Under Occupation, Furst - B

                                  This book is the fifteenth 'Night Soldiers' novel, and is fully three decades older than the first from 1988.  The novels are masterpieces of historical fiction, modeled on Arthur Koestler and Eric Ambler, and, in my opinion, exceeding both. If I can feel the fog rolling in from the North Sea or the Seine, I know I love what I'm reading. Many, if not most, of the earlier books focused on characters of elusive backgrounds and identities, who slipped through central Europe in the 1930's. This is not a series in the traditional sense of the word, but there are recurring themes and about a dozen characters who appear in two or three books. There were a great many communists in hardcore opposition to the growing fascist excesses. Only in this book and the last book one has the actual war been  the background. It is 1942 in Paris and life-long Parisian Paul Ricard, novelist, becomes a resistant. His adventures take him to Kiel in Germany, the Spanish border, Sainte-Nazaire on the French Coast, and throughout the various arrondissements of Paris.  The novel excels when in Paris, where he ultimately avoids the Gestapo as they close in around his circle. If you haven't read these, it's time to start.