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Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:Ken Follett and the intrigue of World War IIâ??"a winning formula" (Entertainment Weekly) if ever there was one. With his riveting prose and unerring instinct for suspense, the #1 New York Times bestselling author takes to the skies over Europe during the early days of the war in a most extraordinary novel. . . . It is June 1941, and the war is not going well for England. Somehow, the Germans are anticipating the RAF's flight paths and shooting down British bombers with impunity. Meanwhile, across the North Sea, eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande and discovers an astonishing sight. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows he must tell someone. And when he learns the truth, it will fall upon him to deliver word to Englandâ??except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in a ruined churchâ??a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely to ever get off the ground . . . even if Harald knew how to fly it. Look out for Ken's newest book, A Column of Fire, available now.… (more)
User reviews
Thematically, Follett explores the difference between a life (and a society) run
Enter Harald Olufsen, an 18 year old Danish schoolboy with a gift for mechanics and engineering. Harald dreams of studying physics with Neils Bohr, the Nobel Prize-winning Danish physicist. But Denmark is occupied by the Nazis and life is hard. Harald's older brother Arne is a pilot in what remains of the Danish Air Force, and Harald also yearns to fly.
There is a small, incipient Danish Resistance movement, and Harald inadvertently becomes involved when one night he discovers a German radar installation on his home island of Stande. Along with a young Danish woman, Karen Duchwitz, Harald must get vital information about the radar back to England before a critical bombing raid by the RAF.
Very nicely written action-adventure story starring mainly the two Danish teenagers, Harald and Karen. But there are quite a few others in the credible supporting cast, including a sadistic Danish policeman, a female English spy, and Winston Churchill.
Well written and highly entertaining even if somewhat predictable.
The story is simple but believable and does not require the
This book is definitely not Follet's most detailed or intense, but well worth reading if you enjoy war novels, spy thrillers with light romance.
I enjoy Ken Follet's stories.
Reading a Ken Follett novel set in World War 2 is like wearing a comfortable pair of shoes. He has an enjoyable writing style that is easy to read. He also creates compelling characters, which come across in this novel. The pace in the early part of the novel was a bit slow, but really picks up later in the novel. His villains aren’t your stereotypical villains. They have their own story and believable motivations. All together, this was a well written and fun novel to read.
Carl Alves – author of Two For Eternity