Whada ya like to read? Me, I’m easy. All it takes is a strong, relentless plot, riveting characters, chair-tipping-suspense, spine-chilling bloodshed, stout hero or heroine, and unrepentant villains, proudly wearing their black hearts on their sleeves. Gotta engage me from guts to heart, and be well written. See, I’m easy to please.
Just finished a book that has it all. The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure. The setting is Paris, circa 1940. The German Army owns Paris, and runs it like a combination whore house and shooting gallery. Life is so difficult that people stand in line for stale bread and watered wine. Those are the normal folks. Jews have it far worse. They’re rounded up daily by the Gestapo, men, women, and children, never to be seen again.
The French can be difficult and Parisians worse. Not known as comforters of the weak, or downtrodden, as Americans who walk into their restaurant and try to speak French with a Texas accent will attest. The author was nice enough not to include any Americans.
What he did include is Lucien, an architect with the soul of an artist and a one track mind. Make that three tracks. His work. His mistress. Saving his own skin. Lucien’s moral compass, while not rusted shut, is a little out of whack. He sees what’s going on, but brushes it off. Not all Germans are bad. Some soldiers give up their tram seats to little old ladies.
Enter Monsieur Monet. As wealthy as an emperor’s only child. A well connected aristocratic industrialist. He has a little job for the architect, Lucien. Maybe two. In this time of hand-to-mouth living, a couple of jobs is a path to your family’s next meal.
But, every deal has its price. Balancing a wife and mistress is already as stressful as an amiable chat with the Gestapo’s boys in black. Let’s tack on complications. Severe complications.
Want to climb into that dark hole of a plot and wiggle around with characters that fill your dreams of best friend, best lover, worst enemy? Welcome to Lucien’s world. Welcome to The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure.
Go ahead. Pick it up. Now try to put it back down.
