Status
Available
Description
One enemy spy knows the secret to the Allies' greatest deception, a brilliant aristocrat and ruthless assassin -- code name: "The Needle" -- who holds the key to ultimate Nazi victory. Only one person stands in his way: a lonely Englishwoman on an isolated island, who is beginning to love the killer who has mysteriously entered her life. All will come to a terrifying conclusion in Ken Follett's unsurpassed and unforgettable masterwork of suspense, intrigue, and the dangerous machinations of the human heart.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb
High tension and intrigue. As good as the film, even if you imagine Donald Sutherland as the spy.
LibraryThing member cushlareads
I read this book till 1 am while I was on holiday without the kids, which should tell you how unputdownable it was - I could have been sound asleep! And my heart was racing by the end. It's the first Ken Follett I've read.
Far-fetched plot? Yes. Believable? Somehow. (I realise the two things should
Far-fetched plot? Yes. Believable? Somehow. (I realise the two things should
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be contradictory.) The main character, Die Nagel, is a German agent living in England during WW2. Without wanting to give too much away, he tries hard to get information home to Germany about plans for D-Day. He's nasty, but likable. The usual kind of spy things happen. There are plenty of big picture military and political bits, which I really enjoyed. The romantic stuff was harder to believe, but still good enough that I couldn't stop reading by that stage in the book. I read Agent Zig-Zag earlier this year, and this fitted in well with that book. I gave it 4 1/2 stars (for its genre, blah blah - any book that keeps me awake that late gets lots of stars...) Show Less
LibraryThing member EllieM
Enjoyable easy read. Interesting to follow the chase from the perspective of both hunter and hunted.
LibraryThing member smitkevi
Follett masterfully blends racing thrills with deep characterization as he spins a tale that very well may have a grain of truth at its center. The story entertains the idea that perhaps Nazi intelligence was closer than it seems to discovering the allies deception that allowed the invasion of
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France to be a success. Definitely worth the read for history fans and the average Joe (or Jane, excuse me) alike. Show Less
LibraryThing member shaunnas
If you are looking for a page turner, this is it. I read it in less than a day. The plot is well done and just unpredictable enough to keep you going. Warning: more sexual content than I can really recommend.
LibraryThing member rashmiadithian
Thanks to Ken Follett and his eye of the needle that got me into the habit of reading. It is an absolute page turner, though the climax is pretty cliched the way he takes one through it is really good. His German spies are better than British spies.
LibraryThing member taylorsteve
Follet does an excellent job of keeping you in suspense on how it will happen. Great twist on history - could be real or not - who knows. Loved it.
LibraryThing member JCO123
Great Book! Tells the story of a German spy in England during WWII
when the allies were trying to deceive Hitler as to the location of the Normandy
D-Day invasion. Very suspensful and well written.
when the allies were trying to deceive Hitler as to the location of the Normandy
D-Day invasion. Very suspensful and well written.
LibraryThing member kaipakartik
One of the best thrillers ever. Die Nadel is just a brilliant character. Some of the characters are a bit clichéd especially the police officer who finds himself a wife at the end (She's a hero). But the spy scenes are written extremely well. The book flows and is an extremely fast read.
LibraryThing member miyurose
Eye of the Needle was Follet’s first book published in the U.S., and it’s no surprise that it’s sold somewhere around 10 million copies worldwide. I consider Follett’s WWII books to be his best. He is able to put us smack dab in the middle of the war, usually in a situation we wouldn’t
I was fortunate enough to see Ken Follett speak at the National Book Festival this year, and now I’m a bigger fan than ever. How can you not like a man who tops off every writing day with a glass of champagne?
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expect. Here, he takes a single question — What if the Germans knew the Allies were attacking Normandy? — and turns it into a thrilling cross-country chase that culminates in an unexpected showdown on a tiny island. He gives us characters that are three-dimensional and complex, even if they aren’t major characters in the story. Perhaps most interesting was Follett’s fictional Third Reich.I was fortunate enough to see Ken Follett speak at the National Book Festival this year, and now I’m a bigger fan than ever. How can you not like a man who tops off every writing day with a glass of champagne?
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LibraryThing member BarbaraHouston
Exciting, well-crafted spy novel set in the days just prior to D-day.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Whilst this was largely well-written, it suffers like others dealing with historical events where the outcome is known at the beginning, so it is a matter of how the authorities stop the spy rather than if. Another couple of points grated about Storm Island off the Scottish coast, location of the
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final scenes: I find it hard to believe that a remote Scottish island supporting three people and a child was provided with mains electricity at two houses at opposite ends of the island during WWII and apparently directly from the mainland, some 10 miles or so distant. Alternatively there was never any mention of a generator or generators being used to provide electricity, a more viable and cost-effective solution for a remote, barely populated island. Secondly, one has to suspend belief that a young man, who had lost his lower legs and with a wife and young baby, would elect to live on such an inhospitable island, never mind drive himself around in an automatic (i.e. fuel guzzling) Jeep. On the latter point the US military only received Willys Jeeps in 1941 and it is highly unlikely one would been have available to someone living on a remote Scottish island! Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Ken Follet has been one of my favorite authors for many years. Eye of the Needle is one of the reasons why this is so. In it he tells a story set during the Second World War prior to the Allied offensive at Normandy. There is an effort to mislead the Germans as to the plans of the Allies.
A German
A German
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spy working at an English railway depot is charged to obtain further information on the Allied offensive. However, the German counter spies have already informed the British High Command of his existence and he becomes a hunted man. Nicknamed 'The Needle' or 'Die Nadel' in German for his favourite killing weapon, the stilleto, he is Germany's best spy and the only thing standing in the way of an overwhelming Allied victory. Follett builds the suspense carefully holding the reader's attention. This is a dramatic adventure thriller that satisfies for a long time. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
During World War II the Allies went to extraordinary lengths to make the Nazis believe the coming invasion would be at Calais, not Normandy. They used plywood artillery and inflatable dummy tanks and other faux constructions to fool the Nazis from the air. But from the ground these were obvious
The book weaves in three narrative strands that eventually converge. There's the German spy Heinrich, known as "the Needle" who is cunning and a ruthless killer who had been established in England even before the war. There's Professor Percival Godliman, medieval historian turned spycatcher and his subordinate Frederick Bloggs. And then there's the hero of the story--Lucy Rose. A lonely and unloved wife on Storm Island off the Scottish coast.
That alone makes this stand out among the list of a couple of dozen suspense novels I've been reading off a recommendation list. A friend of mine calls them "dick-lit" for good reason. All too often they're drenched in testosterone and the women either femme fatales or damsels-in-distress. A courageous and resourceful female character like Lucy is a rarity in the genre. I also liked how vividly Follet conjured up wartime Britain. This isn't the kind of book that impresses with a striking prose style or complex characters or a surprising twist. But this is a fast-paced, suspenseful and engrossing thriller I gobbled up pretty much in one sitting.
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fakes. Had one German agent been able to get near these dummy forces on the ground, the deception--crucial to the success of D-Day--wouldn't have worked. The premise of this espionage thriller asks, what if an operative had learned the truth?The book weaves in three narrative strands that eventually converge. There's the German spy Heinrich, known as "the Needle" who is cunning and a ruthless killer who had been established in England even before the war. There's Professor Percival Godliman, medieval historian turned spycatcher and his subordinate Frederick Bloggs. And then there's the hero of the story--Lucy Rose. A lonely and unloved wife on Storm Island off the Scottish coast.
That alone makes this stand out among the list of a couple of dozen suspense novels I've been reading off a recommendation list. A friend of mine calls them "dick-lit" for good reason. All too often they're drenched in testosterone and the women either femme fatales or damsels-in-distress. A courageous and resourceful female character like Lucy is a rarity in the genre. I also liked how vividly Follet conjured up wartime Britain. This isn't the kind of book that impresses with a striking prose style or complex characters or a surprising twist. But this is a fast-paced, suspenseful and engrossing thriller I gobbled up pretty much in one sitting.
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LibraryThing member AshRyan
Eye of the Needle was Ken Follett's breakout novel, and still a favorite among his readers who often criticize his later works as being formulaic, predictable, lacking character development, etc. This is strange, as those books are generally far superior to this one in those very respects.
Of all
Eye of the Needle was also easily Follett's most formulaic novel of those I've read. For instance, it follows the classic formula of WWII thrillers of inserting a scene with Churchill expressing how the entire balance of the war hangs on the situation in the story, or with Hitler saying much the same. Follett does both...repeatedly. After several scenes of Hitler informing his council that if the Needle fails they will lose the war, and Churchill informing British intelligence officials that if they fail to STOP the Needle THEY will lose, I was just thinking, "Okay, I GET it already." Presumably, this is done to raise the stakes---but let's face it, we all already know how the war turned out anyway, don't we? So this rather backfired, and by the end I really couldn't have cared less about the supposed consequences for the war effort, and only wanted to know what the heroine's fate would be, despite Follett's apparent insecurities that that wouldn't be enough to carry the novel.
All that said, the characters, though a bit thinly drawn, were fairly interesting, and the basic story, though somewhat overblown, was pretty good. So on the whole, I'd say it might be worth reading, but I'd recommend giving some of his later stuff a chance over this.
Of all
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the Follett novels I've read so far, this had by far the flattest characters. You basically learn everything you need to know about them in the first few pages, after which Follett develops them very little. The only real development later in the book is the Needle character's falling in love with the heroine, which is actually out of character for him and not adequately explained.Eye of the Needle was also easily Follett's most formulaic novel of those I've read. For instance, it follows the classic formula of WWII thrillers of inserting a scene with Churchill expressing how the entire balance of the war hangs on the situation in the story, or with Hitler saying much the same. Follett does both...repeatedly. After several scenes of Hitler informing his council that if the Needle fails they will lose the war, and Churchill informing British intelligence officials that if they fail to STOP the Needle THEY will lose, I was just thinking, "Okay, I GET it already." Presumably, this is done to raise the stakes---but let's face it, we all already know how the war turned out anyway, don't we? So this rather backfired, and by the end I really couldn't have cared less about the supposed consequences for the war effort, and only wanted to know what the heroine's fate would be, despite Follett's apparent insecurities that that wouldn't be enough to carry the novel.
All that said, the characters, though a bit thinly drawn, were fairly interesting, and the basic story, though somewhat overblown, was pretty good. So on the whole, I'd say it might be worth reading, but I'd recommend giving some of his later stuff a chance over this.
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LibraryThing member cathymoore
I found this to be a truly exceptional, genuinely enjoyable piece of fiction. I really enjoy Follet's narrative style. At times I was absolutely immersed in this and it really captured my imagination.
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
This 1978 thriller had me caught up totally in its fast-paced action consistently through all its pages. The spy discovers the fake devices intended to make Hitler believe that D-Day will not be in Normandy, and book traces his effort to get to Germany and tell Hitler--and the effort of British
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military intelligence to keep him from getting the information to Hitler. The book ends up on an island off Scotland inhabitated by only four people. On reflection, there are hard to beleive aspects to the scenario, but one cannot but be totally immersed in the enthralling action. Show Less
LibraryThing member creighley
One enemy spy knows the secret that could change the course of the war. Hitler depends on his report to make his final decision as to where the Allies will launch their attack. Is it Calais or the beaches of Normandy. Fast paced and filled with realistic intrigue, Follett has written a great
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suspense novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
Carl Sandburg said (in another context) "it pays to have a good forgettery." In this case, a good forgettery allowed me to reread Ken Follett's EYE OF THE NEEDLE (British title, STORM ISLAND) with every bit as much enjoyment as when I first read it 30 years ago. Also, having recently reread THE DAY
Both books feature multiple points of view -- quite a few of them in Follett's case -- and on both sides of the good guy/bad guy divide. Both involve historical events that we know turned out OK, and ask us to imagine a scenario where things could have gone quite differently. The difference in Follett's book is that nearly all the characters are more fully developed. I still found it difficult to work up much sympathy for The Needle, though, and when I found critics (both film and book) talking about his "falling in love" with Lucy, I thought only that they must have a very different idea of love than I have.
The stronger character development in Follett's book makes a lot of artistic sense, since, unlike JACKAL, EYE OF THE NEEDLE must build suspense over a period of four years, from the period just after the Phoney War in 1940, to just before D-Day in 1944. Without the character interest, this might have made for a less engaging story; and the behavior of The Needle, David, and Lucy in the final chapters would not have been as believable.
Reading this now, when Follett has again been on the bestseller lists with WORLD WITHOUT END, his sequel to THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, (both set in the Middle Ages), one notices how he brings his interest in medieval culture and history even into a World War II thriller. For example, he parallels Godliman the medievalist's search for Henry II's travels with Godliman the intelligence agent's search for The Needle.
I haven't seen the movie of this book, but probably will before long. I am reserving judgment on the casting of Donald Sutherland as The Needle -- somehow it just doesn't seem right to me.
In any case, THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE was quite deserving of the Edgar, even though it had some stiff competition, particularly Tony Hillerman's LISTENING WOMAN.
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OF THE JACKAL, it was fun to compare these two similar, but different, thrillers.Both books feature multiple points of view -- quite a few of them in Follett's case -- and on both sides of the good guy/bad guy divide. Both involve historical events that we know turned out OK, and ask us to imagine a scenario where things could have gone quite differently. The difference in Follett's book is that nearly all the characters are more fully developed. I still found it difficult to work up much sympathy for The Needle, though, and when I found critics (both film and book) talking about his "falling in love" with Lucy, I thought only that they must have a very different idea of love than I have.
The stronger character development in Follett's book makes a lot of artistic sense, since, unlike JACKAL, EYE OF THE NEEDLE must build suspense over a period of four years, from the period just after the Phoney War in 1940, to just before D-Day in 1944. Without the character interest, this might have made for a less engaging story; and the behavior of The Needle, David, and Lucy in the final chapters would not have been as believable.
Reading this now, when Follett has again been on the bestseller lists with WORLD WITHOUT END, his sequel to THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, (both set in the Middle Ages), one notices how he brings his interest in medieval culture and history even into a World War II thriller. For example, he parallels Godliman the medievalist's search for Henry II's travels with Godliman the intelligence agent's search for The Needle.
I haven't seen the movie of this book, but probably will before long. I am reserving judgment on the casting of Donald Sutherland as The Needle -- somehow it just doesn't seem right to me.
In any case, THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE was quite deserving of the Edgar, even though it had some stiff competition, particularly Tony Hillerman's LISTENING WOMAN.
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LibraryThing member Daye
I love this great spy story. It is full of suspense. One of my favorite books made into a good movie with Donald Sutherland.
LibraryThing member ScottKalas
This was my first Ken Follett book. He was recommended as a WWII mystery, suspense, spy thriller writer in the mold of Dan Silva's 'The Unlikely Spy' In parts it did well but it was less then I had hoped for.
Like Silva's Unlikely Spy' there was detailed sex scenes, if I was in my teens I'd
Another angle I'd liked in Unlikely Spy was the identify of the spy was unknown until the end. In Eye of the Needle the spy is the first character you meet, so much for mystery.
There was some suspense early on but at midway it was clear to me how it would all end even the boy meets girl and they live happily ever after bit.
Overall it was an OK read but as for becoming a Follett fan this one missed my mark.
Like Silva's Unlikely Spy' there was detailed sex scenes, if I was in my teens I'd
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probably have found it appealing but at 55 it simply turns me off. I guess I'm what some would call a fuddy duddy, oh so I am and ho hum.Another angle I'd liked in Unlikely Spy was the identify of the spy was unknown until the end. In Eye of the Needle the spy is the first character you meet, so much for mystery.
There was some suspense early on but at midway it was clear to me how it would all end even the boy meets girl and they live happily ever after bit.
Overall it was an OK read but as for becoming a Follett fan this one missed my mark.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
the ending was a little anticlimactic but i can't think of a better ending.
LibraryThing member Dessss
Die Nadel had great skill as a spy but he had never come up against a woman protecting her child... Great page turner. I saw the film last night, no where near as exciting as the book.
LibraryThing member m2snick
If you love spy novels, this is probably a great book. I'm not a fan of the genre but I found this to be tolerable.
LibraryThing member carlos92
It is set during the second world war. It tells the story of a spy who knows the secret that could change the course of the war. It is a nice realistic- intrigue novel.
Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — Novel — 1979)