Alan Furst is known for his meticulous research into the first years of World War II from the European perspective, mostly focused on the events that occurred in France. In this book, set in 1941-42, during the days of the French Resistance, Jean Casson, a French filmmaker, has been forced to live under an assumed name, unable to make a livelihood, barely able to afford his hotel room and enough food to survive day to day. The Germans have occupied France, and Paris has become a dangerous place for Casson, who had done some intelligence-related work in the past and is trying to stay out of the Gestapo’s hands. Desperate, he’s enlisted to help run arms to French Communists trying to drive out the Germans.

As with the other books I’ve read by Furst, this reads like a series of events in the life of the protagonist, starting with a pivotal moment, and ending at another, leaving the reader to imagine what comes next, even if the main character would continue to survive his next, unwritten adventure. What makes this book, as well as his others, so good, is how well he evokes time and place and puts the reader into the head of the characters, bringing to life their goals, fears, hopes, and quiet desperation. ( )

Furst continues the character of Jean Casson (from The World at Night) in Paris and in Vichy France. The book's title refers to the misbegotten notion that Communists would have lots of money - thus Red Gold. Casson, as is Furst's wont, is an honest, decent, almost ordinary guy living on the edge of existence who falls into espionage work.

Unlike some of Furst's more recent works (Kingdom of Shadows and Blood of Victory), this work has a fairly linear plot line. Casson is recruited by anti-German Vichy intelligence officers to make contact with the Communist resistance. Dangerous work indeed.

The plot is stronger, but the 'atmosphere' is not as palpable. Still, Alan Furst is a more than worthy successor to Eric Ambler and Graham Greene.

Highly recommended for fans of the spy genre or fine writing anywhere ( )

http://www.ericlee.info/2007/08/red_g... ( )

The fifth-published Alan Furst novel (whose loosely connected novels are all set before and during WWII) and a direct sequel to the fourth (The World At Night), Red Gold is mainly the story of an erstwhile producer of French gangster movies, Jean Casson, as he mourns the termination of his affair from the previous book with an actress named Citrine, eludes the Nazi Occupational Authority, and sporadically participates in various acts of resistance against the Nazis, aiding both the (now underground) intelligence agency of the Fourth Republic and the French Communists.

While Casson remains an engaging character, the point of view shifts just a bit too often for the reader to be completely invested in his fortunes.

As always in Furst, the atmosphere is paramount, and top-notch, and the attention to detail both convincing and compelling; far and away the most interesting aspects of the book for me, however, were the historical minutae: there were no less than fifteen different resistance groups more or less actively working against the Nazis in France by 1941 (a fact which brought to mind DeGaulle's comment about the number of France's cheeses), but the main ones -- DeGaulle's London-based group (which had the BBC as the world's most effective mouthpiece) and the French Communists -- didn't utilize their resources as much as they could have, because they were both expecting the Nazis to be chased out of Paris in a couple of years once the Americans landed, and, once the U.S. declared war on Germany, they both became primarily interested in who would seize power after the Nazis left. Now there's some realpolitik at which even Henry Kissinger might blush.

Furst's novels, in short, can say things that most history books can't (or won't), and should be highly esteemed if only for that reason. ( )