Frederic Stahl, a Hollywood film star, travels from Beverly Hills to the boulevards of Paris. It is a dangerous,difficult, seductive time: Europe is about to explode, and the Parisians are living every night as though it were their last. As filming progresses, Stahl is drawn into a clandestine world of foreign correspondents, embassy officials, and spies of every sort. His engagements take him from the bistros of Paris to the back alleys of Morocco; from a Hungarian castle to Kristallnacht, and the chilling heart of the Third Reich. But can he survive as German operatives track him across Paris? Gripping, haunting, and deeply passionate, Mission to Paris is the ultimate portrait of a people at war and Alan Furst's most panoramic, lovingly described,and finest book to date.
I was approved of a galley copy of this novel for review. This was my first Alan Furst novel (has been meaning to read his work for a very long time now) and I highly enjoyed it. The reader follows actor Frederic Stahl as he encounters an array of different characters while filming in Paris, some of whom are Nazi sympathisers and operatives. It was also interesting to follow him as he films the movie; I don't know much about how movies were filmed abroad during this time so it was a fascinating read.
The espionage aspect was a slow burn but also realistic, with a few twists and turns along the way to up the suspense. Along the way, the reader also learns more about who Frederic Stahl is as a person, where his convictions lie and about his past. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to fans of the espionage genre and novels set during in and around World War Two.
My complete review of the novel was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2013/06/12/review-mission-to-paris/
