Scan barcode
A review by flogigyahoo
Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst
3.0
I wanted to write a rave review about Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst, probably one of my favorite authors, but I could only give this one 3 stars although perhaps it deserves more because he delivers exactly what I had hoped and expected and yet this is not one of his better novels.
Christian Ferrar, a Spanish lawyer living in Paris in the years before World War II, is asked by the Spanish Embassy to help the Republican forces in Spain against Franco's fascist army in its bid to take over Spain. He agrees a little reluctantly, but he's a good, straightforward man and feels he must agree. He's paired with Max de Lyon, apparently an experienced spy and they go off to Europe to arrange shipments of munitions, arms, etc. But there's no real reason for the Spanish Embassy needing Mr. Ferrar at all. He has no experience, Max de Lyon seems to do all the talking, he's more of an interesting character than Ferrar. It seemed to me a little silly, and that Furst needed a likable heroic figure and created Ferrar, handsome, smart--but that's all. Also, Furst likes to include a love story in each of his novels, but this one seems forced. There is no real passion felt between Ferrar and his lady love. Actually, one wishes she would just leave so he can get back to being a sometime spy.
That said, the writing is wonderful, Europe--especially Paris, Odessa, Danzig, etc are described so beautifully...some of the best writing of Furst's career. The opening lines are superb and put you right there at once: "On a soft winter evening in Manhattan, the fifteenth of December, 1937, it started to snow; big flakes spun lazily in the sky, danced in the lights of the office buildings, then melted as they hit the pavement..." So despite the 3 stars I give it, this is a beautiful read. It doesn't come up to the standard of his earlier novels, but it's still Alan Furst and he's the best.
Christian Ferrar, a Spanish lawyer living in Paris in the years before World War II, is asked by the Spanish Embassy to help the Republican forces in Spain against Franco's fascist army in its bid to take over Spain. He agrees a little reluctantly, but he's a good, straightforward man and feels he must agree. He's paired with Max de Lyon, apparently an experienced spy and they go off to Europe to arrange shipments of munitions, arms, etc. But there's no real reason for the Spanish Embassy needing Mr. Ferrar at all. He has no experience, Max de Lyon seems to do all the talking, he's more of an interesting character than Ferrar. It seemed to me a little silly, and that Furst needed a likable heroic figure and created Ferrar, handsome, smart--but that's all. Also, Furst likes to include a love story in each of his novels, but this one seems forced. There is no real passion felt between Ferrar and his lady love. Actually, one wishes she would just leave so he can get back to being a sometime spy.
That said, the writing is wonderful, Europe--especially Paris, Odessa, Danzig, etc are described so beautifully...some of the best writing of Furst's career. The opening lines are superb and put you right there at once: "On a soft winter evening in Manhattan, the fifteenth of December, 1937, it started to snow; big flakes spun lazily in the sky, danced in the lights of the office buildings, then melted as they hit the pavement..." So despite the 3 stars I give it, this is a beautiful read. It doesn't come up to the standard of his earlier novels, but it's still Alan Furst and he's the best.