I’ve said before, I do love a good thriller, as did Mum, and this one ticks most of the boxes. I read this one to recover from how disappointed I was with Robert Harris the other week, and I didn’t put it down until I’d finished it. It’s a fast, engaging tale of derring do set against the preparations for the D Day landings, with a cold and professional German spy, Die Nadel, murdering landladies and evading his delightfully British pursuers while trying to ascertain where the Allies will launch their invasion of France.
Ken Follett knows his stuff, and as always, adds plenty of human drama and pathos to the mix – who could forget fearless Christine, the plucky ambulance driver and appalling cook, whose death in the Blitz devastates her husband, Bloggs, and teaches him to hate the enemy. Or his colleague, the academic and historian Percival Godliman, who is drawn away from writing his history of the Plantagenets to become a spy catcher with MI5. And there’s the romance of a young bride and her RAF fighter pilot husband whose marriage is fatally wounded almost before it begins.
I liked this. I liked almost all the characters, I loved the descriptions of Londoners in the shelters rallying together, I liked the ending which contained an unsurprising surprise…yes I know that doesn’t really make sense, but I don’t want to spoil the plot for you! It’s not literature as such, but its a well written page turner from an accomplished story teller, and I recommend it.
As always, if you would like this book, please let me know, and I welcome your comments!
EDIT; Snapped up almost immediately by a local reader!
Mum's Books 