Rating: 
Summary: Up All Night
Review: Another great book, I think he is the master of the spy vs. spy book. This was heads and tails above the movie. Great characters, I really disliked the antagonist. Good, smart story that still plays today. He pulls the rug out from under you a number of times so you cannot predict the outcome. I have never gone wrong with this author.
Rating:
Summary: Forsyth's most complex book.
Review: At first is a very good book, but is has to many things that are useless, for example the 2 letters that wrote Philby to the General Secretary of the former USSR (if you read the book you simply can jump these letters.)
Another example is that the russian had to receive 9 mails to make a bomb in England from the former USSR, and in the nine mails the book writes the same stories how the mail get inside England and how is he dressed etc. (the same story nine times.)
At the end the book just come down with the last persecution that is also repetitive at least three times and the very end of the book is really disappointing.
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Summary: A novel about contemporary terrorism
Review: By sheer coincidence I started this book just before the Trade Tower disaster and finished it a few days after it. So it started out as a novel of international espionage between super powers but ended as a novel of terrorism by a handful of crazed individuals infiltrating a peace loving civilized country. And the resolution of the threat in the novel is a significant insight into the possible resolution of the current Arab terrorism.
As are John Forsythe's other books, the novel is beautifully detailed but at the same time fast paced.
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Summary: "The Fourth Protocol" is one of Forsyth's most exciting.
Review: Frederick Forsyth is a master of complex plotting and this book, published in 1985, is without a doubt one of his most complex."The Fourth Protocol" begins quite humbly with the simple burglary and theft of a mult-million dollar set of diamond jewelry from a London town home. Finding a sparkling tiara won't fit into his own carrying case, the burglar takes an attache case belonging to the owner and thereby saves the entire Western Alliance from collapse. Only Forsythe could pull this off. He does so with a cast of dozens, meticulous attention to plot detail and the sure knowledge of his readers' fear of communism and nuclear terrorism in the 1980s. The story begins slowly, but manages to hold the reader's interest through a series of accidents, mayhem and shrewd deductions of British intelligence officer John Preston. The story takes us back and forth from Europe to the Soviet Union, from Pretoria, South Africa to a U.S. air base in England, and all over Europe. Each new revelation brings the reader a little closer to the edge of his chair and the ending nearly sends him to hide underneath. Even though this thriller is somewhat dated in its Cold War mentality, it is still a wonderful, compelling novel. With only a bit of paranoia, the reader can substitute a Middle-East villain for the aging Soviet one in this novel, and scare himself silly.
Rating: 
Summary: Cold War classic
Review: Frederick Forsyth's "The Fourth Protocol" written in 1984 before the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. is a classic offering in the political thriller and espionage genre.A by product of a jewel theft in London is the discovery that sensitive clandestine information has been traitorously pilfered by George Berenson, a member of the British Ministery of Defense.
High ranking agent of the British Secret Service, M15, John Preston has been assigned to plug the leak and evaluate the damage. Exhaustive investigation unearths a plot nurtured through a South African source and eminating from the very top of the Soviet government. British traitor, Harold Philby, now a colonel in the KGB, has inspired a plot approved by the Soviet Secretary General created to topple the reigning British government. A pact to avoid broaching the "fourth protocol" would be violated resulting in the establishment of the hard left, Communist sympathetic Labour Party as the rulers of the British government. The fourth protocol was part of a treaty signed by nuclear powers is avoid certain types of nuclear proliferation. Forsyth creates a hard biting, chilling thriller that traverses through the highest channels of several governments. Such a scenario is still plausible in the tumultuous political climate existent today.
Rating:
Summary: Cold War classic
Review: Frederick Forsyth's "The Fourth Protocol" written in 1984 before the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. is a classic offering in the political thriller and espionage genre. A by product of a jewel theft in London is the discovery that sensitive clandestine information has been traitorously pilfered by George Berenson, a member of the British Ministery of Defense.
High ranking agent of the British Secret Service, M15, John Preston has been assigned to plug the leak and evaluate the damage. Exhaustive investigation unearths a plot nurtured through a South African source and eminating from the very top of the Soviet government. British traitor, Harold Philby, now a colonel in the KGB, has inspired a plot approved by the Soviet Secretary General created to topple the reigning British government. A pact to avoid broaching the "fourth protocol" would be violated resulting in the establishment of the hard left, Communist sympathetic Labour Party as the rulers of the British government. The fourth protocol was part of a treaty signed by nuclear powers is avoid certain types of nuclear proliferation. Forsyth creates a hard biting, chilling thriller that traverses through the highest channels of several governments. Such a scenario is still plausible in the tumultuous political climate existent today.
Rating:
Summary: Smart Book, Sharp Story, Classic Characters.
Review: I am new to this writer because I thought he just wrote boring war stories for old men. I was quite surprised to find that he is a talented writer who is able to create a fast-paced, gripping thriller with a lot of psychological punch. If you are reader of good fiction, even science-fiction (like me), then try this book out. It has many technological surprises. The story is basically about a top level Russian official who wants to bring down the current british government (maggy thatcher, hehe) and install his own covert government (the opposition, labour!). In order to do this he needs to sway the majority of the british vote to labour by launching a semi-terrorist type attack on a small british town. Seems odd? Well not at all because Forsyth makes you believe it by throwing in some of the most coolest characters alive since "Gorky Park". Although the first 100 pages are pretty slow going you will finish this book in no time. Big surprises, nice plot twists and a courir service from hell.
Rating: 
Summary: Too long
Review: I have to disagree with with the other reviewers in that despite generally being a Forsyth fan, I found this book quite tedious. I must say I generally find that most of Freddie's books - yes, including the Jackal - could be cut by at least a third, but this even more so. The whole thing seemed to go round in circles and I longed for John Preston to just GET ON WITH IT. I also found some of the characters cliched, especially the civil servants, who all seemed to talk in exactly the same way and also the way nearly all those in authority were so decent and selfless. I felt there was far too much factual detail too, much of which wasn't that relevant. I lost interest halfway through, just about soldiering on until the end.
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Summary: This guy can write! This guy knows the USSR!
Review: If you like Tom Clancy's ability to PERFECTLY blend multiple plot threads into an intense and suspenseful thriller...buy this book. His knowledge of English culture and Russian (circa USSR) culture is a key. You will be interested from beginning to end. Nothing more needs to be said.
Rating:
Summary: As good as "Day of the Jackal".....
Review: It's only my personal opinion.....but I think this is quite possibly Forsyth's best novel. From the seemingly innocent burglary at the start to the suspense filled denouement, it is flawless. If you only ever read one Forsyth novel...make it this one.
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