Under Occupation: A Novel

Written by Alan Furst

Narrated by Peter Noble

In this thrilling historical spy novel from New York Times bestselling author Alan Furst, two heroic resistance fighters smuggle valuable information to occupied Paris to turn the tide of the World War II and defeat Nazi Germany.

Occupied Paris in 1942, a dark, treacherous city now ruled by the German security services, where French resistance networks are working secretly to defeat Hitler. Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands Paul Ricard a strange looking drawing. It looks like a part for a military weapon; Ricard realizes it must be an important document smuggled out of Germany to aid the resistance. As Ricard is drawn deeper and deeper into the French resistance network, his increasingly dangerous assignments lead him to travel to Germany, and along the underground safe houses of the resistance—and to meet the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy.

From “an incomparable expert at his game” (The New York Times) and based on true events of Polish prisoners in Nazi Germany, Under Occupation captures the courageous and astonishing impact resistance fighters had during WWII and the lengths they went for freedom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781797101552

Alan Furst

Alan Furst is widely recognized as the master of the historical spy novel. He is the author of Night Soldiers, Dark Star, The Polish Officer, The World at Night, Red Gold, Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory, and Dark Voyage. Born in New York, he has lived for long periods in France, especially Paris. He now lives on Long Island, New York. Visit the author's website at AlanFurst.net.

Reviews for Under Occupation

[Jon Lindberg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The upside is that this was a continuation of what I like about Furst. Just not as good as so many of his other. Notably The World at a night and Red Gold. Spies of Warsaw is probably at the top of my Furst faves. This was ok.

[Donna · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Typical of a good British spy novel but nothing great. Mildly plausible escape scenes and a predictable unrealistic ending ending. It's something to fall back to for mindless reading. I started with 4 stars bc the NARRATOR had a wonderful voice but I dropped it to 3. It's just too mundane for more. Many others deserve the 4 or 5 stars more than this one. So many audiobooks are absolutely ruined with a bad or author narration.

[michael_lilly-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good but not Furst at his best.

[shellys_70 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I've never found a novel by Alan Furst impossible to put down, I've always found them to be immensely readable. This one was a quick read for me, fairly short with less description than his earlier books, as if he expects that his regular readers are, by now, familiar with the situation in France during fall of 1942 and early 1943. The main character, Paul Ricard, is a writer of popular detective novels. When a man is shot in front of him by the police and slips Ricard a drawn schematic of a torpedo detonator before he dies, Ricard -- a French patriot -- endeavors to get the drawing to the right people.The book takes a familiar direction, that of a civilian drawn into the realm of espionage, in this case, doing jobs for the French Resistance. Ricard is aided by a Polish ex-patriot named Kasia, who works in a bookshop and is a thief on the side. Kasia is a bit of a surprise, in that her sexual partners of choice are female, which eliminates her as a lover for Ricard. In a change of pace, there are fewer scenes of lovemaking than usually are found in Furst's novels. His more recent WWII spy novels follow an episodic formula and, in a way, fill in gaps of a giant jigsaw puzzle, all connecting in some way to form a picture of what life in Europe was like as Hitler moved to conquer Europe.I do wish Furst would turn his attention to the time around the Normandy invasion, but for now, I'm content with whatever he feels compelled to write. Given the current world situation, it's almost a comfort to be reminded of a time when right and wrong were clear.

[doondeck · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A disjointed story, hopping from one plot line to the next. Perhaps designed to show the chaos of Paris under occupation

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alan Furst is the king of Worls War II thrillers, and in his latest installment we are in occupied Paris in 1942. Paul RIcard is a writer of noir thrillers and one night as he walks home from a book signing, a man running from the Gestapo is shot in front of him and with his dying breath puts a piece of paper into Paul's hands. It is a drawing of what looks to be a part for a military weapon. Ricard knows that he should get rid of it, but instead decides to turn it over to the Resistance. Thus Ricard is drawn ever deeper in the Resistance network, their plots against the Germans and dangerous trips into Germany to act as their courier. Furst expertly paints a picture of his world weary, middle-aged heroes who are smart enough to outwit the Nazi's, but also sensible enough to be terrified of them. Why no one has ever made a movie of his books is a mystery to me. They'd be great "on the edge of your seat" thrillers.

[bereanna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first and likely last Alan Furst book. An ARC from Random House, I’d vied for it because I like WWII novels. It read like a tv show without depth of story or characters, but I learned some interesting tidbits about the Paris occupation and the resistance networks there.