Army of the Night

Reviews / Votes

Secret agents do not leave reliable accounts of their activities, nor do doubleand triple-agents act from simple motives. The lucidity comes, like the solution of a good detective story, towards the end of a tangled tale full of unusual suspects. * The Sunday Times * A brilliantly sustained, atmospheric and often tensely thrilling narrative [. . .] This book is a remarkable achievement that evokes the whole tragedy of wartime France. * The Independent * This is first-rate history that reads like a thriller and keeps the reader engrossed to the very end. * Literary Review * A gripping account of the last days of the French Resistance hero who was tortured to death by Klaus Barbie. Marnham's biography is a brilliant mix of political thriller and wartime history. * J.G. Ballard * Enthralling and intelligent, a masterly exploration of the sinister labyrinth that was wartime France [...] It is a remarkable book, utterly fascinating. * Allan Massie * ... Patrick Marnham is very good on French self-deception: a moral self-deception which began with Vichy for psychological reasons and continued under de Gaulle. His book is as gripping as a detective story. * Antony Beevor * If you are interested in France, the real France, or if you are interested in the Second World War, or if you are interested in courage, real courage, and how it can rise to meet the most severe test imaginable, then I believe you ought to make it your business to read Patrick Marnham's extraordinary book.' * Alan Furst *