Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been a huge fan of Alan Furst ever since I read Night Soldiers almost 30 years ago. I own every one of his books in this series, they have pride of place on my bookshelves, and I never fail to purchase his latest on the first day it is published. I was happy to buy "Under Occupation" and placed it at the front my queue to read as soon as it arrived. To be honest, I was not expecting a masterpiece based on his last couple of efforts, which I felt were noticeably weaker than his earlier work. However, I was not prepared to be as disappointed as I was with this novel. As others have commented, the plot was simplistic and completely unbelievable, and the characters were one dimensional and frankly not very interesting. Whereas his earlier books were smart, atmospheric, and incredibly tense at times, I found none of that to be the case here. If this is the only one of Furst's novels you read, I think that would be a shame. You will miss out on the best work of one of the great historical spy novelists of all time. I would recommend you pick up one of his earlier books, such as Night Soldiers, or The Polish Officer (my favorite). If you want a story with a French protagonist, as in this book, you would do better to read The World at Night, which also takes place in France during the German occupation. But really, you could not go wrong with any of the first 10 or so books in the series.