I just wish the characters, besides Kit, were more developed. Quick read, but not that thrilling.Thanks NetGalley for the free book.

It might be set more than century ago, in a foreign land filled with political puzzles and unfamiliar factions, but Paris In The Dark delivers a completely convincing story, grounded in a solidly credible scenario. There aren’t so many characters that your head spins trying to recall them all, and the narrative itself is pretty straightforward. Yet that seeming simplicity masks multiple layers of subtle sophistication, of meticulous research delivered almost offhand.Few spy stories are as persua...

I respect an author who has won a Pulitzer Prize, but I tend not to like first person narratives. Especially where the narrator is self-absorbed and spends a lot of time telling us about how clever he is. In a very banal way. With lots of short sentences. Many of which are also paragraphs. So I wasn't much impressed by this book. As for the story: PITD is billed as a thriller, but it's not, not really. The opening situation is clever and has a nice twist, but there is no suspense in the main pl

This is a historically based spy novel filled with interesting characters and intrigue. The story takes place in World War l Paris and the protagonist is reporter Kit Cobb who is also an undercover agent for the Americans. Kit takes you on a romp through the streets of Paris finally ending up to an exciting finish in the Catacombs of underground Paris. Though this is the 4th Christopher Cobb mystery it was my introduction to this character and I enjoyed getting to know him.

I liked the story AND the charactersFebruary 23, 2019Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseBut sometimes I found myself wishing for more. More description. More dialogue. More character development.I enjoyed the book, but felt it read too quickly. Things happened so fast, I sometimes wondered if it all happened in just a couple days.There were characters that we had just met & then they were dead. Other characters were there through most of the story, but we never really got to know them.Olen Butler...

Christopher Marlowe Cobb (Kit) returns in Robert Olen Butler’s latest WWI novel. As a reporter, Kit is in Paris to write about the American volunteer ambulance drivers. This occupation also allows him to carry out assignments for American intelligence. As the German army advances into France, the French Secret Service believes that a saboteur has entered the city, hiding among the German refugees. There has been a series of bombings that they fear will erode the morale of the people and Kit is a...

PARIS IN THE DARKWritten by Pulitzer Prize author Robert Olen Butler, Paris in the Dark is the most current book in the series featuring Christopher Marlow Cobb. Foreign correspondent and U.S. Government undercover agent, Cobb finds himself in Paris during WWI. He is working on a story for his Chicago newspaper featuring ambulance drivers for Le Chapelle, the American war hospital in France. With the sudden rash of bombings in civilian areas, "Kit" Cobb is called upon to investigate German refug...

GNab Robert Olen Butler brings us a riveting peek into Paris in the autumn of 1915. Kit Cobb is an American of German extraction, learning German and French from his actress mother as a child. Kit is a war correspondent for several US publications as World War I slowly grinds through Europe - when he isn't working as an undercover spy. We see Paris and the French through his eyes, and America through theirs.Paris in the Dark is peopled with a good mix of personalities and an intriguing story lin...

2019 Hammett Award NomineesWilliam Boyle, The Lonely Witness (Pegasus Crime) Lisa Unger, Under My Skin (Park Row) Sam Wiebe, Cut You Down (Random House Canada) Lou Berney, November Road (William Morrow) Robert Olen Butler, Paris in the Dark (The Mysterious Press)

This book is a little out of my comfort zone. The early 20th century world wars are not exactly my bag. My husband has tried to convert me or at least trigger a small amount of interest in me but he’s failed miserably. But there is something about the blurb that piqued my interest. It may be the setting of the beautiful city of Paris – I have many happy memories of the French capital.It took me a few chapters to get into this atmospheric read but I probably didn’t help myself with my slight adve...

Finding out a book is set in the First World War immediately conjures up thoughts for me of the trenches of the Western Front, not the cafes and sidewalks of Paris. Therefore, one of the many things I enjoyed about Paris in the Dark is its depiction of Paris as its citizens would have experienced it in the Autumn of 1915: the influx of refugees, the food shortages, the threat of Zeppelin attacks. In fact, the Parisians are ‘in the dark’. They’re being kept there deliberately by their government’...

A WW1 thriller set in ParisParis in the Dark is an excellent book – as much for the light it shines on WW1 Paris, as for the story line of the mystery Robert writes about. It is 1915 and America has not joined the war because Woodrow Wilson, the President, does not want it to. But that did not stop many a young and idealistic American crossing the Atlantic to see what he or she could do to assist the Allies. They worked in military hospitals as nurses and doctors, and as ambulance drivers ferryi...

My Rating 3.5* Welcome to the City of LightsAdventure awaits Drawing on his own experience as a war veteran and news reporter, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Robert Olen Butler has created a thriller described as a ‘page-turner with an unmistakable literary quality’ A historical crime thriller set during the First World War, Paris in the Dark is also a novel encompassing both political and cultural issues, with Robert Olen Butler stating that it ‘digs deeper than ever into the WW1-era issues that reso...

wonderful read, eager to read the whole series

1915 Paris is under threat and not just from the Germans.I thoroughly enjoyed Paris in the Dark, not least because it’s not my usual genre and it was so refreshing to read a spy thriller. More importantly, however, is the overall quality of Robert Olen Butler’s writing. I found that not only did I enjoy the story but I so admired the craftsmanship. Robert Olen Butler knows exactly how much information to reveal to the reader so that they are engaged and intrigued. He also has the perfect balance...

Paris in the Dark (Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller #4)Robert Olen Butler (Goodreads Author)'Kit' Cobb is officially in 1917 Paris as a newspaper reporter covering the American ambulance drivers. Unofficially he is helping US undercover efforts, before the US joins the war. His immediate interest is stopping the dynamite attacks to central Paris.Kit has a potential source, someone in the German community in central Paris. This leads Kit to a solitary individual with a scar on his forehead. Is h...

Kit Cobb is a foreign reporter from Chicago, now in Paris in 1915 to write an article about American volunteer ambulance drivers in World War 1. But he is soon to be tasked with a far more dangerous and challenging mission in his role as an undercover agent for the US government. What ensues is a well-crafted and well-paced espionage thriller, which I enjoyed on the whole, in spite of the well-worn tropes of this type of novel. The characters, even Cobb himself, remain somewhat underdeveloped, b...

Set in Paris, during World War One, this is a thoroughly enjoyable spy story.The background of Paris during war time is described well, including the intrigues about German nationals living in the city, as well as why Americans were fighting/supporting the war effort before America actually entered into the fighting.The actual storyline is relatively simple, but is well told at a good pace.I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

This is the 4th in Robert Olen Butler's series featuring Kit Cobb, journalist and spy for the US government in Europe. Having not read any of the others in the series, I found this worked perfectly fine as a standalone. It is Autumn 1915 and WW1 rages in Europe, the American President, Woodrow Wilson, has so far succeeded in keeping the US out of the war, but is perceived as a coward lacking a spine by many of his own countrymen. Many Americans have bravely chosen to volunteer in a number of rol...

I just realized this book says it is the fourth of a series. Hmm. I am surprised as this reads like a book partially developed with regard to the building of the main character. For me, this book does not hold together. It had elements I like including the time/place (1915 Paris), the legend of this inept "spy" including his pose as reporter for Chicago newspaper, but his assignments crash and burn quite literally and he seems more interested in bedding a woman. I guess it is a better wartime ro...