stopping work, but these ordinary people -- a professor, a nurse, a schoolteacher, a teen with a bicycle, a widow with a bureaucratic friend, a nightclub owner with connections -- prove themselves over and over in extraordinary circumstances. But their actions can only go unnoticed for so long. A fatuous Brit wants to run the network from afar, encouraging riskier acts of sabotage. A German police detective is looking for an informer to penetrate the cell. Then there are the soldiers who will trip a man for no reason, and young street thugs playing at extortion.
The narrative is episodic, and Furst splices tense, action-filled scenes with interludes of relative calm. Mathieu begins a love affair with a neighbor, and adopts -- or is adopted by -- a Belgian shepherd dog. The writing is atmospheric: a crippled plane tries to land in silvery moonlight, lovers share secrets behind blackout curtains, a cafe owner shrugs when asked about the Resistance. "Monsieur, do you know what goes on in the cafes of Paris? Everything. Of course, one may have a glass of wine, a coffee, and something to eat, but there is more. Love affairs begin, love affairs end, swindlers meet their victims, victims meet their lawyers. But, mostly, the cafe is a place for people to go.'' Including the heroes of France.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever
Mathieu is the capable leader of a small Resistance cell in A Hero of France (Random House, digital galley), Furst's excellent new novel of the shadowy world of espionage. In previous books, he has focused mostly on the twilight years leading up to the war, but here it is March of 1941, and German-occupied Paris is dark and under curfew. Mathieu and his cell help rescue downed RAF pilots and crew members, hiding them in safe houses, securing false identity passes, providing disguises and escorting them to safety -- perhaps by train through Vichy France and then to Spain, or in the back of a truck to the countryside and coast to await safe passage to England. It is dangerous, heart-stopping work, but these ordinary people -- a professor, a nurse, a schoolteacher, a teen with a bicycle, a widow with a bureaucratic friend, a nightclub owner with connections -- prove themselves over and over in extraordinary circumstances. But their actions can only go unnoticed for so long. A fatuous Brit wants to run the network from afar, encouraging riskier acts of sabotage. A German police detective is looking for an informer to penetrate the cell. Then there are the soldiers who will trip a man for no reason, and young street thugs playing at extortion.
The narrative is episodic, and Furst splices tense, action-filled scenes with interludes of relative calm. Mathieu begins a love affair with a neighbor, and adopts -- or is adopted by -- a Belgian shepherd dog. The writing is atmospheric: a crippled plane tries to land in silvery moonlight, lovers share secrets behind blackout curtains, a cafe owner shrugs when asked about the Resistance. "Monsieur, do you know what goes on in the cafes of Paris? Everything. Of course, one may have a glass of wine, a coffee, and something to eat, but there is more. Love affairs begin, love affairs end, swindlers meet their victims, victims meet their lawyers. But, mostly, the cafe is a place for people to go.'' Including the heroes of France.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever
June 2, 2017
Hero In France – Brilliant Step Back In Time
Alan Furst has written yet another brilliant spy thriller set in the Second World War, and based in France and without saying as much points out not everyone acted honourably. This is about the very few heroes that were left in France after its fall in 1940 who helped the allied war effort by placing their lives in danger by running escape lines for downed airman from the RAF. While the majority did nothing but look the other way, while civil servants and police collaborated along with the Vichy Government, with the Nazis.
It is spring 1941, Britain seems to be losing the war and Paris is occupied by the Nazis while Marshall Petin is running the Vichy Government that is collaborating with the Nazi invaders. Paris is under curfew and the blackout is in place so as not to help the British bombers on their way to bomb Germany. When night time arrives, the leader of a small resistance cell, Mattieu, begins his work with a few trusted colleagues.
Smuggling airman along escape lines to Spain so that they can get back to Britain, needs a team that can be relied upon not to talk out of turn. The Vichy agents are not really trying to stop them but they will if the opportunity arises and make their German allies happy. Too many are escaping and the German’s are not happy, and they send one of their own to plan to capture and shut down these escape routes.
Mattieu and his cell also work with the British SOE getting agents in to France so that they made things more difficult for the Germans. But when Mattieu is informed against and made the subject of a man hunt, he and his team know that they have to get away before they end up in the hands of the Germans and the Gestapo. It still does not stop their work, which they started, but the ineptness of the Nazi collaborators may just be the saving grace.
A Hero in France is an excellent espionage thriller, which shows the excellence of Furst’s research and writing and getting under the skin of the very few that did work against the occupation. There are no wasted words no padding, Furst is short and straight to the point which makes for an enthralling read, that grips the reader from the beginning sentence to the last.
Alan Furst has written yet another brilliant spy thriller set in the Second World War, and based in France and without saying as much points out not everyone acted honourably. This is about the very few heroes that were left in France after its fall in 1940 who helped the allied war effort by placing their lives in danger by running escape lines for downed airman from the RAF. While the majority did nothing but look the other way, while civil servants and police collaborated along with the Vichy Government, with the Nazis.
It is spring 1941, Britain seems to be losing the war and Paris is occupied by the Nazis while Marshall Petin is running the Vichy Government that is collaborating with the Nazi invaders. Paris is under curfew and the blackout is in place so as not to help the British bombers on their way to bomb Germany. When night time arrives, the leader of a small resistance cell, Mattieu, begins his work with a few trusted colleagues.
Smuggling airman along escape lines to Spain so that they can get back to Britain, needs a team that can be relied upon not to talk out of turn. The Vichy agents are not really trying to stop them but they will if the opportunity arises and make their German allies happy. Too many are escaping and the German’s are not happy, and they send one of their own to plan to capture and shut down these escape routes.
Mattieu and his cell also work with the British SOE getting agents in to France so that they made things more difficult for the Germans. But when Mattieu is informed against and made the subject of a man hunt, he and his team know that they have to get away before they end up in the hands of the Germans and the Gestapo. It still does not stop their work, which they started, but the ineptness of the Nazi collaborators may just be the saving grace.
A Hero in France is an excellent espionage thriller, which shows the excellence of Furst’s research and writing and getting under the skin of the very few that did work against the occupation. There are no wasted words no padding, Furst is short and straight to the point which makes for an enthralling read, that grips the reader from the beginning sentence to the last.
July 28, 2018
If you love historical thrillers with a bit of noir in them, Alan Furst is your author. His writing style is very different from most of the authors who write in the same genre, and I particularly enjoy his short, snappy sentences; I know that they annoy some readers as incomplete but I personally find them fascinating, just like his metaphors and vivid descriptions. Furst knows his Paris, and that knowledge, along with meticulous research (I read about the case when a real résistante worked her way out of the prison the same way Furst’s fictional Chantal did) turns every story into a delightful travel in time. The plot unravels like a movie in front of your eyes, and the characters are so real, with their fears and hopes, that you can’t help but root for them. I held my breath (ok, I did so metaphorically speaking because the scene was quite long) throughout the whole episode when Mathieu encounters a German officer in his connections’ house while his butcher’s van is parked outside. A special thanks to the author for making Mathieu’s dog Mariana into one of the “characters” - she won my heart right away! Gritty, dark at times yet still full of hope, this French Resistance thriller should find its way to every WW2 history lover’s bookshelf. Highly recommended!
May 23, 2016
This is a detailed and atmospheric story of the quiet, relentless heroism of the ordinary people who worked with and for the French Resistance. Set during six months of 1941 when France was occupied, the British were bombing Germany and the US hadn't yet entered the war, this is an episodic story of escape, evasion and the countless tensions of defying Nazi authority.
Furst doesn't do big, dramatic scenes so there's no Hollywood action here, but it's the very ordinary nature of his characters which makes the story so telling: the vet who offers a safe house for British airmen, the civil servant who provides false exit papers, the middle-aged women who acted as couriers and cover, and the children on the run with no parents.
The prose is evocative and fluent, the sensibility low-key but acute: an intelligent and quietly moving tribute to the ordinary people who refused to submit to the Nazi occupation of France.
Furst doesn't do big, dramatic scenes so there's no Hollywood action here, but it's the very ordinary nature of his characters which makes the story so telling: the vet who offers a safe house for British airmen, the civil servant who provides false exit papers, the middle-aged women who acted as couriers and cover, and the children on the run with no parents.
The prose is evocative and fluent, the sensibility low-key but acute: an intelligent and quietly moving tribute to the ordinary people who refused to submit to the Nazi occupation of France.
August 4, 2018
Suspenseful and informative. A novel that shows what it must have been like to be a resistance fighter in France during the WWII Occupation by German forces. The heroes, unsung, that were made during that time as they made sacrifices and risked their lives to helpsave people and downed British airmen hiding from the Germans.
June 7, 2020
Taut. That’s the word for most of Furst’s work, and A Hero of France is no exception. First weaves a complex storyline while maintaining a palpable tension. This is a very good example of his work: not an original voice, but a very powerful one.
Recommended.
Recommended.
September 14, 2019
For 13 books Alan Furst fully captured the feeling of a Europe opposed to yet another war yet helpless in the face of Nazi Germany. We have met a number of shadow warriors, some professional others dedicated amateur and always with the reader even more aware of how pointless are the efforts of these good people working on the margins. The war is going to come and things are going to get worse.
In Book 14, A Hero of France, we still know things are going to get worse, but we also know that the invading occupying Germans are at their peak and soon they will be in retreat. Just in case we are frequently reminded that the good people need only hold on until America enters the war. The reader knows the worst is almost over. Furst finally has given the heroes, heroines and some the lessor characters hope. Perhaps this is part of why A Hero of France is a letdown.
Characters still have sex, but our hero is more sensitive and consciously giving pleasure. Sex is either for love or it is compromising or it is a time filler. There is too much time filler. I had held off reading this book because I was tired of the futility of his heroes. Seeking to stop a war that will not be stopped.
Now I feel like I am reading about good people going through motions until the promised things will make the situation better.
To his credit Furst has two fundamentally decent people edging towards each other from opposite sides of the occupation. Resistance leader Matheiu, another well connected, always in the funds, handsome rugged and resourceful all-round good guy has to outwit a good German police officer, Herr Inspector Broehm. He is turned, against his will into a German Army Officer charged with ending the success of the kinds of escape teams that are Matheiu’s specialty. This is a nicely designed conceit. We can root for either enemy based on their personal merit.
Instead the story seem has a marking time quality. It is further marred by too many hints that the author has decided to make the kinds of minor adjusts that are suggested by critics more concerned with making the 1941 read more like 2019.
There will be more Shadow Warriors by Furst. Now I have two reasons to be slow in getting around to them.
In Book 14, A Hero of France, we still know things are going to get worse, but we also know that the invading occupying Germans are at their peak and soon they will be in retreat. Just in case we are frequently reminded that the good people need only hold on until America enters the war. The reader knows the worst is almost over. Furst finally has given the heroes, heroines and some the lessor characters hope. Perhaps this is part of why A Hero of France is a letdown.
Characters still have sex, but our hero is more sensitive and consciously giving pleasure. Sex is either for love or it is compromising or it is a time filler. There is too much time filler. I had held off reading this book because I was tired of the futility of his heroes. Seeking to stop a war that will not be stopped.
Now I feel like I am reading about good people going through motions until the promised things will make the situation better.
To his credit Furst has two fundamentally decent people edging towards each other from opposite sides of the occupation. Resistance leader Matheiu, another well connected, always in the funds, handsome rugged and resourceful all-round good guy has to outwit a good German police officer, Herr Inspector Broehm. He is turned, against his will into a German Army Officer charged with ending the success of the kinds of escape teams that are Matheiu’s specialty. This is a nicely designed conceit. We can root for either enemy based on their personal merit.
Instead the story seem has a marking time quality. It is further marred by too many hints that the author has decided to make the kinds of minor adjusts that are suggested by critics more concerned with making the 1941 read more like 2019.
There will be more Shadow Warriors by Furst. Now I have two reasons to be slow in getting around to them.
April 8, 2016
A Hero of France by Alan Furst- This is a World War II novel that lacks the intensity of Le Carre or the sharp edge of Len Deighton, but is no less an enjoyable spy drama in its own right. Mathieu is a member of a resistance cell. His job is to help downed pilots from across the Chanel escape back to England. Paris and the shambles of the Occupation by German forces is described in poetic detail as well as the Vichy government that rules the Southern reaches of this desecrated country. Mathieu and his friends are everyday people caught up in the terrible times and brave enough to do something while others cringe and hide. This is not a thriller, rather a historical glimpse into the lives of these people. There are a few tense moments but most of the action is offstage and quickly dispensed with. The pace is leisurely and characters are authentic enough to be representations of actual people. As historical dramas go, this one is quite good.
June 5, 2016
Sadly, a Disappointment
I have loved Alan Furst's novels. Dark Star Was my first happy discovery, which led me to go to the beginning and read -- no, devour -- the entire Night Soldiers series. I found myself carried along by the beautiful use of language, the imagery, the suspense, the characters, even the wonderful humor: the description of the "loud Gypsy orchestra with copious gypsies" in Blood of Victory still makes me laugh out loud.
How very disappointed I am with this book. What happened? Where are all the wonderful elements that made these books so excellent? I can only think that Mr. Furst has tired of the series. So sorry.
I have loved Alan Furst's novels. Dark Star Was my first happy discovery, which led me to go to the beginning and read -- no, devour -- the entire Night Soldiers series. I found myself carried along by the beautiful use of language, the imagery, the suspense, the characters, even the wonderful humor: the description of the "loud Gypsy orchestra with copious gypsies" in Blood of Victory still makes me laugh out loud.
How very disappointed I am with this book. What happened? Where are all the wonderful elements that made these books so excellent? I can only think that Mr. Furst has tired of the series. So sorry.
March 15, 2017
I really liked this one. Very understated, almost detached POV. About a man in Paris early in the occupation by the Germans. He detaches himself from his former life (except for his girl friend Jöelle and his dog Mariana), changes his name and joins the Resistance. His job is to help English flyers shot down over France get out of the country and back to England where they can fly bombers again. His contacts in the Resistance are few and he knows little about them. He also knows little about the men he saves. He is suspicious of everyone. Rightly so. It's a lonely life being suspicious of everyone.
April 2, 2017
I have a shelf of books that I have not got around to reading, so making an effort to clear this shelf. 'A Hero in France' was a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
This is the first time that I have read any novels by Alan Furst. It was an ok read, which means that I did manage to get to the last page. I have heard that some of Alan Furst books have been very good, so may try one another on my next visit to the local library.
This is the first time that I have read any novels by Alan Furst. It was an ok read, which means that I did manage to get to the last page. I have heard that some of Alan Furst books have been very good, so may try one another on my next visit to the local library.
December 27, 2021
A Good One
I really enjoyed this book. Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres, especially stories of the resistance. The men and women who fought underground were real heroes in my book.
I really enjoyed this book. Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres, especially stories of the resistance. The men and women who fought underground were real heroes in my book.
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