Icon

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in a long time.
Review: After the Odessa File, I thought that there was going to be no equal. I then read the Devils Alternative and was thoroughly disappointed. Icon changed my mind. I believe this to be by far Forsyth's best work. It never slowed down, and hit you hard at all the right times. The suspense only added to the entire flow of the book. I never wanted to put it down because I was scared I would miss something. Forsyth has an amazing knack for mixing well known facts, with the most believable fictional scenarios that keeps readers coming back to his novels. I personally cannot wait for the next one.

Rating:
Summary: very good, but not quite Forsyth's best novel
Review: Forsyth actually wrote Icon in 1996 and set it in the Russia of 1999, a country he projected would be plagued by a vast criminal underworld, increasingly disillusioned with the new democracy and capitalist systems, and subject to a return to Communist and other totalitarian rule. That makes Forsyth's work even more impressive with hindsight, in a similar way as for The Devil's Alternative and The Fist of God - describing specific elements or trends that in fact appear quite familiar later on. The Jason Monk character is one of Forsyth's more memorable ones, and he is developed a little differently than the norm with the way the book is written in two parts. There is also a reappearance of some characters in previous Forsyth books, something which works well in Icon but is not something which Forsyth often does. Icon isn't quite at the level of Forsyth's best work, but it is certainly good enough to demonstrate his ability to tell a good story and spin an entertaining yarn involving international intrigue.

Rating:
Summary: Shaky ending mars fine start
Review: Frederick Forsyth will never write a book as good as "The Day Of The Jackal" or "Odessa File" again. That's not a knock. Few authors ever get that lucky or brilliant once, let alone twice, especially their first two times off the blocks.

"Icon" suffers from a beginning that suggests otherwise. You read the first 300 pages and they grab you in a way few books ever do, with alternating suspense yarns set years apart, each somehow building on the drama of the other. You agonize for poor Jason Monk as his Soviet assets are undone one after the other by real-life traitor Aldrich Ames, kind of what Benedict Arnold might have been had the Revolutionary figure succeeded in not only giving up West Point to the Redcoats, but Fort Ticonderoga and Philadelphia as well. The fact that its now well after 1999 and the ultra-nationalist movement in Russia has not taken control doesn't lessen the sense of fear and loathing Forsyth gets across as he slowly sets up the principal story with a nice sense of balance, nuance, and loving detail. You think to yourself: "Can it be? Did Forsyth find his wellspring once more?"

Then it all goes to pieces in Part 2, along with the chief villians. After drumming in their diabolical competance in Part 1, Forsyth apparently allows them to forget their medication in Part 2. Not only do they act ridiculously, but Monk the hero, like the protagonist in "Fist Of God," seems to anticipate everything that happens in such a way to alleviate any creative unease the reader might feel. The book that starts so promisingly ends not with a bang but a yawn.

Even at the very end, when Forsyth reveals a key trick in his narrative, he does so in such a rote way as to raise more questions than answers. Clearly he went for a "He was my father" type finale, but what we get instead is another of those coincidences that pock the narrative's second half.

I love Forsyth, even lesser Forsyth. There's a lot to enjoy here, especially in the first half, and people who like their resolutions tidy and suspense-free may enjoy the rest as well. But I sort of wish the master could have taken more time to sort out the second half of his story with the same apparent care he bestowed on the first.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing effort from author who can do much better
Review: i read somewhere once that forsyth takes a year to research each book and icon feels as though he was loath to let any of his hard work go to waste. he spends far too much time on aldrich ames when he should have been trying to make his characters more interesting and believable. to think one single agent could somehow bring down the future arch-baddie of russia is just risible. the main problem is that you know exactly how the book is going to finish, and packing each page with details of modern moscow does not compensate for a fundamental lack of suspense. and where were the female characters? all in all, not a patch on the odessa file.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Genre work
Review: This is possibly my favorite Forsyth novel, and Forsyth is definitely my favorite spy-novelist. As in The Negotiator, this book has a somewhat disjointed flow - there's a great deal of set-up (half the book) that isn't really part of the rising action. But who cares - it's thrilling and fun, and Forsyth has a good ear for the language. First Rate!

Rating:
Summary: Strange sense of Deja Vu
Review: Though I like most of what Forsyth writes but this is definitely one of the books where Mr. Forsyth looks out of his touch a bit. The research as usual is brilliant but the Russian characters sounds very similar to the Devil's Advocate's character.

The tone of the book is kind of slow and sluggish until Jason Monk takes over the main stage. All in all Mr. Forsyth doesnt traverse any unchartered territory. The plot and characters sound similar to his earlier books. Read it because the twists and turns in the end are neat or like for me I cant resist a Forsyth book but do not expect Jackal...

Rating:
Summary: Forsyth is the icon
Review: With the end of the Cold War, and most of all, of old Soviet nation, the spy-thriller writers had to modify their story-style, or ajust it to the new world order. Most writers did it very well, like John LeCarré and Frederick Forsyth. So that's what this last book by Forsyth is all about: the new era, mostly for Russia. The action is passed in yhe near future, 1999, in the world's biggest country. Without the support of the state, the country is now owned by the underground mafia, and is a paradise to prostituition, killing and poverty. In this scenario, what everybody is willing to do is ascend to the presidency. The UPF an ultra-right party and his foreman, the widely known and liked Mr. Igor Komarov, are a certain name to win the elections to be held soon. But, by accident, the English embassy at Moscow puts hand in an interesting document which is called "Black Manifesto", containing the ral intentions of UPF and Komarov. So the most powerful people in th! ! e world divises a plan to finish Komarov ascension, calling for the job ex-CIA, Russia-expert Jason Monk, retired from work and spending his life running a fisherboat in the Caribbean. The book can be divided in two parts. The first one is mostly about Jason Monk and what he accomplished during his time at Langley. It's like a briefing on the main character, and Forsyth writes it so well that you actually fell intimate with Monk. I read in a review below that it's got nothing to do with the rest of the book, but I don't think like that. In fact, I liked this part better. The second part, about half the book, is ICON properly. It tells how Monk struggles to prevent Russia of having a Nazi-like dictatorship, with all the Forsyth-ian usual twists, bullet-dodging and games of interest. I think this book was written when everybody thought Russia as a lost country, and indeed it seemed that would happen. But now I think Russia has got into the right tracks again. Anyway, "I! ! con is a great exercise of imagination, one like Forsyth ga! ves so many times, like the Odessa File. I won't even talk about the Jackal. It stands on a very higher ground.