A Hero of France by Alan Furst

Published by Random House on May 31, 2016

A Hero of France is not as meaty as Alan Furst’s best works, but at least he didn’t pad the story as do so many best-selling authors. The hero to whom the title refers is Mathieu. He is in the French resistance, working to return British flyers to England after they parachute from crashing bombers.

The first two-thirds of the novel introduces a few British aviators who are spirited out of France with Mathieu’s help. I formed no attachment to any of those characters because they didn’t stay around long enough to warm my heart. Other people who assist Mathieu’s operation of the escape line make occasional appearances, but none of them are given great substance. A British official tries to pressure Mathieu to expand his efforts by engaging in espionage, but the Brit plays such a limited role that it is difficult to view him as villainous or to care about him one way or another.

That leaves Mathieu, the novel’s constant, but we know more about what Mathieu does than who he is. Mathieu’s motivation is obvious -- he doesn’t like Germans, at least not after they’ve taken control of his country, and he doesn’t like collaborators, including the French government -- but all of that is fairly superficial. It isn’t the sort of character development that readers have come to expect from Alan Furst.

The early stages of the novel foreshadow trouble for Mathieu and his small band of conspirators. A member of the German military police named Breum spends the last third of the novel trying to catch everyone associated with escape-lines. Breum, who wants to save himself from the consequences of an unfavorable performance review, is probably the most carefully developed character in the novel.

My difficulty investing in the episodic plot and bland characters was enhanced by the detached voice in which the story is written. The narrative is interesting but it lacks passion and drama. On the other hand, the background and setting of A Hero of France are up to Furst’s typical standard of excellence. The story wraps up neatly, but perhaps too neatly. There are no surprises. I enjoyed the story, such as it is, but this is one of Furst’s weaker novels.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst

Published by Random House on June 3, 2014

Midnight in Europe takes place in 1937-38. The clash between right and left is tearing Europe apart, particularly in Spain. Cristián Ferrar, a Barcelona-born lawyer working for an American firm in Paris, is recruited to help the Republicans in Spain acquire arms to use in the war against Franco and the Nationalists. He is taking the place of a man who was murdered in Madrid after traveling there at the request of an agent he was controlling.

Assisting Max de Lyon, Ferrar works to acquire arms to smuggle into Spain, a mission that takes him to Poland, where the train carrying his munitions is hijacked, and to Odessa, where he schemes to steal anti-aircraft ammunition from a naval base without incurring Stalin's wrath. In addition to his clandestine activities, Ferrar does some lawyering as he seeks to resolve a family dispute involving dogs and a French holding company that owns a bank in Budapest. He also pursues romance with a Spanish marquesa. The romance eventually contributes to the intrigue. The same cannot be said of the family quarrel.

Intrigue is an element that Alan Furst always delivers, along with strong characters, yet most of his novels deliver more tension than this one. Furst's books always appeal to the intellect -- their settings and backgrounds are vivid and carefully researched -- but his best books build a palpable sense of foreboding. Midnight in Europe failed to give me the "edge of my seat" feeling that I've had while reading Furst's better work. Perhaps Ferrar, the central character, is too rarely in harm's way. A scene near the end -- one of the best in the book -- places Ferrar in a dangerous situation, but everything after that is an anticlimax. Even Ferrar's relationship with the marquesa is written with such emotional detachment that the intrigue surrounding the affair is subdued. Furst failed to convince me that Ferrar was committed to his nation's struggle (despite his actions on the Republic's behalf) or that he cared about much of anything. That makes it difficult to care about Ferrar.

Despite my reservations about Midnight in Europe, there is much about it that I liked. The plot is tight, the story is credible, the pace is steady, and the prose is lively. While I would have preferred a story with more intensity, Furst's depiction of Europe in the years before World War II is reason enough to admire the novel.

  

RECOMMENDED

Mission to Paris by Alan Furst

Published by Random House on June 12, 2012; released as a trade paperback on June 4, 2013

Jack Warner of Warner Brothers sends Fredric Stahl, an Austrian-born American actor, to Paris, where he will star in a French-made movie. The timing is unfortunate for Stahl. It's 1938 and Germany is engaged in political warfare, using a variety of resources to persuade the French that it would be futile to resist Hitler. Stahl, who has no love of swastikas, would prefer to avoid discussions of politics, but Germany wants to use him as an instrument of propaganda while America wants to use him ... not as a spy, exactly, but as a source of information. About halfway into the novel, Stahl's role changes.

Whether he's describing the contents of a cruise ship newsletter or the streets of Paris, Alan Furst's attention to detail is impressive. Stahl makes brief trips to Germany, Morocco, Hungary, and Romania, but it is Paris that comes alive. The characters are well-rounded, and if not exactly memorable, they all seem real.

Mission to Paris didn't hold me in the clutches of suspense as do Furst's best books, but it is a solid, entertaining novel. A love story that starts as a subplot but eventually takes center stage is more credible than most spy novel love stories. The novel's weakness is that Stahl never seems to be in real danger. Action scenes are subdued. Stahl's ability to waltz to a happy ending, untouched by the intrigue that surrounds him, makes the story less than gripping. Still, the intricacies of political warfare are fascinating, and Mission to Paris never failed to hold my interest.

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