Under Occupation

Night Soldiers #15

by Alan Furst

From the master of espionage and intrigue, this novel about heroic resistance fighters in 1942 occupied Paris is based on true events of Polish prisoners in Nazi Germany, who smuggled valuable intelligence to Paris and the resistance.

Occupied Paris in 1942, a dark, treacherous city now ruled by the German security services, where French resistance networks are working secretly to defeat Hitler. Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands off to Paul Ricard a strange looking drawing. It looks like a part for a military weapon; Ricard realizes it must be an important document smuggled out of Germany to aid the resistance. As Ricard is drawn deeper and deeper into the French resistance network, his increasingly dangerous assignments lead him to travel to Germany, and along the underground safe houses of the resistance--and to meet the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy.

Alan Furst has been called "one of the best contemporary writers" by David McCullough, and "the most talented espionage novelist of our generation" by Vince Flynn.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Espionage, Thriller, World War II, France, War

210 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 2019

About the author

Alan 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.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 3 out of 5]

”I’ve read them all, by way of getting to know you. They’re good, Monsieur Ricard, The Waterfront Spy, The Odessa Affair, all of them, and you have something in common with Ambler. Your hero is not a detective, not a government agent. Like Ambler’s Latimer, he’s caught up in the politics of his time. One is sympathetic to Latimer, a rather stodgy college professor thrown into the middle of a secret operation because he writes romans policiers, his way of escaping academic publication. That’s what makes the Ambler novels good. I grew tired of policeman heroes, Simenon’s Maigret and Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s detective; I prefer the amateurs, like Latimer. And like you, Monsieur Ricard.”

Paul Ricard is going about his life as best he can under the occupation of the Germans. He is still able to live in his beloved Paris, and he doesn’t want to live anywhere else. He spends most of his days working on his novels and his nights wrapped up in bedsheets with his lover, Romany. She, he suspects, is an aristocrat, possibly a countess, trying to stay out of the clutches of the Germans. Life, despite the circumstances, is pretty good for Ricard.

It all changes when a dying man on the street thrusts a schematic into Ricard’s hands. The war has found him. #TheManWhoKnewTooMuch

There are choices to be made. Is it best to wait for the Americans, or is it more important to do his part? His life is pretty good, better than most, so should he keep his head buried in the fantasy world he creates in his novels, or does he have an obligation to offer his help?

He takes the schematic to the resistance, and his life quickly becomes far more interesting than his novels.

I’ve been reading Alan Furst’s novels since I received a review copy of The World at Night. I wrote up a paragraph of why I liked the book and displayed it below the book. The book became a bestseller in our store for a couple of months (my first experience with the power of a review). We couldn’t keep it or his other books in stock. There is an insatiable need for the type of books Furst is writing. Each one is like watching an alternative version of the movie Casablanca.

I devoured his books. They are sexy, exciting, lyrically written novels about normal people trying to do extraordinary things under remarkable circumstances.

Given my long reading history with Alan Furst, it does pain me to say that some very important elements are missing from this novel. The plot is vintage Furst. I was practically having to wipe dripping saliva from my chin when I read that he was placing a writer of spy thrillers at the center of his new novel. All the pieces are here for another satisfying Furst experience, except it seems he himself is missing.

If anyone knows if Furst has been kidnapped and replaced by an alien host body, please do inform me. I would appreciate knowing if he has permanently escaped to the South of France and just sent the outline of his novel to the publisher to be uploaded into a computer software program to write a simulation of a Furst novel. Something drastically went wrong.

The book is short, barely breaking 200 pages. The writing is stilted and lacks all that lyrical, lush grace that I’ve come to expect from Furst. This feels like the outline of a novel, the first Furst draft without all those beautiful nuances that make his novels so enticing and fulfilling experiences. Any editor worth a pillar of salt should have read this and said, Alan, this is critically underwritten.

Am I disappointed? Hell yes, I’m disappointed. I save Furst novels for when I need a mental boost of oozing, thrilling goodness. So, if you haven’t read a Furst novel, don’t begin here. Most people consider The Polish Officer to be one of his best novels, and I don’t disagree. See Furst at his best before you see him at his worst.

I hope this is an anomaly and that the next Furst novel sees him back on top of his game.

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

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the sixth novel of Alan Furst's that I've read, and it is my least favorite. The book reads like a draft which would be improved by further rounds of editing for character development (everyone is a cardboard cutout), location description (sometimes you can picture in your head where the events are happening, other times it's very disconnected), and weeding out goonish ogling at the bodies of all the female characters. I realize this is spy noir, but it's not told in the first person--the lasciviousness doesn't come off as a personality trait of the protagonist, rather the sexism of the narrative voice.

It's unfortunate; i loved Dark Star and The World at Night, but if this is what passes for a Furst novel now, I'll content myself with the backlist.

I received an ARC of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Dan O'Meara · Rating 1 out of 5]

The weakest of all of Furst's books. Reads like he is going through the motions. I have been a great fan of his work, but this and the previous three efforts are not a patch on Night Soldiers, or The Polish Officer or any of the rest. Even his writing style seems to have changed. Pity.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to wait a couple days before reviewing, just to let things "simmer a bit" before sharing my thoughts. I'll keep it short and sweet. This was my first historical thriller set in the World War II era and I rather enjoyed it. I won't get into a big summary of the story, you can read that from the book description or other reviews. To sum it up, the book is about Paul Ricard, a mystery/spy novel writer who gets tossed into the underground world of the French Resistance when a stranger shoves a piece of paper into his pocket before dying on the streets of Paris. He then is sent out on different missions to aid the Resistance movement and the Allies, with a cast of characters (many that he already knew) that are deep in the French Resistance.

I thought the book gave a good overall look at the French Resistance during the German Occupation in World War II. To me, the book read more like a collection of short stories; a collection of spy missions that Paul Ricard undertook or sometimes was thrown into by his "handlers". Some parts seemed to jump from one event to another with no real connection or "flow". I did find some of the writing style a little irritating at times with incomplete sentence structure or long awkward sentences that I would have to re-read for it to make sense. This slowed down the action for me and would kill that "thrilling page-turner buzz" of mine. That is why I can not give this book 5 stars.

However, I really did enjoy the story and the characters. The plot, mini-stories, and general spy intrigue kept me interested and definitely sparked a new interest in the World War II spy thriller. I just think the book read more like a "first draft" and wasn't quite polished yet. I will seek out more books by Alan Furst, based on some of the reviews I have read. If this is the least of his books, I can't wait to read his BEST. Just my 2 cents. :)

[Gene Ritchings · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished this book in disgust. Understand something: I discovered Alan Furst's novels in 2001, read them consecutively right up to 'Under Occupation.' I've read each novel multiple times, they are some kind of essential spiritual nutrient, as great fiction can sometimes be, and Alan's novels of 1930s Europe in an uncanny way are predictive of the decay of America into fascism and a world of bullies vs. invertebrates. That said, 'Under Occupation' just made me sad. I started to worry about Alan with 'Midnight in Europe,' practically a spy novel of manners with a gun-running plot he's used before and a lack of the physical action he does so well, and shook my head at 'A Hero of France,' which contained a lot of familiar ideas and characters. If a writer starts recycling themself they can get away with it for awhile, but even if it's under the guise of 'Giving my fans the things they like' the writer risks becoming a predictable 'brand' with no new ideas, fresh characters, or surprises to impart. 'Under Occupation' is, as many have said, underdeveloped, short, and almost totally recycled Furst. I've seen Alan read in New York more than once, and more than once I've heard him point out, "It was a very big war," assuring us he'd never run out of ideas. Well, I'd love to know Alan is looking elsewhere other than Paris for the next idea. I've also heard him say he doesn't do plots. That's very evident here. Oh, and one other thing. I HATE novels whose protagonists are novelists. It's always feels like a cheat.

[Lynn Horton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Furst’s work, although this one isn’t my favorite. He has his own style, and it works really well with historic spy novels. He handles the “grit” well, and I never finish one of his novels feeling uplifted—but then again, I really shouldn’t.

Under Occupation seems incomplete to me. It feels rushed and under-developed. Maybe I’ve read too many WW2 books of late (and I’ve pretty much declared a moratorium on them), but this story just ambles along and never really reaches a climax.

Recommended, but read his other novels first.

[Gram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nazi occupied Paris 1942 and a running man is gunned down in the street. Paul Ricard, a journalist turned crime writer, goes to his aid and the man slips him a single page drawing which turns out to be a schematic of a submarine torpedo's detonator. Ricard realises this may be of importance to the British and manages to contact the fledgling French Resistance and pass the document along.
Gradually, Paul is drawn into working for the Resistance and the pace of the plot quickens as he becomes involved in more espionage activities, stealing documents and pieces of military equipment, monitoring the safe houses on an escape line from Paris though various towns to Spain and setting up a small Resistance cell to collect rifles and agents landed by Lysander plane in the French countryside.
As the war begins to swing in the Allies favour, Paul and his comrades take more and more risks, sometimes close to arrest and death. Paranoia reigns as Resistance members aren't sure who they can trust. Meanwhile, in Britain the "civil servants", men involved in the Special Operations Executive - the organisation set up in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe - send Paul on more dangerous missions.
The tension becomes almost unbearable as we wonder if he and his closest friends will survive.
The author effortlessly captures the atmosphere of wartime Paris with German occupying forces everywhere and French men and women divided in their loyalties - some are with the growing Resistance movement while others, especially many police officers, serve their Nazi masters.
Strict curfews, food rationing, secrecy, fear and resentment seep from every page. This is yet another thrilling read from a master of gripping espionage fiction.

[Alex Cantone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Under Occupation opens in Oct 1942, Paris has been under Nazi occupation for two years and Parisians go about their business as best they can with rationing, extra food sourced from the countryside, taxis converted to burn coal (oil is only available to the Germans), carrying papers issued by the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) – Nazi intelligence - controlling how and where they live and nightly curfews.

Former journalist Paul Ricard writes detective/spy novels in a garret on Rue de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter, his life revolving around his writing, café life, his publisher Julien Montrésor, a friend Kasia, an émigré Pole who works in “The Bookshop” and his girlfriend/lover Romany - possibly a Hungarian aristocrat - who lives in a well-heeled area of Paris near the Pont d’Alma Métro. His life takes a sudden turn when a man in the street is shot by the Gestapo (always faceless men) and before dying, thrusts a folded piece of paper in Ricard's pocket. This proves to be the blueprint for a detonator for a torpedo – the German U-boats harassing the merchant shipping fleet. Through contacts the paper is smuggled into the hands of British intelligence, but then Ricard and Kasia are co-opted to helping the Resistance, through the exotic Leila, their undercover work taking them across France and into Germany to the Polish workers at the shipyards in Kiel.

Author Alan Furst excels at portraying ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The story unfolds as a series of vignettes, from October 1942 through to February 1944, when with their cover blown, they take to the escape lines and network of safe houses leading to Spain. In between there are acts of selflessness balanced by the greed of those profiteering from the war. I particularly liked how Furst captures the atmosphere of Paris.

He opened the window and the street life of the city flowed in: barking dogs, mothers yelling gout of the window at their kids, the itinerant scissor sharpener calling out for customers, and that certain, very particular scent the city wore, compounded of age and dust and sewers and perfume and Gauloises smoke and potatoes frying in oil. Ricard inhaled deeply and knew he was home.

I was also drawn in by the crowded trains and railway stations, the journey to Brussels curtailed as the RAF strafed the carriages, the foods and affaires de Coeur of people waiting for the occupation to end. Patchy in places - the line Kasia travelled west, crossing the frontier into Switzerland had my internal compass in a spin. From where???

Not his best work (a little rushed to meet publishing deadlines?), but a fairly decent read at just over 200 pages.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Topic

I mostly enjoyed this book. I have to admit that it is far below the wonderful books that Alan Furst produced earlier.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

His latest entry in the iconic Night Soliders series is, to my heartbreaking disappointment, nowhere near as good as his other books. Furst is so much better than this, and at times I even thought someone else tried to poorly mimic his style, some middling student swiped his notes and gave it a shot. It just doesn’t feel like him. It’s like Mona Lisa without her smile. It’s like the Rolling Stones without Mick and Keith. It’s a Christmas tree without the ornaments. The story of French spy novelist (and eager resistance fighter) Paul Ricard, who has an interesting life and could have been fleshed out into something truly special, reads like a rough first draft, the sort where you get a lot of ideas down and you’ll decide later which ones to more fully explore. But that didn’t happened. It skips from scene to scene with the briefest of details and development, with cardboard thin motivations and what felt like multiple sins in the espionage game. For example, characters meeting for the first time open right up about their feelings about the Germans and fascism and give away their intent and plans without the barest worry about counter-espionage movements, which is something we’re warned about in all his other books. Those who have read his entire series know the spy game well, but if feels like the game was played with little regard for the rules this time. Yes, some of these folks may be amateurs, but in every situation things works out, everything is simply resolved, they travel to remote cities and towns and easily find the contacts they need, the items they’re to smuggle, the secrets they aim to acquire, and everyone is always willing to help. It all feels just…too easy. The stakes never felt smaller. And it made me quite sad, because he can do and has done so much better. And while Furst typically writes love scenes and female descriptions with grace and subtlety, all that felt rush here and terribly clunky, corny, and awkward. It’s not the worst book I’ve read, but it’s a mere ghost of his greatness. If you’re a completist, go ahead and read it, but then go read Dark Star or something else. And if you’re new to Furst, don’t start here, and don’t stop here either.

You can read the rest of my Alan Furst reviews and rankings at www.jameshduncan.com.

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alas, Mr. Furst’s curve no longer breaks; his fastball is indistinguishable from his change-up; and I’d never leave him on the mound long enough for any hitter to get through the line-up twice. (Q.V.: all baseball metaphors.) In short, Furst is finished.

Why? Remember when his books were stuffed full of ennui? And it was more about character than plot? The very best Furst (“Kingdom of Shadows”) combined both. He’s been slowly back-sliding. The last one was heavy on the bass-kick, but too little high-hat.

This book, Furst’s 15th has nothing. Only a single character is beyond cardboard. One woman seems to be inserted because she’s lesbian. Another woman appears in Reel 2 and announces she’s in love with the lead character at the end. As for ennui, it’s escaped.

Sure, there’s a plot. But it doesn’t really hang together and, frankly, it’s more effective as a sleeping pill.

In this era, no writer can stay in the big leagues his whole life. I’m afraid this is Furst’s funeral.

[Molly Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well this is kind of heartbreaking and something I never thought I would see...me giving a single star to an Alan Furst book. I have read all of his espionage novels and loved them. When I found out this title had been published I reserved it from the library and waited for it with great anticipation. When the book finally arrived I cleared my schedule so I could just wallow in it. But within a few pages, I knew something had gone very, very wrong. There is no other way to put it...the book is poorly written. I cannot believe it came from the pen of Alan Furst. Even Count Polanyi and the Brasserie Heininger are missing. The book reads like a first draft that needed a lot of work that it didn't get. I cannot imagine why Random House published it in this condition. I refused to give up on it, hoping for a miracle...I managed to finish it but the miracle never happened and the book was very disappointing. I hope this is not Furst's final title because I would like to see him finish with a far better book than this is. I know he is capable of much better work.

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

What on earth happened to Alan Furst? I’ve found most of his novels to be well-written, intriguing, well-researched and unputdownable, but this one was just not good at all! The storyline was interesting (detective novelist becomes part of the Résistance without really trying), but it is so fragmented, unclear, and disjointed, and honestly a bit boring. Ricard hops from operation to operation, getting out of all kinds of dire situations without a scratch (and for the most part his escapes aren’t believable), and no one ever bothers to actually arrest him even if they know what he is doing?!
This novel read like it was written by a bored author, and if you are just getting into Alan Furst I wouldn’t suggest this one.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

May not be Furst's greatest novel, but it's still full of atmospheric touches that instill a palpable sense of Paris in the reader, and also full of a sense of gradually increasing menace and paranoia. The reader learns about the WWII Parisian native Ricard, a spy novelist in the vein of Eric Ambler, who is slowly and inevitably drawn into a life of real espionage when the Germans occupy Paris and the Americans don't seem to be coming to the rescue of the French. Ricard is controlled by a British SOE handler named Adrian, and in love with a Turkish spy named Leila. Along with his partner, the young Polish spy Kasia, he is pulled deeper and deeper into helping compromised resisters flee France via an escape network of safe houses. Some of my book club found it a little slow, but one (like me) is a Furst fan - he had read the entire series and highly recommends his work, particularly for the novels set between the world wars in Europe. Full of atmosphere, accurate historical detail, and deft touches that illuminate the difficulties of wartime life in an occupied country.

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard for me to criticize one of my favorite writers, Alan Furst, who has been a favorite since his first book, Night Soldiers, came out in 1988. His latest, Under Occupation, comes nowhere near his earlier novels, which seem to get less interesting with each one.
It is 1942 and the Germans are occupying Paris. Furst is excellent at atmosphere, but the tidbits he drops from time to time about life under the Germans are redundant; he's used them before. Even his writing is a bit clunky: in his first chapter he seems to be giving us a tour of Paris "under occupation."
Paul Ricard, a writer of thrillers, bumps into a man in a Paris Street who is being chased by the Gestapo. Before he dies the man thrusts a piece of paper into Ricard's pocket (I seem to have read that before too) thus pushing Ricard into the world of the Resistance and espionage. Soon he meets Leila, a member of the Resistance, and after a few escapades they enjoy the expected one night stand.
Ricard's character is a cardboard cutout as is Leila's. He has one acquaintance, Kasia, a prostitute, who he had sex with in the past, but is now into girls. Kasia helps him and although he's a writer he seems to take to smuggling, hiding, stealing, and killing like a typical James Bond, being pretty successful and efficient. He has no brothers, sisters, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins. Leila claims she has family in Turkey; she turns up only once or twice during the whole book so if they are in love it is without passion or even emotion but a bit of cocaine spices up the sex. I gave it 3 stars. However, I am very disappointed. Is this what I waited 3 years for?

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyed this spy thriller based in 1940's France and was a page turner and kept me glued until the final pages

[Don Hare · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Plot too thin

This was a very disappointing book. It was just not credible. The situational dynamics were glib, the sub plots of the actions naive, the time scales unbelievable - eg after shooting a GESTAPO officer in an evening, Richard is presented with a poster with his face on it offering a 10,000 franc reward; two hours after the event; when previously he had been free to wander the streets!
The ending was "happy ever after" for all concerned written in about two paragraphs. I think the author was as bored with the novel as I was.

[Steven Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

For devotees of the writings of Alan Furst, the superb purveyor of historical fiction dealing with pre-World War II and World War II historical fiction, a new novel, UNDER OCCUPATION, his first book since 2016 has just been published. After fourteen previous successes that include THE POLISH OFFICER, THE SPIES OF WARSAW, SPIES OF THE BALKANS, and THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, Furst has constructed a story that provides the reader what it was like to live under German occupation in France during 1942 and 1943. As the war began to turn against “the Boche” after Stalingrad and the allied landing in North Africa the French people began to have a glimmer of hope, not realizing they had another two years of suffering under German oppression. The concept that Furst develops is based on fact as Polish prisoners in Nazi Germany smuggled detailed intelligence to the Paris and the resistance throughout the war, in addition to cooperating with British intelligence.

Furst’s story line rests with Paul Ricard, a writer of detective and spy fiction who finds himself walking to a Parisian café when shots ring out as a man runs by and knocks him to the ground. The man is mortally wounded but before he dies Ricard tries to assist him. The stranger sticks a piece of paper in his pocket which turns out to be an engineering schematic with the hand printed German word “Zunder” and the French word, “detonateur.” Ricard has just turned in his latest novel, MIDNIGHT IN TRIESTE to his publisher and Furst makes the important point that these types of novels are essential for the French people to try diverting their attention away from their plight.

Ricard will be coopted into trying to find the source of the schematic and why it was important so it can be conveyed to British intelligence. IN getting to know Ricard the reader will follow the evolution of a detective spy novelist into a resistance fighter working with MI6. Furst creates a number of important characters to carry his plot. Adrian, Ricard’s handler. Colonel J.P. de Roux, a former member of French intelligence introduces Ricard to Leila, a member of the Polish Resistance whose family has assisted others oppressed by war since the beginning of the 20th century ranging from the Czarist Ohkrana to Ottoman Turks during World War I. Other characters follow, all who play an important role in trying to deliver the finished product to the British. Ricard and Kaisa, another immigrant Pole travel to Kiel and learn from Polish workers who were seized after the 1939 invasion of their country to work on German submarines as machinists and welders that the schematic was for a U- Boat torpedo detonator that could blow a ten-foot hole into any merchant ship it encountered. Once the device is delivered to British assets, Ricard and company are now tasked to steal a completed torpedo and some how turn it over to the British.

Furst’s plot unfolds very carefully as he has the knack of integrating previous historical events into his story. He provides an accurate picture for what life was like under Nazi occupation. For those who supported Vichy and Marshall Petain, life was tolerable, however if you had a skill that the Germans needed you were rounded up and sent to slave camps in Germany to facilitate German war production. Furst comes up with an interesting term, “desk murderer” as he describes the work of Wehrmacht SS Major Erhard Geisler whose bureaucratic function was to prepare lists of possible industrial workers, Jews, Gypsies etc. that would seal their fate – work for the Reich or die in an extermination camp. Even Ricard found himself on a list as a writer – someone who could prepare propaganda for Goebbels disinformation machine. Picard’s career in the resistance expands to include creating a safe house to keep agents safe and eliminating anyone French or not who did not conform to resistance needs.

Janet Hulstrad, a book reviewer asked Furst in a 2016 interview upon the publication of his previous novel, HERO OF FRANCE, why he had chosen the period 1933 to 1943 for his novels. His response; it was an “intense….amazingly dynamic period of time. People were very passionate, they may have been passionate about politics, but they were also passionate about each other, partly because it was as if the world is coming to an end, so we’d better do whatever we’re going to do before that happens… * Furst’s description fits the pattern of most of his novels including UNDER OCCUPATION, which draws the reader into the lives of his characters who face many life threatening decisions. These characters are well developed, and their interactions are presented in a thoughtful manner as Ricard, an espionage novelist now finds himself in the midst of his own real-life spy thriller.

Furst is a master of the plot, but he also possesses a superb literary style that allows the darkness of the overall atmosphere he describes to be somewhat poetic allowing hope for the human condition to shine through. For the French under occupation each day presented a dilemma, how much should we cooperate and/or how much or how could we fight back. It is clear that Furst loves Paris and the French people with his descriptions of French food and culture as things to be admired despite the novels setting. Furst latest effort highlights a heroic effort by those who resisted the Germans, efforts that in total went a long way to finally defeating the Germans in 1945.

*Interview with Alan Furst, author of the Newly Released “A Hero of France” By Janet Hulstrand -
May 31, 2016, Bonjour Paris.

[Lance Charnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read an Alan Furst novel. As I noted in my review of Mission to Paris, I started becoming aware that he was recycling his plot devices as well as his research. I figured I'd give his Night Soldiers "series" (it's held together by a time period rather than a set of characters or a common story) a rest for a while and let him freshen up his approach.

I didn't wait long enough. Under Occupation is perhaps the least satisfying of the Furst books I've read.

The setup: Parisian crime novelist Paul Ricard literally runs into a man fleeing les flics one day in 1942. The soon-to-be-dead man passes him a classic Macguffin (plans to a new weapon) and tells him to get it to the Resistance. Once Ricard does, he gets embroiled in an ever-spiraling entanglement with the Underground, British spies, the Gestapo, and other bad actors of all sorts.

As is typical for Furst, the story's setting is sketched lightly and economically, the characters hit their marks reliably, and the dialog sounds appropriate coming from what we know of those characters. If this sounds to you like damning with faint praise, you have a good ear -- this is about the minimum the author's readers expect of him.

This time around, he seems to have provided only the minimum necessary to get by. Except for Ricard, most of the characters are sketched as lightly as the settings, and many are at best types rather than people. Ricard himself is not as strong a lead as Furst had in some of his earlier books. As a writer of crime and spy novels (much like his creator...hmmm), he's by temperament more an observer than a doer, but otherwise his background doesn't seem to either help or hinder his progress toward becoming a guerrilla warrior. Annoyingly, virtually every female character under the age of seventy finds him irresistible and ends up in bed with him, even though there's little reason given in his manner or the plot for this attraction.

Furst has never been one for lush scene-setting. However, in this episode, his 1942 Paris often is reduced to a series of street names or passing remarks about arrondissements without the telling details that made his earlier books such a pleasure to read. Many of the recycled tropes I called out in Mission to Paris are repeated without much embellishment. Several of the reviewers here have called this a first draft in need of a firm editorial hand; I don't disagree.

Had the plot been up to the standard of, say, The Polish Officer , much of these problems would've been (grudgingly) forgivable. However, some of the issues I stumbled over in Dark Star also fester here, chief among them the lack of a compelling throughline. This book, like Dark Star, feels like a short story collection with a continuing central character rather than a single story with a strong dramatic arc. Worse yet, the reader will find him/herself to be smarter than the characters at almost every turn. Virtually every time Ricard and his tribe plan to do something that sounds like a bad idea, it turns out to be as bad as expected in the ways expected. There's little that goes on here that we haven't seen in a few dozen other French Resistance tales before it. Surprise isn't a major element in the storytelling.

I listened to this book rather than read it. On the upside, the narrator did fine with the names and large number of French terms; on the downside, his overly dramatic delivery quickly grew tiresome. Luckily, at around 200 pages, there was a limit to how long it all lasted.

All this pains me. Furst's early novels made him one of my authorial heroes. Now that I'm pondering writing a historical crime/spy novel of my own, I still look back to those first works as examples to follow.

Under Occupation is at best a minor entry in the now long-running Night Soldiers saga. All series authors are entitled to an off day; maybe that's what happened this time. I hope so. It would be too sad to contemplate that the author has tired of his own raison d'etre and has started phoning in his books. If you haven't sampled Furst's writing yet, start with the high notes ( The Spies of Warsaw , The World at Night , etc.) first. Maybe by the time you finish the first six or seven, he'll have put out a new book more worthy of continuing the series.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less a novel than a series of vignettes illustrating French resistance activities during the Occupation. Mildly interesting, but I didn’t much care about the characters or what became of them. I’ve read two Furst books now and it strikes me that he’s better at researching a particular time period than telling a compelling story.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free publisher's advance review copy via Netgalley.

Paul Ricard, a Paris-based crime novelist, becomes enmeshed in the resistance against France’s Nazi occupiers almost by accident. A man is shot on the street and manages to give Paul what appears to be a technical drawing and asks him to get it to the British.

Once Ricard tracks down a resistance contact and passes on the document, he is recruited to act as an agent. He starts by traveling to Germany as a journalist reporting on a bridge opening, but that’s just his cover. His real purpose is to make contact with Polish slave laborers working on the Germans’ torpedo technology so that he can pass on additional intelligence to the British. He brings along his friend Kasia to communicate with the Poles, and she becomes another Resistance regular.

As usual, Furst’s focus is on a bit player. This gives us the on-the-ground view, and personalizes the story. In so many books, the Resistance members are portrayed as fearless warriors, but that’s never the case with Furst. Ricard wants to rid his beloved France of the occupiers and he’s willing to help the Resistance, but he feels real fear and reluctance. And yet, along with Kasia and his principal contacts Leila and Adrian, he keeps going, step by step, until he’s doing things he would never have imagined.

This is a short novel, written sparely, with Furst’s usual atmospheric evocation of the wartime underworld. It’s a good read, though I would have liked to have a more detailed story.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is absolutely no “Oomph” to this ‘spy’ novel by “America’s preeminent spy novelist”.
I found myself drifting throughout the reading of this very short novel due to some very improbable scenarios.
It could have been called “The Reluctant Spy” as the main character, mystery novelist Ricard, is more or less involuntarily propelled into spying rather than knowingly and purposefully deciding to spy for the resistance.
Very disappointing offering by such an esteemed author.

[David Whigham · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst Furst

Can't believe he wrote this unless suffering from early signs of dementia
Poor writing and a ludicrous plot with so many inconsistencies that I nearly did not finish it
Altogether rubbish

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the same quality as his earlier works - if you have not read an Alan Furst novel before, I would recommend taking a pass on this one and instead recommend Night Soldiers, Dark Star, or The Polish Officer to see a master craftsman at his best.

[Aggeliki Spiliopoulou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ο Άλαν Φέρστ επανέρχεται με ένα ακόμα ιστορικό κατασκοπευτικό μυθιστόρημα με φόντο την κατεχόμενη από τους ναζί Γαλλία.
Η ιστορία ξεκινά στο Παρίσι κατά τη διάρκεια του Β'ΠΠ. Υπό την φιλογερμανική Κυβέρνηση του Βισί του Φιλίπ Πεταίν, ο γαλλικός λαός δυσανασχετεί που ζει κάτω από το φόβο του Γερμανού κατακτητή.
Ο Σαρλ ντε Γκωλ, βρισκόμενος στην Αγγλία, προσπαθεί να οργανώσει τη Γαλλική αντίσταση.  Πολλοί ανεξάρτητοι πυρήνες ήδη δρουν στο γαλλικό έδαφος με την αρωγή Αγγλίας και Αμερικής.
Ο συγγραφέας κατασκοπικών μυθιστορημάτων, Πολ Ρικάρ, βαδίζει στους δρόμους του Παρισιού. Ένας άνθρωπος που καταδιώκεται από την Γκεστάπο πέφτει τραυματισμένος από τα πυρά τους. Ο Πολ τον συντρέχει και πριν ο άγνωστος ξεψυχήσει στα χέρια του του παραδίδει εμπιστευτικά ένα έγγραφο. Πρόκειται για ένα σχέδιο κατασκευής πυροκροτητή  τορπίλης γερμανικής προέλευσης. Μέσω γνωριμιών ο Πολ έρχεται σε επαφή με μέλη του αντιστασιακού δικτύου και του ζητείται η συμμετοχή του. Καλείται να παραδώσει το εν λόγω έγγραφο στις συμμαχικές δυνάμεις. Γίνεται ο ήρωας των μυθιστορημάτων που μέχρι τώρα έγραφε. Ήρθε πλέον η στιγμή και ο ίδιος να δράσει κατά των ναζιστών κατακτητών.
Πολωνοί κρατούμενοι που υποκλέπτουν τεχνικέ�� πληροφορίες και τις προωθούν στις βρετανικές μυστικές υπηρεσίες,  πυρήνες Γάλλων αντιστασιακών που δρουν ενάντια στον Χίτλερ, δίκτυα φυγάδευσης ανθρώπων προς Ισπανία, Αγγλία, Αμερική, επικίνδυνες αποστολές κατασκόπων και ο άνθρωπος που παλεύει με το φόβο του και προσπαθεί να επιζήσει βλέποντας το κακό να κατασπαράζει την υπόσταση του.
Ο Φέρστ, χωρίς να χάνει τον ρομαντισμό του, μας μεταφέρει το γκρίζο,  ζοφερό περιβάλλον της Ευρώπης του Β'ΠΠ, τις διακυμάνσεις στον ψυχισμό των ανθρώπων, τις δυσκολίες για επιβίωση, τη δυσβάστακτη πραγματικότητα του διαρκούς φόβου που καλλιεργούσε το ναζιστικό καθεστώς, του οργανωμένου συστήματος τρόμου,  κύριο στοιχείο των ολοκληρωτικών καθεστώτων.

[Stephen Hackett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disappointing. As other reviewers have said, this feels like a draft - some sections are little more than sketches, others far better developed. I can see that Furst was perhaps trying to convey the fleeting nature of wartime encounters, as agents and refugees pass through Paris and on to the next safe house, but it wasn't well enough done to be convincing. The author also treats his readers like dimwits, explaining every French phrase, constantly telling rather than showing. I wondered whether this was a work of 'contractual obligation' and pictured Furst cobbling together ideas and characters from his desk drawer to concoct a single, thin and unsatisfying narrative for his publisher... At one point a Spanish character refers to spending the previous Christmas 'in a trench outside Madrid'. This would make sense if the current novel was set in 1939, but this book is set in late 1942-43 (though the timeline is not always clear). Was this episode originally sketched for a different time and place, then carelessly pasted in to 'Under Occupation'? Does Furst have an editor?
Ironically, the main protagonist Ricard - essentially a 1940s French Alan (Alain?) Furst who makes his living writing anti-fascist espionage novels - was not at all convincing as a character in himself, still less his writing life. Ricard could have been an interesting new lead character - perhaps Furst was planning a series of Ricard novels, of which 'Under Occupation' is a distillation (or a publisher's treatment)? Who knows. All I can say is that this is way below par for a writer whose earlier work was innovative and clever, but which now teeters on the brink of self-parody.

[Paul Manytravels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Occupied Paris by Alan Furst reads more like the skeleton of a novel than a completed work. At almost every turn, the reader finds something that needs more explanation, more detail or more development. The plot is old and fmiliar and its stock design shows through all the more because to the sparse handling of the entire story line and its set of characters.
Furst has written a number of first rate WW II spy-suspense novels and that were riveting. Why would he allow his reputation to be besmerched by writing something like this?
While the entirety of the novel disappoints, there are three signifanctly important things that are particularly weak.
First, the recruitment of undercover agents is done too easily. This really needed to be fleshed out to establish the danger and intrigue of the entire plot.
Second, along the same lines, in this book, agents make contact with other agents too easily. In a time in which no one was to be trusted and everything and everyone was suspect, the contact between one agent and another needed to be filled with suspicions, security checks and nervousness. Too little of that is conveyed in this novel.
Finally, the overall sense of suspense and tension in a novel like this depends on the suspense built up in each of its tense episodes. It this novel, those episodes generally conclude too quickly, just at the points when the tension was only beginning to rise.
Each of these complaints contributes to my earlier observation: this feels like a novel the author grew tired of or didn't care about.
It also feels like the last novel of Furst's that I will spend money on.

[Mike Sumner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classic Alan Furst, set in occupied Paris, 1942. Furst's ability to recreate the terrors of espionage is matchless. I have always admired the resilience and courage of the French resistance, working secretly to defeat Hitler. The German occupying forces are everywhere...

Paul Ricard is a novelist of some repute and becomes ensnared in the world of espionage when a man being chased by the Gestapo hands over a strange-looking document to the unsuspecting novelist before he dies, shot trying to escape. The document is a blueprint of a part for a military weapon, important information for the Allied forces. Ricard has no choice but try to get it into the hands of members of the resistance network. He is unwittingly drawn deeper into ant-German efforts, has to travel deep into enemy territory and along escape routes set up by the resistance. He begins to work with Leila, a professional spy, to get crucial information out of France...

As he becomes known to the Gestapo he has to desperately avoid capture. The last twenty minutes or so of Under Occupation are a breathless race to escape their clutches, through the streets of my favourite city that Furst knows so well.

Not quite up to Furst's earlier work but an exciting read nevertheless.

[Dipra Lahiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Espionage thriller set in occupied France in the 1930s, with great atmosphere but falls a bit short on character development, and ends with a whimper.

[Keith Currie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not awful, but not any good either.