Midnight in Europe

April 21, 2014
After a slow start, this spy thriller set in 1938 from Edgar finalist Furst (Mission to Paris) settles into a lazy pace, as it charts the attempts of two part-time arms dealers, Chistián Ferrar and Max de Lyon, to serve the Spanish Republic and its beleaguered army while most of the continent has its eye on Berlin. Every clandestine mission they undertake—a prolonged quest for cannons in Poland, a nifty operation to trick Russia out of field guns and antiaircraft weaponry in Odessa—is fraught with struggle, and the pro-Franco Nazi spy apparatus always seems one step ahead. A revolving cast of secondary characters leads several plotlines that peter out, heavy on atmosphere, light on action. As usual, Furst manages to capture the fragile, itinerant nature of European life during the interwar period, dropping in hints of the horror to come, but this is one of his less memorable efforts. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM.

May 15, 2014
Another tense drama of pre-World War II Europe from a master of the period.December 1937. Attorney Cristian Ferrar is a Spaniard working in Paris and New York. Civil war rages in his native country, and he fears deeply that Francisco Franco's fascists-the Nationalists-will win. On the other side are the Republicans, who are communists and other loyalists supported by Stalin's Soviet Union. It is in many ways a proxy war between Hitler and Stalin and a precursor to world war. Spies are everywhere, perhaps even in the hero's bed. "For the secret services of Germany, Italy and the USSR, the civil war was a spymaster's dream," Furst writes. He portrays Europe with masterful foreboding, a mood that paints the continent in shades of gray. On both sides, people disappear at the slightest suspicion of treason. Ferrar wants to help the Republicans before all is lost, but how? Messerschmidts supplied by Hitler continually divebomb and slaughter the Republican troops. Almost no country wants to help them-not the United States, not Britain, not France. Italy, of course, is under fascist control. What about the Soviet Union? Can Ferrar and his friend de Lyon buy anti-aircraft munitions from the Soviets? No, not officially. Stalin knows he will eventually need them. But perhaps with the right connections, Ferrar can relieve an Odessa warehouse of the needed materiel and sail it successfully to Valencia. It is an act of bravery and desperation that even with the best outcome won't tip the balance, but Ferrar doesn't know that. As usual, Furst manages to hold the reader's rapt attention without blood-and-guts action.Furst owns the dark blanket that covers Europe between the two world wars. His latest is a satisfying, thought-provoking read.

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Starred review from May 1, 2014
In 1937, the lights were going out in Europe, but jackbooted blackness had not quite swept the Continent. Through multiple novels, Furst has illuminated moments of reluctant courage and desperate love in a world teetering on the edge of destruction. He does so again here, and, as always, he does it exquisitely. We've met Furst's unwilling heroes before, typically in Paris, as they bask in the City of Light while turning away from the chaos in their homeland, whether Poland, Italy, or Germany. This time it's Spain, where a doomed war is already raging. Spanish 'migr' Christin Ferrar is a successful lawyer at an international firm, juggling his time between Paris and New York and happy to be far from the troubles in Spain. Yet, when he is approached to aid those supplying the Republican troops with arms, he is surprised to find himself complying. And so begins another tale of clandestine operations in which civilians step up, not out of idealism but out of the realization that history affords them no other choice. Furst is a master of mood, but, above all, he is able to show how the most personal of emotionslove, especiallydrives the actions of men and women caught in a time of peril.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014

In 1938 Paris, Spanish Bourbon descendant Gregorio D'Alba runs guns and gathers intelligence for the Spanish Republic, then goes big time when he agrees to infiltrate the Nationalist government (with a little support from the British and Americans). Sales for master-of-espionage Furst keep going up.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014

In Furst's latest suavely detached historical spy thriller, Cristian Ferrar is a Spanish emigre living in Paris. It's 1938, and the Spanish Civil War is raging while the Nazis are taking over Germany. Having fled Spain years earlier with his family at age 12, Ferrar has adapted well to France and is now a successful lawyer at a French law firm. He agrees, however, to do what he can to help the Spanish Republic after he's asked to assist with buying arms for the war effort. His first foray into weapon dealing takes him to Berlin, where Nazi rule has gotten uncomfortably dangerous. Some quick thinking and inspired negotiating free his compatriot from imprisonment and gain them a source for weapons. This takes Ferrar and company next to Poland, where they have to recover a hijacked train full of weapons. VERDICT Despite an intriguing and several escapades fraught with danger, there is little here of the suspense one expects from a spy thriller, leaving the reader a bit underwhelmed. Strictly for Furst fans.--Melissa DeWild, Kent District Lib., Comstock Park, MI

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.