Lie Down with Lions

by Ken Follett

1986

Status

Available

Genres

Historical Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Signet (1986), 372 pages

Description

Fiction. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:"Vintage Follett . . . This is his most ambitious novel and it succeeds admirably." �??USA Today Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman. They were two men on opposite sides of the Cold War, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan�??to the moment of truth and deadly decision for all of them.

User reviews

LibraryThing member John_Warner

Jane, an English nurse working in Paris, falls in love with Ellis, a secretive American working as an English teacher. When she discovers that his occupation is only a cover for his true profession as an agent for the CIA, she leaves him. He is nothing like the humanitarian French physician,

Jean-Pierre, who works along her side at one of the hospitals. When he invites her to come along on a mission trip to serve a tribe in a valley nestled within a remote valley in the rugged mountainous region of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, she agrees. She eventually falls in love with him, they marry and have a baby girl. Shortly after their daughter's birth, she discovers that her husband is actually a Communist who is working with the KGB transmitting information regarding rebel Afghan leaders' movements during the Russian Afghan War. Meanwhile, when Ellis discovers he has an opportunity to assist the Afghan rebels and to become reacquainted with Jane, he agrees to the assignment. Shortly after Ellis arrives, Jean-Pierre leaves on an alleged medical emergency. During his absence Ellis and Jane rekindle their relationship. When she discovers that Jean-Pierre was actually continuing espionage activities, that he promised he would stop, against the tribesmen she had grown to love he tells Ellis, who sabotages the KGB's military operation. Realizing that Ellis and Jane's lives are now in jeopardy, they decide to make a treacherous escape across the mountains on foot into Pakistan realizing that the Russians will be in pursuit. This the last novel that Follett wrote before publishing is popular tome, The Pillars of the Earth. Jane's character is the focus of this novel and her relationship with Ellis and Jean-Pierre who have both betrayed her trust. It also describes her difficult integration into a culture where women are to be subservient. Follett's descriptions of Ellis and Jane's escape through the mountains portrayed well why the Afghan Wars have been difficult for both Russia and the United States. A word of warning to those who easily blush at sex scenes, the romance between she and Ellis is very graphic.

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LibraryThing member www.snigel.nu

Sorry, but I do not remember much about this book, except that it follows Follet's general style.

LibraryThing member GailL

I put this book down a couple of times and debated whether to continue reading it. Not sure why, maybe a bit slow, not overly action packed?? I did finish it at last, but definitely not one I'd read again.

LibraryThing member Neilsantos

Another enjoyable read. Could have used a little more action and a little less sex, and none of the three characters are really likeable, but I still managed to go through it in one sitting,

LibraryThing member bushrarehman

great book...which gives a rich knowledge about afganistan.!!!!

LibraryThing member john257hopper

Good page turning thriller, albeit not one of Follett's best. The descriptions of Afghanistan as a war torn and very primitive country are very evocative and the inhabitants are well depicted as individuals with differing drives and views of Russia and the West.

LibraryThing member christinejoseph

good spy novel in Afghanistan - Russian + CIA student spies - S Lions Valley

Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman. They were two men on opposite sides of the cold war, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in

Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan - to the moment of truth and deadly decision for all of them...

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LibraryThing member J_J_K

A fun read with some interesting plot twists. Last third of the book was a good adventure story/page turner.

LibraryThing member juniperSun

Cheap read, spy novel with a few pages of very descriptive sex. Takes place during the ~1979 invasion of Afghan by Russia, giving some perspective which the reader may apply to subsequent American military involvements in the Middle East. The story line has a French doctor, English woman, and

American CIA agent doing what they think will lead to supporting the freedom of the Afghan people. We get some of each person's background which shows how/why they take the approach they do. Jane is the least developed tho most prominent in terms of number of pages & obviously there as the sex interest and to allow author to show some "feminist" maxims.
Includes a bibliography of factual sources for those who want to get a better understanding of the Afghan culture and relevant history.

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LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson

An entertaining and suspenseful read. Interesting hijinks in the world of espionage but occasionally too much of a pot-boiler. Character development was well done and the backstory slid into place very adroitly.

LibraryThing member edwardsgt

Well researched story set in early 1980s during Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when rebels weren't well organised and before US support. Jane and her French communist husband, Jean-Pierre are living with fighters providing medical care to locals when Jane's former lover Ellis, a CIA undercover

operator, arrives to try to organise the rebel factions in return for US weaponry. Exciting plot as Russians try to find Ellis before he can organise the rebel factions.

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LibraryThing member HenriMoreaux

Set in the 1980s during the opening stages of the Afghan-Soviet war when the Soviet Union was largely unopposed Lie Down With Lions follows the interactions between two spies, one a professional, the other a sleeper.

In the start of the book the men are in France and encounter each other and the

sleeper identifies the professional to the Russians so they can attempt to kill him, after this the sleeper marries a woman who the professional had been seeing and together the woman and sleeper go to Afghanistan. Unbeknownst to the woman, it is for the sleeper to spy on the Afghans and report intelligence to the Russians.

With America taking more of an interest in humiliating Russia on the world stage the professional is sent to aid the Afghans and obtain their agreement to join tribal forces in exchange for American military aid. It's here where the men encounter one another, the sleepers cover is blown and once again he fingers the professional to the Russians who move in to try and capture him as a political coup. The result? A nail biting chase through the mountains to Pakistan as the professional tries to flee with the Russians hot on his heels. There's a juicy romance sub plot to go along with that, that whilst far fetched doesn't detract from the greater story itself.

I quite enjoyed it and would recommend it for those who enjoy action/adventure and/or spy thrillers.

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LibraryThing member delta61

This a love triangle with a background of the Afghan war, further complicated wit the men on opposing sides. It is well written with exceptional work on the lives of women in an Afghan village where our main character uses her wiles to survive. I did get tired with the continual emphasis on breast

feeding. This was the least of my problems, when half-way thru the book I thought it had changed to a porn novel. I found this section an unnecessary addition to the book. The story seemed to have lost its purpose. After that wasted section the book was back on track with a great ending.

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LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb

Although written in the immediate era of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, and therefore a lot of material readily available, his research and attention to detail is excellent. Another great story written early in his writng career.

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