Paris in the Dark by Robert Olen Butler

Published by Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press on Sept. 4, 2018

Christopher Marlowe “Kit” Cobb is a war correspondent in France in 1915. He is also an American spy. As a journalist, he is doing a story on American ambulance drivers with the hope that tales of American courage will prod Wilson to enter the war. As a spy, Cobb is asked to contact a German informant in Paris who knows something about the recent bombing of a hotel, presumably a German tactic to spread fear in Paris. He learns that a dangerous man has entered France using the name Franz Staub and posing as a refugee. Cobb’s mission is to kill Staub — assuming that Lang’s information is accurate.

Cobb finds and follows Staub, but he also finds a nurse. When he delays his mission to spend amorous time with the nurse, he finds reason to condemn his departure from duty. But it’s Paris, so Cobb can hardly be blamed.

In the meantime, Cobb is riding along with an American ambulance driver in France as part of his journalistic cover. Cyrus Parsons is a farm boy turned bookworm who seems to be concealing greater depth than he can easily reveal to a reporter. Another driver, John Barrington Lacey, strikes Cobb the wrong way, perhaps because of Lacey’s Harvard hauteur, perhaps because Lacey has designs on the nurse.

The plot of Paris in the Dark (Cobb's assignment is more challenging than it first appears) is not particularly surprising, but the story is engaging, fast-moving, and convincing. Robert Olen Butler builds suspense by placing Cobb in a series of tense moments that lead to the novel’s final dramatic encounter. Butler includes enough action to make the story fit the conventions of a thriller, but the novel's focus is on the characters whose lives have shaped their differing perspectives on the value of anarchy.

Butler has had a versatile career as an author, dancing between literary and genre fiction, but he invariably brings a literary flair to his storytelling when he chooses to write thrillers. He creates atmosphere and develops believable characters without relying on unnecessary detail. His prose is gritty but graceful. There’s an appealing simplicity to Paris in the Dark — Butler doesn’t make the mistake of overreaching — but unlike some of Butler’s other work, the story does not stand out as a commentary on the human condition. Butler isn’t going to win another Pulitzer for Paris in the Dark, but the book should entertain fans of historical thrillers.

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