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footprof's review against another edition
2.0
Thought this was going to be on the scale of Lecarre. I was sadly mistaken. Fortunately it was short enough that it did not feel as if it was a tremendous waste of time. No real plot or character development. I felt as if it was the middle of another longer book.
kanejim57's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorites.
An intense plot with the pursuit and hoped for turning of Fredrick Stahl to the Nazi side as the main focus.
I like the books in this wonderful series that focus on one character, though I recognize the value and place of the multi-character works as well.
A great novel
An intense plot with the pursuit and hoped for turning of Fredrick Stahl to the Nazi side as the main focus.
I like the books in this wonderful series that focus on one character, though I recognize the value and place of the multi-character works as well.
A great novel
geekwayne's review against another edition
3.0
I hesitate to call 'Mission to Paris' a spy thriller. It's more like a spy drama with some thriller tendencies. That's not to say I didn't like it, and it may even be a bit more realistic because of it.
Frederic Stahl is an American movie actor heading to Paris to make a movie for Paramount France. The problem is that it's the Summer of 1938 and there is a strong Nazi presence in the city. Adding to that is the fact that Frederic is originally from Vienna, but he wants nothing to do with the Nazis or anything they want. When he is invited to host a film festival in Berlin, he hesitates until the American embassy entices him to perform a small errand for them in Berlin with a Russian spy. One thing leads to another and suddenly the Germans are even more interested in this American actor.
I liked it because of the movie making stuff. Stahl comes across as a real Hollywood star of the era. His womanizing perhaps got tedious, but I suppose that's par for the course. I'm new to Furst and I liked the writing style, but it seems like earlier novels might be where to start at even though the novels aren't linked. It was enjoyable enough but perhaps not as suspenseful as you might think.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Frederic Stahl is an American movie actor heading to Paris to make a movie for Paramount France. The problem is that it's the Summer of 1938 and there is a strong Nazi presence in the city. Adding to that is the fact that Frederic is originally from Vienna, but he wants nothing to do with the Nazis or anything they want. When he is invited to host a film festival in Berlin, he hesitates until the American embassy entices him to perform a small errand for them in Berlin with a Russian spy. One thing leads to another and suddenly the Germans are even more interested in this American actor.
I liked it because of the movie making stuff. Stahl comes across as a real Hollywood star of the era. His womanizing perhaps got tedious, but I suppose that's par for the course. I'm new to Furst and I liked the writing style, but it seems like earlier novels might be where to start at even though the novels aren't linked. It was enjoyable enough but perhaps not as suspenseful as you might think.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
kanejim57's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorites.
An intense plot with the pursuit and hoped for turning of Fredrick Stahl to the Nazi side as the main focus.
I like the books in this wonderful series that focus on one character, though I recognize the value and place of the multi-character works as well.
A great novel
An intense plot with the pursuit and hoped for turning of Fredrick Stahl to the Nazi side as the main focus.
I like the books in this wonderful series that focus on one character, though I recognize the value and place of the multi-character works as well.
A great novel
duparker's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 The brilliance of Paris and the depravity of the War is the centerpiece of all of Fursts, books. You know that it is going to be even more so, in a book with Paris in the title. Of the five read in 3 days, I found this story to be the most engaging of the set. The draw was a clear and concise story with characters that were alive and calculating.
jacki_f's review against another edition
3.0
The story is set in Paris in late 1938. Hitler has appropriated Czechoslovakia and there are fears that he will invade Poland. The French are split between those who feel that he must be stopped and those who want to appease him if it will avoid France being drawn into another war for which it is ill prepared. An Austrian born, American movie star by the name of Fredric Stahl, comes to Paris to shoot a film. Initially he is happy to be in Paris, a city that he lived in many years previously and genuinely loved. Gradually however he becomes aware of the undercurrents of menace in the city. The German Government are keen to take advantage of his Austrian roots for their propaganda purposes and initially the (somewhat naive) Stahl inadvertently plays into their hands. Then he realises that this gives him the opportunity to assist his own Government in collecting information about the Nazis, although he doesn't fully appreciate the danger in which that will place him.
This was very much a book of two halves for me. The first half of the book dragged, to the point where I kept falling asleep when trying to read it at the end of the day. One of Furst's strengths as a writer is the way that he creates an entire world for you, but there is so much irrelevant detail about the movie itself and so many characters get introduced only to disappear again. In the second half of the book, when Stahl starts to get involved in spying for the Americans, the book gets far more involving and genuinely tense. By the end I was loving it - but it took me over 100 pages to get into it.
Furst includes references to events in previous books and a few familiar characters make walk on appearances. This will not affect you if you are not familiar with his previous books, but is a pleasing addition if you are.
Overall I liked the book, but the fact that it took so long to get going was a problem for me.
This was very much a book of two halves for me. The first half of the book dragged, to the point where I kept falling asleep when trying to read it at the end of the day. One of Furst's strengths as a writer is the way that he creates an entire world for you, but there is so much irrelevant detail about the movie itself and so many characters get introduced only to disappear again. In the second half of the book, when Stahl starts to get involved in spying for the Americans, the book gets far more involving and genuinely tense. By the end I was loving it - but it took me over 100 pages to get into it.
Furst includes references to events in previous books and a few familiar characters make walk on appearances. This will not affect you if you are not familiar with his previous books, but is a pleasing addition if you are.
Overall I liked the book, but the fact that it took so long to get going was a problem for me.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
3.0
In Mission to Paris, Alan Furst returns to the tense days at the beginning of the Second World War. Fredric Stahl is a hollywood actor sent by his studio to make a French film. While he's in Paris, the Nazis try to use him in their propaganda and Stahl discovers that it's not easy to say no to determined Nazis. He goes to the American embassy for help, only to be drawn into their web.
Furst has been writing books about good men trying to survive in Europe before and during WWII for some time now. His protagonists have integrity, but they'd also like to continue living -- making for very interesting reading. His plots are well put together and the menace very real, but his real strength is in how he evokes the atmosphere of the various parts of Europe at a very specific time. With Mission to Paris, however, Furst stumbles a little. The plot drops story lines and the characters are thinner than usual. While still an enjoyable book, this lacks the depth and the heart of his earlier novels, feeling more as though it were a quickly-filmed black and white movie than an actual time and place. Moving quickly from Paris to Berlin to Morocco to an isolated Hungarian castle, the book never got a chance to develop. But it was great fun as a fast-paced adventure story and had I not known what Furst is capable of, I would have been happy enough.
Furst has been writing books about good men trying to survive in Europe before and during WWII for some time now. His protagonists have integrity, but they'd also like to continue living -- making for very interesting reading. His plots are well put together and the menace very real, but his real strength is in how he evokes the atmosphere of the various parts of Europe at a very specific time. With Mission to Paris, however, Furst stumbles a little. The plot drops story lines and the characters are thinner than usual. While still an enjoyable book, this lacks the depth and the heart of his earlier novels, feeling more as though it were a quickly-filmed black and white movie than an actual time and place. Moving quickly from Paris to Berlin to Morocco to an isolated Hungarian castle, the book never got a chance to develop. But it was great fun as a fast-paced adventure story and had I not known what Furst is capable of, I would have been happy enough.
gbliss's review against another edition
4.0
A listen, not a read, but excellent captures the atmosphere of Europe on the verge of WW II.
aoosterwyk's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed my first experience with Alan Furst's writing. The story was well told, the characters were engaging and the writing was quite beautiful. I appreciated the clever and at times humorous dialogue and would share it with those sitting next to me. Always a good sign. I also reached for Google a lot, and that's a great sign- lifelong learning!
richardwells's review against another edition
3.0
Less a mission, which implies forethought, than a series of events in the making of a part-time, short-term espionage agent. Pre-WWII Europe(Furst's hunting ground) mixes Hollywood and Parisian film making, with love affairs varied, locales exotic, hotels bare-bulbed to the Paris Claridge, and missions suitably dangerous but quite possible.
Furst is, as I think it was my friend Holmes called him, reliable. He's going to turn in a decent read, but it's the first three books of his Night Soldiers series that are knock outs: Night Soldiers, Dark Star, and The Polish Officer. Beyond genre - as they say. Dark Star is the first book I've read in ages that I've closed, and then restarted the next day.
Anyway, Mission to Paris is fun, good not great, a tasty bit which - especially if you like Furst - is worth the read.
Furst is, as I think it was my friend Holmes called him, reliable. He's going to turn in a decent read, but it's the first three books of his Night Soldiers series that are knock outs: Night Soldiers, Dark Star, and The Polish Officer. Beyond genre - as they say. Dark Star is the first book I've read in ages that I've closed, and then restarted the next day.
Anyway, Mission to Paris is fun, good not great, a tasty bit which - especially if you like Furst - is worth the read.