Rating: 
Summary: Hated to finish it! We loved it.
Review: This was a great read - one of those books you can't wait to see how it ends yet don't want it to end because you're enjoying it so much. We love WW II novels and haven't had a good one in years. It moved along beautifully. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Follet -- 4 1/2 stars
Review: Jackdaws is clearly the best of Follet's recent books. The story is set in the UK and France during the period just prior to D-Day in WWII. The Germans are in the middle of preparations for the massive Allied invasion that they know is inevitable. The French resistance, supported by the Allies, is doing what it can to be disruptive in advance of the attack. In the middle of it all is a group of British secret agents who are tasked with destroying a key communications exchange in northern France. When the first plot is foiled, a more desperate plan based on an all-female attack team is launched. Jackdaws is an impressive tale of espionage, with intense physical, emotional and intellectual battle being done among the combatants. It is full of intrigue, twists, turns and surprises that are classic Follet. The reader is presented with interesting characters and an entertaining, fast-paced story. Jackdaws will be difficult to put down once you get started.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved the beginning....something got lost in the middle....
Review: At the beginning, I was pulled into the story of women operating from behind enemy lines during WWII. The action was brisk, the plot was driven by interesting characters, and I was looking forward to finding how it all played out. However, something got lost in the middle of this story and I found it hard to finish. I think the author missed a golden opportunity to tell the JACKDAWS' story. Maybe the real truth was better than a 'fictionalized' re-telling of their story. Oh, well.
Rating:
Summary: Good story, plot not so outlandish, not really well written
Review: I've just read my local library's copy of this book, it's not bad. I found the plot to be more or less believeable and generally well developed as were most of the characters. I do not think it is completely ridiculous to tell of a last minute sabotage attempt such as described in the story using virtually untrained women, that sort of thing does happen in so many things in real life. Follett writes of a desperate search for women who could do the mission and having to take what comes along, and the bureaucratic interference encountered when someone favored is rejected, that and the incompetence of some of the Nazi's is so true to life. The behavior of the women agents isn't exactly what you usually see in a war story but does sound like what I'd expect someone so untrained to do ( the two lesbians getting themselves captured by going out to dinner is an example)I did like the way Flick and Ruby handled themselves. FLick's new love, Paul, seemed kind of thrown in to me, I would've liked more development there. Greta, the German transevestite homosexual (actually named Gerhard) was sure a new one for a war story although he/she did work out pretty well. I could have done without the little bits of sex, they didn't really add to the story. My biggest complaint is with Mr. Follettt's writing style because every page is full of sentences like "He did this" or some other sort of fragments which really should have been cleaned up some.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoy it but do not look too closely.
Review: Ken Follett has taken the World War II spy mission novel down an entertaining but certainly untravelled road. The plot is standard stuff. Allied commandos parachute into occupied France to a destroy key installation in support of the D Day invasion. There are all the usual phases - assemble the team, train the team, plan the mission etc, conduct the raid.
The whole concept, however, has been rewritten with a 2001 twist. First, the commandos are all women. I found this interesting, new and plausible. This, however, is just the beginning. The herione's brother is gay. One of the " woman " commandos, is, in fact, a transvestite. Two of the women commandos are lesbians. These three items do little, if anything, to advance the plot and seem to have been written in just for the fun of it. There is nothing wrong with adding these items for no reason at all, but to do nothing with these items makes it look gratuitous.
There are several other " throw in " items that have nothing to do with the plot. Why did Follett make the Nazi antagonist suffer from migraines ? His migraines come into the story at several points, but they never lead to anything and are never critical to the plot. Why start the story with the herione married to a leader in the Resistance ? Early on, the heroine falls in love with someone else, and the Resistance husband is later killed. There is no point where the heroine really struggles with any issue or decision because she is married or married to a Resistance leader. So why was it there ?
The story is, in fact, rather loosely written and there are several items that just do not add up. For example, several of the commandos are killed before they reach the objective. However, when they reach the objective, the remaining commandos carry out the mission without being even slightly inconvienced by the absence of the others. So why did we have extra commandos ? Was it so we could have extra plot lines ? Was it so we could have some non essential commandos killed to show that things really are serious without really jeopardizing the mission ? It reminded me of old Star Trek episodes where the landing party took extra people so someone could be killed by the monster.
Despite all this, however, the story is very entertaining. The plot moves along very quickly and there are numerous detours as fortune, good or bad, impacts on the commandos. The bad guy is suitably smart and evil and heroine is beautiful, deadly and resourceful. Enjoy the story and just dont look too closely.
Rating:
Summary: Great WWII Cat and Mouse Story
Review: Ken Follett is one of my favorite authors and I always enjoy his books. This latest one was no exception. It is about a team of female British operatives who try to disrupt Nazi communication in France so as to aid the Allies in the rapidly approaching D-Day. The book pits the leader of the resistance against a smart and determined Nazi. The plot is tightly woven and the book is a quick and enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Four Stars for Follett
Review: I have been a Ken Follett reader since Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca. In my mind nothing equals his novel, The Pillars of the Earth. With his latest effort, Jackdaws, he returns to the dark days of World War II. It is May, 1944; the Allies are preparing for the invasion of Europe. In the occupied town of Sainte-Cecile, the French Resistance is preparing to blow up the chateau that now houses the crucial telephone switch connecting France with Germany. Bombers have been unable to inflict to disrupt communications for more than a few hours at a time. The Allies want to disrupt communications for as long as possible so to delay warning of the pending invasion. Felicity Clariet, known as Flick, a British Special Operations Executive secret agent, leads audacious, quickly-assembled team of female spies posing as cleaners, who hope to destroy the switch and Germany's ability to spread the word of the pending assualt on the beaches of Normandy. The plot, unique characters and detail of his latest effort will keep you turing pages. Follett tells us that Jackdaws is based on a true story. The Special Operations Executive sent 50 women into France as secret agents, 36 survived.
Rating: 
Summary: MR. FOLLET CAN DO BETTER
Review: From a Ken Follett fan of years, the last two books by Mr. Follett have been ridiculous. When he's on he's really on but when he's not it's a waste of money. This book, much like the last one, has a very predictable plot, albeit hard to believe, and so disappointing. Still hoping to see another good book from him.
Rating:
Summary: Best Follett effort since "Pillars of the Earth"
Review: A book more in the vein of "Eye of the Needle" than his more light-weight recent efforts, this book is a major event for us Follett fans. It is a real page-turner, with the usual Follett detail that we have come to expect. A real winner. "Eye" is my favorite Follett spy/intrigue work, with "Pillars of the Earth" being, in my opinion, a very under-rated effort. This book doesn't approach the majesty of "Pillars", but it is definitely in Follett's top five or six.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book
Review: This book was very enjoyable. I do like reading WW2 stories especially about intelligent, brave women. I would have liked to believe that this story was actually based on a true story. People like that certainly deserve lots of praise. What an entertaining way to tell their story.
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