Alan Furst - hailed 'an addiction' by THE TIMES and 'in a class of his own' by William Boyd - returns with a thrilling new novel set during the tense build-up to World War II.

Paris, 1938. Democratic forces are locked in struggle as the shadow of war edges over Europe.Cristián Ferrar, a handsome Spanish lawyer in Paris, is approached to help a clandestine agency supply weapons to beleaguered Republican forces. He agrees, putting his life on the line.Joining Ferrar in his mission is an unlikely group of allies: idealists and gangsters, arms dealers, aristocrats and spies. From libertine nightclubs in Paris to shady bars by the docks in Gdansk, Furst paints a spell-binding portrait of a continent marching into a nightmare - and the heroes and heroines who fought back.

Acclaimed author Alan Furst expertly unfolds a ripping yarn of derring-do that manages, with no apparent breaking of sweat, to pay homage to his spy thriller-writer heroes (Eric Ambler, Graham Greene, Alaister McLean, Dennis Wheatley and, perhaps most resonantly, John le Carre) while simultaneously forging a highly individualistic streak... Furst has been writing - evocatively, intuitively, and with a level of clear-headed knowledge and extensive research... about this pre-war period of time from the late 1980s... If you're familiar with Furst's work you'll know what to expect: old-fashioned yet sophisticated, highly intelligent adventure novels with an underlying cinematic sensibility. If you're not familiar, then perhaps it's time to start?