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From Alan Furst, the author of such spy novels as
Dark Star,
Night Soldiers, and
The Polish Officer, comes
The World at Night. Set in Paris just following the fall of France to Germany in 1940, the book tracks film producer Jean Casson, a hard-core denizen of Paris nightlife. The Nazi occupation brings with it shortages, travel restrictions, and the petty humiliations of life under the German occupiers. But it offers Casson the chance for a comfortable life as a collaborator. Instead, he opts to take part in an ill-considered espionage plot, along the way rekindling an old and passionate romance with Citrine, a beautiful actress.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
With uninspired plotting, Furst makes disappointing use of a vividly evoked wartime Paris in his latest WWII espionage novel (The Polish Officer; Dark Star; Night Soldiers). Hedonistic Parisian film producer Jean Casson thrives in Paris's active film industry, enjoying the colorful social scene, the posh restaurants and the beautiful, available women. But this world he knows so well all but disappears when Germans march into France and seize the city. At first, Casson strives merely to survive, but he's soon drawn into duty as an amateur intelligence operative and finds himself in a precarious position, buffeted by British Intelligence, resistance forces and the Gestapo. In the process, Casson discovers two powerful forces within himself?his patriotism and his consuming passion for an old lover, the beautiful actress Citrine. Furst brings this fascinating, historic Paris to life with his usual masterful use of period detail. But while Casson makes an intriguing protagonist, his relationships with other characters are presented rather schematically?in particular, his affair with Citrine, which ultimately proves so influential, is never satisfactorily developed. More importantly, Casson's career as a spy, marked by mixed success on missions that seem insignificant, is anticlimactic and a bit confusing. In the end, the novel never attains the dramatic pitch of Furst's recent The Polish Officer.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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