The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

Read by Mark Bramhall

11 hours

Published October 2013 by Sourcebooks

Publisher's Summary: 

In 1942 Paris, architect Lucien Bernard accepts a commission that will bring him a great deal of money – and maybe get him killed. All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it while World War II rages on. He sorely needs the money, and outwitting the Nazis who have occupied his beloved city is a challenge he can't resist.

Soon Lucien is hiding more souls and saving lives. But when one of his hideouts fails horribly, and the problem of where to conceal a Jew becomes much more personal, and he can no longer ignore what's at stake.

My Thoughts: 

This book has been on my radar since shortly after it was published, but, as books do, it got pushed down the list until I couldn't remember what it was about. Not only that, but I was paying so little attention that, for some reason, I didn't really notice that picture on the cover, it was as if it were a blur to me. Now I can't imagine why I didn't see what it is and understand what the book was going to be about. As you know, though, I'm kind of a fan of going into a book unaware of what's coming. 

• Charles Belfoure is himself an architect which becomes clear because of the detail involved in explaining both the buildings Lucien designs for the Nazis and the hiding places he designs for the Jews. 
• Lucien is a man of questionable morals. He makes little effort to save his marriage, chases after his mistress like a school boy, justifies designing the buildings for the Nazis by convincing himself that the buildings will be used by the French after the war, and only creates the hiding places because it gets him the bigger projects and pays exceedingly well. Slowly, his eyes begin to open, his heart begins to open, and he risks himself for more than just prestige and money. 
• There are some interesting characters in the book: Manet, the industrialist who draws Lucien into both working with the Nazis and hiding the Jews; Herzog, the Wehrmacht officer in charge of the buildings Lucien is designing, who Lucien develops a bond with; and Pierre, a French Jewish boy who comes to live with Lucien after his entire family is killed. 
• I wish Belfoure would have spent more time developing these characters and less time writing about sexual exploits and torture for a particularly horrible Nazi soldier. You can imagine how unprepared I was for those, having had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up the book - I had to fast forward over them, they were so gruesome. 
• I found the ending very satisfying. That last hour of the book held some surprises, some people got what they deserved, some people turned out to be more than I expected.