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thedeathmaven's review against another edition
5.0
I haven’t read a spy thriller in ages, I find most of them get to lost within their own plots. From the blurb and the cover this didn’t jump out as a book that I would enjoy, however I was intrigued about the historical setting and so decided that it was worth a shot.
Paris In The Dark is the fourth outing for the books protagonist Christopher Marlowe Cobb aka Kit Cobb, and in my opinion it worked well as a standalone. I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything by not having read the previous books in the series.
Kit Cobb is an enigmatic hero, a man with many faces who walks a tightrope trying to keep his duplicity under wraps. In France under the guise of been a journalist reporting on the hidden stories of war, Kit is writing a feature on the hotel La Chappelle. Here we meet a number of characters including nurse Louise Pickering and a variety of ambulance drivers, including Harvard Man John Barrington and an Illinois farmers son, Cyrus. Although this aspect of the story is interesting it is a sub-plot and doesn’t add much to the main plot.
In reality Kit is a spy and is working within the city on behalf of the French and American governments. His current assignment is to find out who the German saboteur is who is responsible for a civilian bombing which appears to have been choreographed to destroy the morale of the Parisian civilians and refugees.
At times it feels as if Kit is looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack in trying to uncover who the bomber may be. The intricacies of the saboteurs ideologies, the tense political situation and the atrocities of war make for a backdrop add to the strain it is clear that Kit is experiencing with this particular assignment.
I really appreciated the tautness of the plot, their were no words wasted and it created a pacing that was neither fast or slow, but created a thriller that smoothly pulled you in. It was a brilliantly researched historical book, and I appreciated how the author didn’t go into visceral detail about the atrocities of war. Instead the author allowed the neverending brutality, and the relentlessness of the violence that was being experienced to seep into the narrative so that you were constantly aware of the horror within which each person was living.
It is rare to find books about spies and undercover operatives where the psychological toll is explored. What happens when you can sympathise with the man you are hunting for? How do you continuously live a duplicitous existence? Where does your ‘role’ end and your true being start? The fact that Paris In The Dark brings these questions to light is one of its most admirable traits, making this not only a sophisticated thriller but a captivating story about a man questioning his identity.
Paris In The Dark is the fourth outing for the books protagonist Christopher Marlowe Cobb aka Kit Cobb, and in my opinion it worked well as a standalone. I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything by not having read the previous books in the series.
Kit Cobb is an enigmatic hero, a man with many faces who walks a tightrope trying to keep his duplicity under wraps. In France under the guise of been a journalist reporting on the hidden stories of war, Kit is writing a feature on the hotel La Chappelle. Here we meet a number of characters including nurse Louise Pickering and a variety of ambulance drivers, including Harvard Man John Barrington and an Illinois farmers son, Cyrus. Although this aspect of the story is interesting it is a sub-plot and doesn’t add much to the main plot.
In reality Kit is a spy and is working within the city on behalf of the French and American governments. His current assignment is to find out who the German saboteur is who is responsible for a civilian bombing which appears to have been choreographed to destroy the morale of the Parisian civilians and refugees.
At times it feels as if Kit is looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack in trying to uncover who the bomber may be. The intricacies of the saboteurs ideologies, the tense political situation and the atrocities of war make for a backdrop add to the strain it is clear that Kit is experiencing with this particular assignment.
I really appreciated the tautness of the plot, their were no words wasted and it created a pacing that was neither fast or slow, but created a thriller that smoothly pulled you in. It was a brilliantly researched historical book, and I appreciated how the author didn’t go into visceral detail about the atrocities of war. Instead the author allowed the neverending brutality, and the relentlessness of the violence that was being experienced to seep into the narrative so that you were constantly aware of the horror within which each person was living.
It is rare to find books about spies and undercover operatives where the psychological toll is explored. What happens when you can sympathise with the man you are hunting for? How do you continuously live a duplicitous existence? Where does your ‘role’ end and your true being start? The fact that Paris In The Dark brings these questions to light is one of its most admirable traits, making this not only a sophisticated thriller but a captivating story about a man questioning his identity.
karlou's review against another edition
5.0
The title of this wartime espionage drama is aptly chosen although it is not just Paris in the dark with the theme of not knowing, whether through concealment or ignorance a thread that runs throughout the book. It is Autumn 1915 and though the First World War is slaughtering young men in their droves, the heavily censored news reports mean that the general population is being kept in the dark about what is really happening just forty miles from the cafes, bars and restaurants of Paris. Christoper Marlowe 'Kit' Cobb is a frustrated news reporter who has at least secured clearance to write a story on the American volunteers who drive ambulances to and from the Western Front. America is still officially neutral but Kit's cynical disdain for Woodrow Wilson means he is hopeful that his feature may secure him a visit to the Front in order to galvanise the American public into demanding the President finally decides to commit US troops to join the fighting.
He meets Supervising Nurse, Louise Pickering who applies lilac water each morning as a mask against the smells of wounds and death which will infiltrate her day, and then three young ambulance drivers; John Barrington Lacey, Cyrus Parsons and Jefferson Jones whose hesitations and silences are perhaps just as telling as the reasons they give for coming to France. Kit's other role as an undercover agent soon gives him more to investigate as a series of bombings in Paris suggest German refugees may have infiltrated the city to carry out a wave of terror attacks. The atmospheric setting of the novel weaves itself through the pages giving a Noirish cinematic feel to the story as Kit desperately pursues the bomber. As the book progresses, he discovers the perpetrator is motivated not by war but by ideologies which Kit realises he has some sympathies for. His determination doesn't falter but the case exerts a heavy toll on him.
The true horrors of the war are not written about in visceral detail here and yet the grim effect of the ceaseless butchery on those who witness it is abundantly clear. Kit's relationship with Louise is a poignant beacon of fragile hope among two people who have seen too much but his clandestine mission means that he must conceal his true identity from her. Forced to play his part in an investigation which becomes as much about politically motivated deflections as it is about saving lives, Kit is a complex and conflicted character whose hard-won experiences can't stop him becoming tormented by his inner voice doubting who the real Kit Cobb is. It's perhaps not surprising that he should question his identity as he is the son of an actress who spent his formative years backstage watching others disguise their true selves to play their on-stage personas and it's only as the novel reaches its tense conclusion when he finally realises what his role here really is.
Paris in the Dark is an evocatively written, intriguing tale which balances a nail-biting race against time to stop another bombing with a thoughtful exploration of the psychological effects of living a dual existence. This sophisticated and accomplished thriller is the first book I have read by Robert Olen Butler but now I've been introduced, I'm looking forward to reading more.
He meets Supervising Nurse, Louise Pickering who applies lilac water each morning as a mask against the smells of wounds and death which will infiltrate her day, and then three young ambulance drivers; John Barrington Lacey, Cyrus Parsons and Jefferson Jones whose hesitations and silences are perhaps just as telling as the reasons they give for coming to France. Kit's other role as an undercover agent soon gives him more to investigate as a series of bombings in Paris suggest German refugees may have infiltrated the city to carry out a wave of terror attacks. The atmospheric setting of the novel weaves itself through the pages giving a Noirish cinematic feel to the story as Kit desperately pursues the bomber. As the book progresses, he discovers the perpetrator is motivated not by war but by ideologies which Kit realises he has some sympathies for. His determination doesn't falter but the case exerts a heavy toll on him.
The true horrors of the war are not written about in visceral detail here and yet the grim effect of the ceaseless butchery on those who witness it is abundantly clear. Kit's relationship with Louise is a poignant beacon of fragile hope among two people who have seen too much but his clandestine mission means that he must conceal his true identity from her. Forced to play his part in an investigation which becomes as much about politically motivated deflections as it is about saving lives, Kit is a complex and conflicted character whose hard-won experiences can't stop him becoming tormented by his inner voice doubting who the real Kit Cobb is. It's perhaps not surprising that he should question his identity as he is the son of an actress who spent his formative years backstage watching others disguise their true selves to play their on-stage personas and it's only as the novel reaches its tense conclusion when he finally realises what his role here really is.
Paris in the Dark is an evocatively written, intriguing tale which balances a nail-biting race against time to stop another bombing with a thoughtful exploration of the psychological effects of living a dual existence. This sophisticated and accomplished thriller is the first book I have read by Robert Olen Butler but now I've been introduced, I'm looking forward to reading more.
melissadeemcdaniel's review
4.0
“Paris in the Dark” is a fast paced spy thriller set in the trenches and hospitals of France during the Great War. It explores the roles of Americans in the run-up to the US entering the war. Spies, nurses, ambulance drivers; patriots and anarchists all chase each other around Paris and its surroundings. Robert Olin Butler’s very human, and very fallible hero-spy is realistic about his limitations, both as a reporter, and as an interpreter of human nature. He knows a lot about the danger of making assumptions, and knows that he has a lot more to learn.
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