From the bestselling master espionage writer, hailed by Vince Flynn as “the best in the business,” comes a riveting novel about the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris.1941. The City of Light is dark and silent at night. But in Paris and in the farmhouses, barns, and churches of the French countryside, small groups of ordinary men and women are determined to take down the occupying forces of … occupying forces of Adolf Hitler. Mathieu, a leader of the French Resistance, leads one such cell, helping downed British airmen escape back to England.
Alan Furst’s suspenseful, fast-paced thriller captures this dangerous time as no one ever has before. He brings Paris and occupied France to life, along with courageous citizens who outmaneuver collaborators, informers, blackmailers, and spies, risking everything to fulfill perilous clandestine missions. 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; Joëlle, who falls in love with Mathieu; and Annemarie, a willful aristocrat with deep roots in France, and a desire to act.
As the German military police heighten surveillance, Mathieu and his team face a new threat, dispatched by the Reich to destroy them all.
Shot through with the author’s trademark fine writing, breathtaking suspense, and intense scenes of seduction and passion, Alan Furst’s A Hero of France is at once one of the finest novels written about the French Resistance and the most gripping novel yet by the living master of the spy thriller.
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Furst at his best. No one does a better job of capturing the mood of pre & early-WWII Europe. His formula is pretty straight-forward: an “everyman” is recruited for or simply falls into a plot to strike a blow against the Axis powers. The mission is, generally speaking, a small affair; one that contributes to effort but is not of a magnitude to make national or international headlines. As such, his novels are not long but the intrigue, the characters, and the ambiance Furst creates will draw you in and keep you turning pages.
Good but a bit slow
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!
Furst gives us a different insight of the war in Europe. And his characters are wonderful. I have read all of his books and the anticipation of what is going to happened keeps me enthralled to the very last word.
I think Furst is a great author but this is not his best work
I always enjoy an Alan Furst novel. He is an author who fully immerses his reader into the time period. All ones’s senses are involved, so of course, the reader effortlessly follows the carefully structured plot. Furst develops his characters carefully and brilliantly. As a reader, you know just enough about each character.I never begin a Furst novel unless I am sure I have some consecutive blocks of reading time. It’s that good
Good read, good character development, great premise. Mirrors historical accounts of actual events. Wanted to give it 5 stars but compared to other books by this author I thought it dragged a bit.
Furst delivers once again. Action packed and historically interesting
Fast paced, well-written thriller set in Nazi-occupied France. A real page turner.
Good, but not one of the best in Furst’s exploration of the later 1930s and early, WW2, 1940s. I felt the ending was not fully developed by the lead-up. Satisfying if you enjoy Furst’s work, but not the best introduction to it.
Like all Alan Furst novels, this one has both a great plot and memorable characters. His writing is subtle: things become clear as the book progresses. I wish he could write FASTER because I really look forward to whatever his next book will be.