Following the story of a French architect Lucien Bernard, being paid to create temporary hiding places for Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris,[6] the book received generally positive reviews.
Malcolm Gladwell of The Guardian chose The Paris Architect his favourite book of 2013, calling it "a beautiful and elegant account of an ordinary man's unexpected and reluctant descent into heroism during the second world war".
[7] Belfoure's debut in fiction was found among finalists of the 2015 International Dublin Literary Award[8] and hit The New York Times best seller list in an e-book category in July 2015.
Set in 1886 in New York, it tells the story of an architect forced to join a criminal gang, and therefore plan robberies of the buildings he had previously designed to pay off his son's debts.
[12] Jocelyn McClurg of USA Today gave the book three out of four stars, saying that "channeling Dickens, Belfoure designs a rollicking story but overloads on improbabilities.
[16] Publishers Weekly reviewer called it an "exceptional mystery" and said that "Belfoure offers the reader glimpses of early motion pictures, variety hall jokes that are still funny, and a description of Edward VII consuming a 10-course meal.
[28] When asked about the works that influenced him most, he pointed to Robert Caro's The Power Broker, William Golding's Lord of the Flies and novels by Thomas Hardy, especially Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge.
His son Christopher Belfoure graduated in history from West Virginia University in 2010, and died due to a fatal ATV accident the following year.