Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
William Morrow & Co (1991), Edition: 1st, 400 pages
Description
Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:#1 New York Times bestselling author Ken Follett takes to the skies in this classic novel of international suspense. Set in the early days of World War II, Night over Water captures the daring and desperation of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances�??in prose as compelling as history itself. . . . September 1939. England is at war with Nazi Germany. In Southampton, the world's most luxurious airliner�??the legendary Pan Am Clipper�??takes off for its final flight to neutral America. Aboard are the cream of society and the dregs of humanity, all fleeing the war for reasons of their own . . . shadowed by a danger they do not know exists . . . and heading straight into a storm of violence, intrigue, and betray… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member JackMassa
It's always fun to read the disparate reviewers of Ken Follett here on Goodreads. Either you like his potboilers,with their elaborate plots and overstated characters, or you find it all too unconvincing and puerile.
Me, I like the guy, and found Night Over Water one of his best.
I enjoy big books
Me, I like the guy, and found Night Over Water one of his best.
I enjoy big books
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with lots of interwoven plotlines, and Follett just has a way of making me sympathize with his characters. I found plenty of suspense and narrative drive to keep me turning the pages. And, while the people occasionally act a little over the top (particularly throwing themselves into sex at odd moments)-- and while the plot seemed to all tie up a little too quickly and neatly -- Well heck, it sure was fun taking the ride. Show Less
LibraryThing member Neilsantos
This was like reading a screenplay, it was all very neat and tidy. Very enjoyable and entertaining, just also very pat.
LibraryThing member gogglemiss
An assortment of characters are flying to New York from Southampton, England, during 1939, in a luxury aircraft, unaware that the aircraft is in danger of being sabotaged, and placing all of them in peril. Very exciting story, the characters were well written, and I shall be reading more from Ken
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Follett. Show Less
LibraryThing member dannN
Not quite the normal mid-air airplane hi-jacking story. Interesting characters with Follet's normal sex scenes scattered through the book.Nevertheless, an enjoyable read.
LibraryThing member starkravingmad
Tightly crafted story of an assorted group of people taking the last Pan Am Clipper flight form Britain to the US on the dawn of WWII. Excellent mix of historic period, spy thriller, and deep character development. Has the reader feeling as if he were on the flight. The depiction of the luxurious
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(for it's day) Boeing 314 is outstanding. Makes one look up the plans online. Show Less
LibraryThing member starkravingmad
Tightly crafted story of an assorted group of people taking the last Pan Am Clipper flight form Britain to the US on the dawn of WWII. Excellent mix of historic period, spy thriller, and deep character development. Has the reader feeling as if he were on the flight. The depiction of the luxurious
Show More
(for it's day) Boeing 314 is outstanding. Makes one look up the plans online Show Less
LibraryThing member mysterymax
A Pan Am Flying Clipper is making its last flight from Britain to New York as England declares war in Europe.
The passengers make up an assorted lot and the story follows each of them as big decisions about their lives is made during the flight. One of the passengers is a German nuclear scientist
It's hard to believe that there was once a day when flying was so luxurious! The description of the Clipper is excellent. The plot is well developed, Overall, a good thriller.
The passengers make up an assorted lot and the story follows each of them as big decisions about their lives is made during the flight. One of the passengers is a German nuclear scientist
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fleeing Nazi Germany and there is an attempt to down the plane and take him back to Germany.It's hard to believe that there was once a day when flying was so luxurious! The description of the Clipper is excellent. The plot is well developed, Overall, a good thriller.
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LibraryThing member nvellis01
Good story with interesting characters but the conclusion left me flat. It was like the author got tired of the story. :-(
LibraryThing member nvellis01
Good story with interesting characters but the conclusion left me flat. It was like the author got tired of the story. :-(
LibraryThing member buffalogr
This book read like a film noir: a cross between Shirley Temple and Bogie & Bacall. The author spent most of the book setting up the conclusion and through interaction among the characters--it seemed to drag on and I almost put it down. Throughout, the reader was given interesting facts from which
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a conclusion might be drawn...not so fast, it's not all what it seems. If you like movies from the 1930s, this is the book for you. Show Less
LibraryThing member John5918
An old-style thriler set on a Pan-Am Clipper flying across the Atlantic as World War II begins.
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
Could be also known as "airplane of fools," this book is one of several strands all coming together in an effort to construct a tightly-knit story. It only partly succeeds. Follett does better in his longer historical novels (_Pillars of the Earth_), but I still enjoyed it.
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
The ending saved the book. Much too detailed about some of the characters the ending was a bit of a surprise. Follet is a good writer and he was developing his chops when he wrote this.
LibraryThing member jimgysin
Underwhelming is a perfect word to describe this one. Some potentially decent story lines surround the various passengers on a Pan Am clipper flight from England to the States at the outbreak of war in Europe, but Follett seems to prefer a soap opera here as opposed to a serious thriller, and he
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seems especially committed to treating all of the female characters as being fickle, dependent, and not particularly bright. Even the smartest of the female bunch here eventually becomes yet another bimbo. And with that soap opera feel to things, readers who like plenty of sex in their fiction will be happy, although even that seems to have been written by a high school English composition student whose Friday nights are all free. If it hadn't been for a few nice twists at the end (the most significant of which was pretty obvious, although I had a bit of it wrong), it would have been a complete disappointment, but those twists upgraded it to underwhelming status. Show Less
LibraryThing member smik
War has just been declared and there are a number of people desperate to leave England for America. The novel tells the stories of these people, and why they want to leave, in a number of plot strands. Amid these strands a crew member's wife is abducted and he is under pressure to bring the flying
The tension grows as the plane approaches the American coastline, but meanwhile we have learnt a lot about this luxurious airliner, and the details feel very authentic.
There are 15 discs in the set, with each running for a little over an hour. Takes up a lot of listening time.
I could have done without the gratuitous sex which felt a bit sleazy.
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boat down just off the New England coast.The tension grows as the plane approaches the American coastline, but meanwhile we have learnt a lot about this luxurious airliner, and the details feel very authentic.
There are 15 discs in the set, with each running for a little over an hour. Takes up a lot of listening time.
I could have done without the gratuitous sex which felt a bit sleazy.
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LibraryThing member Andy_DiMartino
Not as intense as his epic books but a very good story nonetheless.
LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb
Reread during Covid-19 year. Another well constructed thriller with the back story of some of the characters developed in the 1st chapters followed by their interactions when on a flying sea plane flight between England and USA at the very beginning of the 2nd WW. Nazi threads, theft and romance as
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well as family tensions and business dealings. Show Less
LibraryThing member whoizme8
What can I say? I am a Ken Follett fan. This is a large book due to the large number of front line characters and their complex lives and backgrounds. Somehow he pulls it all together and you have quite a plot. It is excellently written and captivating,.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural
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Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern" Show Less
LibraryThing member Fliss88
I know Ken Follett more for his big historical medieval works, of which I've read nearly all. Night Over Water started off a little ho hum light, but I soon got caught up into the narrative. With a couple of different storylines happening throughout, at times it was like watching a Saturday
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afternoon B grade black and white movie. However by the halfway mark I was totally caught up and enjoying the build up of tension and had to race along to its conclusion! It's historical fiction for sure, but it's set a little more recently in history than Mr Follett usually writes. It's got everything, aristocracy, thieves, blackmail, German spies, the FBI, kidnapping and a few surprises. Show Less
Subjects
Original language
English
Original publication date
1991
Physical description
9.5 inches
ISBN
9780688046606
UPC
043144023009