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Paris Spring

de James Naughtie

Sèrie: Will Flemyng (0)

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395631,897 (2.92)1
"Paris, in April of 1968. The cafs are alive with talk of revolution, but for Scottish-American Will Flemyng-- a spy working in the British Embassy-- the crisis is personal. A few words from a stranger on the Metro change his life. His family is threatened with ruin and he now faces the spy's oldest fear: exposure. Freddy Craven is the hero and mentor Flemyng would trust with his life, but when he is tempted into a dark, Cold War labyrinth, he chooses the dangerous path and plays his game alone. And when glamorous, globe-trotting journalist Grace Quincy, in pursuit of a big story, is found dead in the Pre-Lachaise cemetery, the question is raised: what side was she on? Certainly she knew too much, and had become dangerous. But to whom?"--Amazon.com.… (més)
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Es mostren totes 5
James Naughtie is best known as the former host of BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. Since retiring from that role, he has undertaken several other commissions for the BBC, but has also found time to write two novels drawing on his experiences as a journalist.

This book is set in Paris in 1968, against the backdrop of growing unrest around the world, with violent demonstrations against the Vietnam War staged in America and also in London, outside the US Embassy. Meanwhile, agitators were active in France, inciting increasingly violent far left wing demonstrations and riots, that would become known as les evenments, and gained the name of the ‘Paris Spring’. Against this background, Will Flemyng is based in the British Embassy in Paris where he fulfils the role of MI6 Deputy Head of Station, supporting his highly capable, but clearly ill, boss, Freddy Craven.

Flemyng is not a conventional spook. He comes from a wealthy Scottish family that owns an estate in Perthshire, but his younger brother (for reasons that are never made entirely clear) works for the CIA. As the novel opens, Flemyng is approached on the Metro by a strange character who seems ware of his actual role, rather than the diplomatic cover under which he generally passes. This approach becomes additionally sinister as the man seems aware of Flemyng’s brother’s role, too, and refers to his position in a threatening manner.

Meanwhile, journalists re massing oin Paris from all around the world. One of these catches Flemyng’s eye, but is found dead shortly after their encounter, having been murdered in the picturesque Pere Lachaise cemetery. As her contact with Flemyng had been fairly public, the Embassy is drawn into the police investigation of the murder. Against this developing scenario, one of Flemyng’s colleagues is convinced that the Service is harbouring a highly-placed East German mole.

Clearly all of the ingredients for a fine espionage are in place, and the book held my attention very closely … for the first three quarters of the novel. Towards the end, somehow the book seemed to undergo a transformation, and I found it very difficult to summon sufficient mental energy or engagement to persevere to the end.

I found this a disappointment as I have always liked listening to Naughtie in his role as a journalist/broadcaster, and had desperately wanted to like the book. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, however, as I recall similar difficulties with his previous novel, The Madness of July. ( )
  Eyejaybee | May 11, 2022 |
Uh-oh, Russians. Also, rioting students. ( )
  picardyrose | Feb 22, 2018 |
It does take a while to get into it....halfway through I decided enough and gave it up ( )
  marilynr | Aug 1, 2017 |
Lots of old fashioned espionage in this second book about Will Fleming. I began by thinking how clever the author was in writing a sequel that totally ignored the first book in the series (which I had not read) so that I did not need any knowledge of that book; th.en I discovered that this was a prequel, so there was not anything to tell. But now I wonder how knowledge of this book will affect my reading of "The Madness Of July"; which I most certainly want to do having enjoyed this one immensely. Very complex plot, set in Paris 1968, just before the "revolution". Lots of interesting background, reporters play key roles (well given Naughtie's background, that is hardly surprising !) the characters are generally memorable, particularly Craven, a venerable Head of Station, although Will Fleming remains an enigma, deliberately so, I assume. Occasionally the complexities of the plot almost overwhelm the writing, but overall an excellent read, very much in the spirit of Le Carre without being in any way derivative. ( )
  johnwbeha | Jun 15, 2017 |
Paris Spring – An Old Fashioned Spy Thriller

Will Flemyng is a member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service Department Mi6, better known as a spy or spook based in the British Embassy in Paris. Set against the back drop of the Cold War and the rising tensions of the spring of 1968 across Europe when people’s rose up against their political masters. In particular, the Paris Spring is set up when the students took to the streets and rioted and revolution was on the lips of many.

When Flemyng is approached by an agent from East Germany, while dropping hints of a mole in the British Embassy, while threatening his brother. Talking to the Head of Station, Freddy Craven, who agrees that they should allow things to take their course to see what the agent is trying to sell or if he is trying to buy.

Things become rather more complicated when an award winning American female journalist turns up in Paris on the hunt for a big story. What happens to her while she is in Paris, sends everything in both the British and American Embassies in to a tail spin and heightens the tensions that are being felt across Paris.

A story that takes Freddy Craven from his Paris base to Scotland and Brussels via London and a visit to his doctor. Craven is the experienced Station Head who has seen much in his years of service from the end of the war to him on his last legs in Paris. The one thing he wishes to do is protect not only his country but also those who he works with.

Paris Spring is a well thought out Spy Thriller, in places fast in others it takes its time, it may not supply the action some modern readers may prefer. This spy thriller is more in the mould of John Buchan a classic thought out thriller, where the clues are throughout the story without telegraphing them. This is a well written, well researched thriller that sets its own pace, that is a pleasure to read as it draws you in and takes you back.

Paris Spring is an excellent spy thriller that entices you to a time when Europe was on edge and the innocent of the Cold War was coming to an end. When later that spring, tanks would roll in to Prague from the Warsaw Pact countries at the behest of their masters in Moscow.

The prose James Naughtie uses is clear and crisp, descriptive and colourful so you can imagine the sights and sounds of the time. Naughtie also uses his experience as a journalist to bring the story to life in the knowledge of how to draw a reader in and take them by the hand through a story.

Paris Spring is an old fashioned thriller that is a pleasure to read that takes you back to another age that will always excite. ( )
  atticusfinch1048 | May 23, 2016 |
Es mostren totes 5
James Naughtie’s “Paris Spring” (Overlook, 336 pp., $26.95) is a superior example of intelligent spy thrillers that favor character development over slam-bang action. Virtually the only violence in the book is one murder — and that takes place offstage and not until halfway through.

Naughtie, a longtime political correspondent for the BBC, The Guardian and elsewhere, has set his story in a turbulent time and place: Paris 1968, when the city was fragmented by student protests, disaffected unions and activists opposed to “the Old Man,” President Charles de Gaulle.

Against this backdrop, British spy Will Flemyng plays a delicate game. A man calling himself Kristof — apparently an East German — makes contact with Flemyng, who is nominally part of the British embassy in Paris.

Kristof says he has some shocking information about Will’s brother Abel, who lives in the U.S. (their mother was American) and is also a spy for that country. Is Abel, as Kristof intimates, in trouble — and is he in bed with the Soviets?

A third brother, Mungo, is a historian who lives in the family’s ancestral home in Scotland. Naughtie moves the setting there at several points, counterbalancing the main story with set pieces that vividly evoke rural Scotland’s beauty and tranquillity. But the heart of Naughtie’s fine book is Paris, where scenes of everyday life are starkly juxtaposed with political turmoil and Cold War intrigues.
afegit per EBT1002 | editaSeattle Times, Adam Woog (Feb 19, 2017)
 

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"Paris, in April of 1968. The cafs are alive with talk of revolution, but for Scottish-American Will Flemyng-- a spy working in the British Embassy-- the crisis is personal. A few words from a stranger on the Metro change his life. His family is threatened with ruin and he now faces the spy's oldest fear: exposure. Freddy Craven is the hero and mentor Flemyng would trust with his life, but when he is tempted into a dark, Cold War labyrinth, he chooses the dangerous path and plays his game alone. And when glamorous, globe-trotting journalist Grace Quincy, in pursuit of a big story, is found dead in the Pre-Lachaise cemetery, the question is raised: what side was she on? Certainly she knew too much, and had become dangerous. But to whom?"--Amazon.com.

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