Three Hours in Paris

November 1, 2019

Once again, New York Times best-selling author Black takes us to Paris, but not to continue the long-running sparkle of her "Aimée Leduc" series. Considering why Hitler spent only three hours in the city upon its fall, she introduces skilled markswoman Kate Rees, an American recruited by British intelligence after her husband and daughter die in the blitz. Kate is sent to Paris with instructions to assassinate der Führer, but when her plans go astray, she's on the run, with readers right behind her. A 20-city series of events.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 10, 2020
In October 1939, American Kate Rees, the heroine of this riveting standalone from bestseller Black (the Aimée Leduc series), is living with her naval engineer husband and baby daughter at Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy base in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. After her husband and daughter die during the German U-boat attack on the battleship Royal Oak, Kate becomes obsessed with defeating Hitler. Her rifle skills, learned as a girl hunting in Oregon, earn her a place in a British intelligence operation to assassinate Hitler. In June 1940, with little training, she parachutes into Paris, where Hitler is making a brief visit. Kate gets Hitler in her crosshairs, but her shot misses and she goes on the run. Hitler orders the regular German police and the Gestapo to catch the sniper within 36 hours. Despite numerous obstacles and the realization that no plan was made for her safe return, Kate is determined to make her way to London. Black keeps the suspense high throughout. Fans of The Day of the Jackal won’t want to miss this heart-stopping thriller. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown.

Starred review from February 1, 2020
Why did Hitler arrive in Paris in June 1940?apparently planning to bask in the glory of the German victory over France?and then leave only three hours later? It remains one of WWII's unanswered questions, but Black, in her first historical thriller, posits an intriguing theory: an assassination attempt. The would-be assassin here, American marksman Kate Rees, recovering from the death of her British husband and infant daughter in a bombing, is drafted by British intelligence to do the deed, but, of course, the scheme goes awry, leaving Kate abandoned in Nazi-held Paris, her escape plan compromised and looking for answers as to why she was betrayed and by whom. Black, author of the beloved Aim�e Leduc series set in 1990s Paris, knows a thing or two about frenetic dashes across the city's neighborhoods, into and out of caf�s, bars, and back alleys?after all, she's been tracking Aim�e's peregrinations through 19 novels?but, harried as Aim�e always is, she's never had Nazis on her tail. Brilliantly building on the novel's premise, Black constructs a surprise-filled plot, fueled by breathless pacing, Alan Furst-like atmosphere, and a textured look at Resistance fighters in Paris. There is even a tantalizing subplot involving the surprisingly sympathetic German policeman who is chasing Kate (shades of The Fugitive's Lieutenant Gerard and Richard Kimble). Black stretches her wings here, soaring to new heights.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 15, 2020
Black takes time out from chronicling the neighborhood-themed exploits of half-French detective Aim�e Leduc to introduce a heroine as American as apple pie. Kate Rees never expected to see Paris again, especially not under these circumstances. Born and bred in rural Oregon, she earned a scholarship to the Sorbonne, where she met Dafydd, a handsome Welshman who stole her heart. The start of World War II finds the couple stationed in the Orkney Islands, where Kate impresses Alfred Stepney of the War Department with the rifle skills she developed helping her dad and five brothers protect the family's cattle. After unimaginable tragedy strikes, Stepney recruits Kate for a mission that will allow her to channel her newly ignited rage against the Germans who've just invaded France. She's parachuted into the countryside, where her fluent French should help her blend in. Landing in a field, she hops a milk train to Paris, where she plans to shoot Adolf Hitler as he stands on the steps of Sacre-Coeur. Instead, she kills his admiral and has to flee through the streets of Paris, struggling to hook up with the rescuers who are supposed to extract her. Meanwhile, Gunter Hoffman, a career policeman in a wartime assignment with the Reichssicherheitsdienst security forces, is charged with finding the assassin who dared attempt to kill the F�hrer. It's hard to see how it can end well for both the cop and the cowgirl. The heroine's flight is too episodic to capitalize on Black's skill at character development, but she's great at raising readers' blood pressure. A killer thriller.

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