Category: HF Reading Challenge

Blog Tour/Book Review: Paris in the Dark by Robert Olen Butler

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I’m thrilled to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for Paris in the Dark by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Robert Olen Butler.  Described as ‘fleetly plotted and engaging’ and ‘a page-turning novel of unmistakable literary quality’, Paris in the Dark is the fourth instalment in the author’s ‘Christopher Marlowe Cobb’ historical thriller series.

My grateful thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to No Exit Press for my review copy.

Paris in the DarkAbout the Book

Autumn 1915. The First World War is raging across Europe. Woodrow Wilson has kept Americans out of the trenches, although that hasn’t stopped young men and women from crossing the Atlantic to volunteer at the front. Christopher Marlowe ‘Kit’ Cobb, a Chicago reporter and undercover agent for the US government is in Paris when he meets an enigmatic nurse called Louise. Officially in the city for a story about American ambulance drivers, Cobb is grateful for the opportunity to get to know her but soon his intelligence handler, James Polk Trask, extends his mission. Parisians are meeting ‘death by dynamite’ in a new campaign of bombings, and the German-speaking Kit seems just the man to discover who is behind this – possibly a German operative who has infiltrated with the waves of refugees? And so begins a pursuit that will test Kit Cobb, in all his roles, to the very limits of his principles, wits and talents for survival.

Format: Paperback, ebook (256 pp.)    Publisher: No Exit Press
Published: 25th October 2018        Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Paris in the Dark on Goodreads

My Review

Finding out a book is set in the First World War immediately conjures up thoughts for me of the trenches of the Western Front, not the cafes and sidewalks of Paris.  Therefore, one of the many things I enjoyed about Paris in the Dark is its depiction of Paris as its citizens would have experienced it in the Autumn of 1915: the influx of refugees, the food shortages, the threat of Zeppelin attacks.  In fact, the Parisians are ‘in the dark’.  They’re being kept there deliberately by their government’s censorship of the press for fear of civil unrest or loss of morale if the citizens learn about the risk from saboteurs, not to mention the truth about the situation on the front line.  As Kit’s spymaster boss, Trask, observes: “If the Germans can bring the battle to the restaurants and the theatres and the front doors of the Parisians, if they can turn women and children and boulevardiers into bomb fodder, they might make some progress in this war.”

The thriller element of the book is set against the backdrop of the political situation of the time with many unhappy about President Woodrow Wilson’s unwillingness to deploy United States forces to the front line.  The implications of what Kit believes he has uncovered as his enquiries progress become more than just a simple investigation into acts of sabotage; they touch on national identity and geopolitics.

As events unfold, Kit’s professional and personal life also start to overlap and the risks he runs become no longer just a calculation that involve him alone.  Kit prides himself on his journalistic ‘nose’ for telling if someone is truthful or trustworthy but it turns out he’s not infallible.  If he was wrong once, perhaps he’s wrong now?

Throughout the book I loved the author’s spare writing style and his deft touch with description.  ‘And I realized that the air had gone chill.  Winter was reconnoitering Paris once again.’  In the breathlessly exhilarating penultimate chapter,  in which Kit is forced to face his deepest, darkest fears, there’s a tour de force of a paragraph in which the author switches from his customary short sentences in a way that brilliantly conveys the dramatic events being described.

I also enjoyed the way the book explores the theme of performance.  For example, the use of theatrical metaphors to convey the sense that individuals adopt many roles, Kit included. ‘For my country, to do my job, I have played roles with a number of people, deceived them, lied to them.’   At times, playing a role involves Kit adopting an actual disguise drawing on the experience of his childhood spent in theatres.    Even when acting in his ‘official’ capacity as a journalist, Kit finds himself adopting a persona, expressing opinions and asking questions in such a way as to get the answer he needs, or that will make good copy.  The theme is deployed humorously as well, such as when Kit is drawn into conversation about his his actress mother. ‘Mama had taken over the stage, as she was wont to do.  Though, to be fair, it was I who’d spoken her entry line.’

Paris in the Dark is the first book I’ve read by Robert Olen Butler.  I thought it was absolutely brilliant.  It ticked all the boxes for me of what I look for in a historical fiction novel: gripping plot, skilful writing, intriguing characters and a fascinating period setting.  At only 252 pages, its size definitely puts it in the ‘read in one sitting’ category but, frankly, even at  twice the size I think I’d have struggled to put it down.    It’s certainly a contender for one of my favourite reads this month, if not this year.  In Robert Olen Butler’s bio below it states that he’s published seventeen novels.  Guess what?  My wish-list just increased by sixteen.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, No Exit Press, and Random Things Tours.

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Robert Olen Butler Author PictureAbout the Author

Robert Olen Butler is one of America’s most highly regarded writers, having published 17 novels, 6 short story collections, and a book on the creative process. Among his numerous awards is the Pulitzer Prize which he won for A Good Scent for a Strange Mountain. Four of his novels are historical espionage thrillers in the Christopher Marlowe Cobb series, a character far closer to Robert than any other he has written. Like ‘Kit’ Cobb, Robert also went to war, was part of the military intelligence and a reporter and editor at an investigative business newspaper. Robert is also a widely admired and sought after university teacher of creative writing and counts among his former students another Pulitzer Prize winner.

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Paris In The Dark Blog Tour Poster

 

 

Book Review: False Lights by K. J. Whittaker

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FalseLightsAbout the Book

What if your worst mistake changed the course of history?

Cornwall, 1817 – Napoleon has crushed the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, and his ex-wife Josephine presides over French-occupied England.  Cornwall erupts into open rebellion, and young heiress Hester escapes with Crow, Wellington’s former intelligence officer, a half-French aristocrat haunted by his part in the catastrophic defeat. Together, they become embroiled in a web of treachery and espionage as plans are laid to free Wellington from secret captivity in the Scilly Isles and lead an uprising against the French occupation.  In a country rife with traitors, Hester and Crow know it is impossible to play such a game as this for long…

Format: Hardcover, ebook, paperback (382 pp.)    Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 7th Sep 2017 (hardcover), 8th Feb 2018 (paperback)
Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Publisher | Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find False Lights on Goodreads

My Review

False Lights was one of the books I read whilst on a recent Autumn break in Cornwall and that appeared on my list of historical fiction novels set in Cornwall.  You can read the full list here.

The book’s central premise is that Wellington was defeated, not victorious, at the Battle of Waterloo and this defeat resulted in the removal of the English Royal Family and the occupation of England by the French.  It’s territory that’s been explored (albeit in a different period and with an occupying force of a different nationality) by Robert Harris in Fatherland and Len Deighton in SS-GB.  In False Lights, the occupation follows similar lines to an imagined Nazi occupation of Britain: blockades, food shortages, curfews and cruel reprisals visited on the population for any act of resistance.  Having witnessed firsthand the dreadful results of such repressive measures, the book’s heroine, Hester, observes, ‘This wasn’t just an occupation.  It was a tyranny.’

The book is notable for its strong female characters.  There’s the aforementioned Hester – feisty, independent minded and courageous – who nevertheless finds herself alone and defenceless following the dramatic events of the book’s opening scenes. (Chapter one of the book has a literally killer first line, by the way.) The daughter of a black sea captain who distinguished himself in battle, Hester faces discrimination because of her skin colour and heritage in a society where gaining and maintaining a position is difficult enough as it is.  ‘She must be twice as gracious, twice as accomplished and twice as well-mannered as any young white woman, or she would be seen as less than human before they saw her as a girl.’ There’s also Catlin, Hester’s close companion, who plays a vital role in events towards the end of the book including actions referenced in the book’s title.

Crow (or Lord Lamorna to give him his proper title) makes a fantastically flawed Byronic hero.  With his dark hair and piercing eyes, I’ll admit even this happily married lady got a bit hot under the collar when reading passages like the following: ‘He’d crouched at the water’s edge to shave himself with a cut-throat razor, stripped to the waist, revealing the extraordinary collection of tattoos on his back, writhing blue-black patterns that ran from shoulder to shoulder, from neck to lower spine.’   

Consumed by guilt at his perceived part in Wellington’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Crow is haunted by traumatic memories of the sights he witnessed and his own actions on the battlefield.   He experiences a form of PTSD involving waking nightmares and dreadful visions.  Perhaps the love of a good woman might help to make him whole again…?  (Form an orderly queue, ladies.)   Crow also feels a responsibility for the safety of his younger brother, Kitto, who seems to court danger at every turn.   There’s political intrigue aplenty and all the characters in the book face difficult moral choices although, in the end, it’s a case of kill or be killed.

I loved the book’s setting in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles and the inclusion of the Cornish language into the story line.  I also liked the book’s ending with perhaps just a hint that we might hear more about  some of the characters in future…?  I do hope so.

In her Acknowledgements, the author describes her book as ‘a Regency novel with a difference’ and I think that’s a perfect description. False Lights is a fascinating historical fiction novel constructed around an interesting premise and populated with a host of colourful, if not necessarily likeable, characters.  It will appeal to those who like their historical fiction full of period detail (but aren’t averse to an author playing with actual historical events for the sake of a good story) and to those who enjoy losing themselves in a romantic story line.   You can read an extract from the book here.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Head of Zeus.

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K J Whittaker (1)About the Author

K.J. Whittaker first fell in love with the Regency when she unearthed an old Georgette Heyer novel in her parents’ house, but soon discovered the dark side to this charismatic period of superficial splendour. It was a time of progress, discovery, glittering ballrooms and wild excess. It was also a time when a starving six-year-old child could be hanged for stealing bread.

In 2015, she visited the battle site of Waterloo itself with archaeologists from Waterloo Uncovered, many of whom are also veterans, and has been fascinated by the Isles of Scilly since reading Michael Morpurgo’s When the Whales Came as a child.

K.J. Whittaker is the Carnegie-nominated author of six YA novels published by Walker Books under the name Katy Moran. She worked as a bookseller and in publishing for many years before becoming an author. She still works part-time in a bookshop and lives in Shropshire with her family.

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