Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Midnight in Europe is another volume in the series of historical spy novels by Alan Furst that began with Night Soldiers. It is set in Paris in 1937 and 1938 and the major focus of the action is the Spanish Civil War. The main character, Cristián Ferrar, is a Spanish lawyer for an international law firm, who has ties to the Republican side of the Civil War. Quite a lot of the action involves trying to ship arms and ammunition to the beleaguered Republican force in Spain who are losing their struggle with Franco’s Nationalist army. And of course there is espionage, love affairs and a visit to the Brasserie Heininger, all things we have come to expect from Mr. Furst.

I like this book; it’s a good, enjoyable read. However, in my opinion this is not the best book in the series. For one thing, it’s not as tightly plotted as some of the previous books. And in some places I had the feeling that the author was just going through the motions. Still I enjoyed reading the book and I’m looking forward to reading the next volume in the series.