Midnight in Europe

ARIS, 1938. A shadow hovers like a death sheet over Europe, as democratic forces engage in continuous struggle against the fascists.

In Spain, meanwhile, the war has already started, something that Paris-based corporate lawyer, Cristian Ferrer — a strikingly handsome, principled andextremely well-connected man, who thinks of himself as Catalan, not Spanish — is only too well aware of.

So it’s of little surprise to him when he is covertly approached by an important person within Spain’s Republican government for assistance to secure weapons for its fight against General Franco and his Hitler-backed forces.

With such a premise set out before us, acclaimed American author Alan Furst expertly unfolds a ripping yarn of derring-do that manages, with no apparent breaking of sweat, to pay homage to his spy thriller-writer heroes (Eric Ambler, Graham Greene, Alaister McLean, Dennis Wheatley and, perhaps, most resonantly, John le Carre) while simultaneously forging a highly individualistic streak.

Not widely known outside of fans of historical spy/thriller novels, 73-year-old Furst has been writing — evocatively, intuitively and with a level of clear-headed knowledge and extensive research that touches more on obsessive attention to detail than writerly diligence — about this pre-war period of time from the late 1980s, when his novel, Night Soldiers, reinvigorated a commercially unsuccessful earlier career as a writer of what he has described as “smart-ass detective novels” and frantically busy freelance journalist.

Inspired by a 1984 trip to Eastern Europe whilst on assignment for Esquire magazine, Night Soldiers evoked an inherently Old World sensibility — the kind where men were either arms traders, aristocrats, idealists or gangsters, and where women were defined as either refined beauties with a shimmering penchant for risk, or libertine lasses working in volatile, beer-scented environments — that had been in danger of slipping into creaky old age.

Furst has often been described as the heir apparent to Greene and le Carre (although the author, interestingly, also cites Joseph Roth and Arthur Koestler as crucial influences), and throughout his work, including Midnight In Europe, there is similar admiration if not fascination with the innate heroism of the ordinary person.

His corporate lawyer, Cristian Ferrer, is one such, a man whose life is comfortable and untroubled by the encroaching tide of unrest.

He lives moderately well in Paris, and enjoys honest, tender and uncomplicated romantic relationships on both sides of the Atlantic.

When on business in New York, Ferrer dallies with aspiring novelist, Eileen Moore (“an Irish girl, raised in the Bronx,” writes Furst, “now, in her early 30s, living a Manhattan life”) in Europe, he tangles with the rather more upmarket Marquesa Maria Cristina.

Midnight In Europe is Furst’s 13th novel set in the years leading up to and during World War II.

It’s a deceptively simply-written book that has no truck whatsoever with explicitness in any department.

Everything, generally speaking, is above board; everyone knows what is at stake, and virtually everyone knows not only what side of the fence they’re on but also what the rules are – and what will happen if they’re broken.

It is very clear that the author knows this world very well – research is all well and good, but Furst writes with palpable admiration for and authority of his characters; there’s a strong sense, also, that he places sharp focus on the importance of human values and the risks of undermining them.

If you’re familiar with Furst’s work, then you’ll know what to expect: old-fashioned yet sophisticated, highly intelligent adventure novels with an underlying cinematic sensibility.

If you’re not familiar, then perhaps it’s time to start?