Rating: 
Summary: Furst appeals-
Review: I was so impressed with, "The World at Night," that I had to immediately read, "Red Gold." "Red Gold," unfortunately, doesn't compare with "World." I certainly wish it did, because I was completely captivated by the first installment of the Casson story. I hope Furst continues and follows Casson on throughout the war. He's a compelling protagonist and Furst is a masterful storyteller. I've not read anyone who can recreate a time and period better than he can. Furst should consider writing another book or two with Casson. I love this character. He is a reluctant hero. What I enjoy about Furst's characters are their ambiguity, none of them are moralists. After the first twenty pages of "World," I was hooked in, but I never felt that way with "Red Gold." I read it through, but never felt the book was fully realized. I agree with a previous reviewer, who said, that Furst was going through the motions. I felt that a bit too. Having said that though, Furst is such a fine writer, that it really is a quibble, overall he's one of the best writing in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Great atmosphere, pity about the French dialogue
Review: I've always enjoyed the intense atmosphere of Alan Furst's novels. This lived up to my expectations. Except for the French dialogue that's rendered in French. Random House could surely afford to have the French text reviewed by a Frenchman. Then the characters would sound as French as their ideas. Compris, les mecs?
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Lackluster
Review: Like his other WWII espionage books (The Polish Officer, Dark Star), Red Gold brings the seediness and squalidness of spying to the fore. This entry takes place almost entirely within German occupied France in 1941 and picks up the story of former filmmaker Jean Casson where it left off at the end of The World At Night (which I have not read). This novel is shorter and choppier than his others, and suffers in comparison. The story of Casson's recruitment to to the resistance and subsequent attempt to be a liaison between Vichy officers and the Communist underground is somewhat desultory and fails to excite or capture the imagination. The book's strength lies in its capturing of the atmosphere of occupied Paris, rather than the actual story.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite up to par....
Review: Putting aside the fact that he is still one of the best time/place/scene descriptive authors in the noir genre, during much of this book Mr. Furst seems to going through the motions. The heavy drinking rebels, the naive young lover, the brushes with the law, it all seems too predictable. There are no unexpected twists or turns that would have made it a much more complete reading experience. A curious ending, too.
Rating: 
Summary: RED GOLD; a sophisticated spy novel
Review: RED GOLD begins in September 1941,in Paris.It's the fifth time I've written about 1941-I've come to understand that the years; '38,'39,'40,'41 are the central characters of these books,it's the people and places that change. I am addicted to the period 1933-1944 in Europe, from the rise of Hitler in Germany and the purges in the USSR to the winding down of the war. "The best of times and the worst of times," certainly;what the writer Victor Serge called "Midnight in the century."The title RED GOLD is taken from the British tabloid press in the 1930s---"He betrayed his country for red gold!" meaning dark and nefarious Soviet money.But in this book, the French Communist party is the valuable object. They killed without fear of reprisal...they simply didn't care...they were organized, disciplined, had decades of clandestine experience, thus very valuable if they happen to be fighting your enemy. So, in another sense, red gold.When I was living in Paris, I began to wonder about those plaques on the corners of the buildings...a tribute to a dead résistant and a 1940s date. Some of these people were communist operatives, usually Jewish teenagers fled to France from Poland. Other party assassins were typically Yugoslavs, fugitive Russians, and Spanish Republicans who came north after the civil war. But after June 1941, they were the best thing going in France if you wanted to fight the Germans.RED GOLD follows NIGHT SOLDIERS, DARK STAR, THE POLISH OFFICER, and THE WORLD AT NIGHT. The reader will come across various characters that have been met earlier. The hero is Jean Casson, former producer of gangster films, once at home in the 16th Arrondissement. The sources are the same for all these novels...books about the purges in Moscow, the war between the Gestapo and the NKVD, the Spanish civil war, books by disillusioned communists, German accounts of the battle for Russia, histories of British special operations. The result, this time is RED GOLD, a sophisticated spy novel; occupied Paris, people you and I might well have known, at the mercy of their times, doing the best they can.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly professional job
Review: Red Gold was a very compelling, gripping read, but I think that was largely because I had read Furst's previous books first. His ability to evoke a place and time, loyalties and politics now all but forgotten, is competent here, but not on its top form as in Dark Star or The World At Night. What we do get is more than enough, though, a story about resistance to a highly bureaucratized power with no idea of the eventual outcome. Furst really captures the strange pace of life for a resistor in an occupied country, and his historical realism is superb. Try reading The World at Night before this one, and you might find yourself, like me, unable to stop turning pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Furst's best, but still excellent
Review: There are few writers in any genre who can hold a candle to Furst. Thankfully, Red Gold is up to his usual standard - the taut, finely detailed scenes; the ambiguous, yet revealing characters; a deep understanding of things French, Russian, German, etc. If this book doesn't have the epic scale of my personal favorite, Night Soldiers, it's still a wonderful read . I wish Alan Furst could turn out a novel a year - I look forward to the next one, whenever it comes!
Rating:
Summary: atmosphere but thin plot
Review: this is a good book for curling up with on a cold rainy day. As other reviewers have said, the atmosphere is great. And, also as other reviewers have said, the plot is not very significant. What you get with Furst is: good atmosphere and a likeable hero, who, however, is pretty much the same in each book. Personally, I would would like the books to have a bit more character and plot development, so that it doesn't seem as though the events and characters are basically interchangeable; but the books are entertaining nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: atmosphere but thin plot
Review: this is a good book for curling up with on a cold rainy day. As other reviewers have said, the atmosphere is great. And, also as other reviewers have said, the plot is not very significant. What you get with Furst is: good atmosphere and a likeable hero, who, however, is pretty much the same in each book. Personally, I would would like the books to have a bit more character and plot development, so that it doesn't seem as though the events and characters are basically interchangeable; but the books are entertaining nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Jean Casson, part 2
Review: This work is a worthy sequel to "The World At NIght", and continues the story of Jean Casson, the French film producer, and now a, somewhat reluctant, member of the resistance movement in occupied France during World War II. The author has, once again, recreated the atmosphere of a country under the governance of another power, and the lives of the everyday people in reaction to that power, some submitting helplessly, some collaborating, and some, some few, taking steps to avenge themselves on the conqueror. There are the usual, for Furst, finely drawn characterizations, and the feeling of moral ambiguity constantly present in his writings. This book only takes Jean Casson to the latter part of 1942. I certainly hope the author continues his story, possibly until the end of the occupation: I like this man, and want to know how his story continues to go on as the years, dark and dangerous, pass for him and his associates.
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