Jackdaws

Rating:
Summary: Follett at his best
Review: Ken Follett has reached back and pulled out his magic again. In trhe vwein of the Day of the Jackal, this book is excellent. I bought it the day it came out and could not put it down. Many hours later, I knew I read a classic. Follett in his realism, character development and action again proves he is the very best. I would recommend this book along with The Last Man Standing to the two very best books of 2001. Even though Code to Zero was excellent, this is much better. Set in WWII France, Follet presents no stop development with classical heroes and foes. Buy this book and you remember all the great things about Follett.

Rating:
Summary: Classified WW2 mission
Review: Ken Follett's "Jackdaws" is a decent WW2 action tale, a subject he is obviously enamored with. The time is late May 1944, days prior to the Allied invasion at Normandy. Headquartered in a chateau in Sainte-Cecile near the French cathedral city of Reims was the hub of a vast telecommuncations network funneling radio and telephone messages through occupied France to the Fatherland. Crippling this network would provide a huge advantage to the invading Allied forces. The French Resistance had been unsuccessful in an attempt to sabotage the chateau, resulting in the death or capture of almost the entire Bollinger Resistance group. The group was led by ex professor Michel Clairet. His wife, Felicity, known as Flick was also among the group. Flick Clairet was a British major in the SOE (Special Operations Executive), acting as an undercover liason between the English and the French Resistance. Flick was well schooled in weaponry, espionage, French culture and was fluent in French.

Luckily escaping a Gestapo dragnet after the failure at Saint-Cecile, Flick made her way back to England. While there a plan was formulated by the SOE to have Flick lead an all female team back into France to again try to destroy the communication center at Saint Cecile. Five French speaking English women were recruited to parachute into France and pose as a cleaning crew that serviced the chateau on a daily basis. Included in the group which was code named Jackdaws was a demolitions expert and a telephone engineer.

The biggest obstacle facing the team was German major Dieter Franck, a wily, calculating intelligence officer with expertise in interrogation and torture. His suspicions were heightened after the aborted attempt on the chateau. Franck using every resource at his disposal was obsessed in capturing Flick and her minions and protecting Saint-Cecile.

The story goes back and forth between Flick and Franck chronicling their trials and tribulations as they both move to fulfill the objectives of their repective missions.

Rating:
Summary: Still entertaining, inspite of weaknesses
Review: In some ways this book reminded me of the way a woman rights fiction, and with the risk of sounding misogynistic (which I'm not), I just personally think men are better writers of fiction. Of course, unless a woman ghost wrote this book, it was written by a man, but the problems it has, in my opinion, are some of the same types I have found in reading novels by women.

Too much telling instead of showing, too much detail about stuff I didn't care about, characters too much to type, not enough powerfully written action, too much touchy-feelie type interaction written in a way that just misses the mark and maybe the worst problem, a protagonist that could have been so much more and failed to be really engaging (she lacked the ability to get me to empathize with her, feel her emotions or really root for her). Perhaps it is a very difficult task for a man to write a novel with a woman in the lead, and while I think maybe if Follet had been able to write this in the first person (at least the parts of the story from her pov) it might have made it a stronger story.

In any case, it is a decent action novel set in occupied France just before the invasion, so any that enjoy fiction set in that period will probably enjoy the book.

Rating:
Summary: I was hooked from start to finish
Review: What can I say but Wow. Much better than "Eye of the Needle" which was still a realitively good book. Follett developed everything well and I was riveted to the book and was disappointed when I had to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: SPY THRILLER WITH A SLIGHT TWIST
Review: First off, I feel this is a 3.5 but I'm giving it 4, as some of the reviewers on here have been too harsh.

JACKDAWS takes the standard D-Day spy stories but twists it by focusing on the Historical female agents, or, as they were known, something of the unsung heroes.

This particular tale focuses on a female agent who is trying to knock down the phone lines of an SS HQ but needs to do it as cleaning ladies. So, after failing her first attempt, she heads back to the UK where she, and other govt officials, recruit several female agents for training.

All of these women are untrained and have to do a crash course in spycraft.

Thereafter, the next half of the book entails the women parachuting into France, some of them getting caught or killed and then moving in on the mission. Expect the usual "B" love story.

Story is very good in pacing, and, while some of the characters have the archetypal element, I felt he did a good job creating a diverse selection.

When he wrote EYE OF THE NEEDLE the market was less saturated with WWII stories. Now, they're all over the place, so, he has less of the market, the stories overlap more and expectations are higher for newer and newer stories.

This one is above average to good but not quite either in definition. If you want to read him for the first time, I'd recommend EYE OF THE NEEDLE.

Rating:
Summary: A great WWII spy novel
Review: Jackdaws is another great book by Follett. The D-Day invasion is looming and the Allies are trying to cripple the Germans in anyway possible. The hope to cripple a telephone exchange located in France and enlist the aid of the French Resistance to do so. With time running out and other efforts failing, the Allies turn to Flick Clairet to lead an all women team into Germany to disable the telephone exchange, thus crippling the German communications right before the invasion.

Dieter Frank is a German officer working under the authority of Rommell and trying to stop the resistance. Frank is a smart man who catches many members of the resistance but always seems to be one step behind. Frank is a somewhat sympathetic character who views duty as the ultimate call, and is great at torturing prisoners, even though he doesn't enjoy it.

Set over 10 days, Follett moves along the plot at a brisk pace offering many twists and turns. Jackdaws is in contrast to another recent novel by Follett, Hornet Flight, which seems to have a more deliberate pace and more character development.

The characters in Jackdaws are intriguing, with Flick and her husband in the resistance who might be cheating on her and the American officer Paul Chancellor who falls in love with her. Dieter Frank also has a French mistress who he saved from the concentration camp and therefore is ultmately devoted to him. The team Flick brings with her to Germany is an interesting group with an aristocrat, a criminal, a lesbian and a transvestite. The team members get the least attention by Follett, in spite of their interesting backgrounds.

I've read many Follett novels, and all of them have been great, except for the Third Twin. Follett is a master at putting you in the time period he writes about. It'll be interesting to see how his next novel "WhiteOut" I believe, fares since it is set in the present day.


Rating:
Summary: why say terrorists?
Review: The book is disappointing compared to his previous works. That doesn't make it worse than the average WWII thriller. It's just not as good as what I would expect from Follett. Good enough no doubt that you will finish it without disappointment. But it's not a true Follett, a true classic like Eye of the needle or the pillars book.

One question I have is why he has the Germans in the book constantly refer to the French resistance as 'terrorists'. It sounds historically incorrect to me. I do know the Germans in Holland didn't refer to the resistance as terrorists. Anyway, terrorists put bombs in restaurants and shopping malls. Resistance fighters blow up police stations or railroad tunnels. There is a difference.

Rating:
Summary: Classified WW2 mission
Review: Ken Follett's "Jackdaws" is a decent WW2 action tale, a subject he is obviously enamored with. The time is late May 1944, days prior to the Allied invasion at Normandy. Headquartered in a chateau in Sainte-Cecile near the French cathedral city of Reims was the hub of a vast telecommuncations network funneling radio and telephone messages through occupied France to the Fatherland. Crippling this network would provide a huge advantage to the invading Allied forces. The French Resistance had been unsuccessful in an attempt to sabotage the chateau, resulting in the death or capture of almost the entire Bollinger Resistance group. The group was led by ex professor Michel Clairet. His wife, Felicity, known as Flick was also among the group. Flick Clairet was a British major in the SOE (Special Operations Executive), acting as an undercover liason between the English and the French Resistance. Flick was well schooled in weaponry, espionage, French culture and was fluent in French.

Luckily escaping a Gestapo dragnet after the failure at Saint-Cecile, Flick made her way back to England. While there a plan was formulated by the SOE to have Flick lead an all female team back into France to again try to destroy the communication center at Saint Cecile. Five French speaking English women were recruited to parachute into France and pose as a cleaning crew that serviced the chateau on a daily basis. Included in the group which was code named Jackdaws was a demolitions expert and a telephone engineer.

The biggest obstacle facing the team was German major Dieter Franck, a wily, calculating intelligence officer with expertise in interrogation and torture. His suspicions were heightened after the aborted attempt on the chateau. Franck using every resource at his disposal was obsessed in capturing Flick and her minions and protecting Saint-Cecile.

The story goes back and forth between Flick and Franck chronicling their trials and tribulations as they both move to fulfill the objectives of their repective missions.

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful, entertaining & educational
Review: The Eye of the Needle is supposed to be Follett's greatest spy thriller, but I believe that this one is much better. The plot is more complex and less predictable, which appealed to me. Though not as engaging as Pillars of the Earth (Follett's best), it came close, while being a much easier read.

My one complaint is that Follett's characters always seem a little flat. They are almost always single dimentional and never really surprise you. This is the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

Fiction couched neatly in history, Jackdaws is an excellent read that remembers the sacrifice of the French Resistance and British spies, both who helped pave the way for the D-Day forces that invaded Normandy and preserved freedom for all. Our deepest thanks go to God and those who stood against evil during that dark hour.

Rating:
Summary: Another Good Follett WWII Spy yarn
Review: Follett's best works are novels like this one - World War II spy thrillers. Jackdaws did not disappoint.

It is the story of an all woman team sent to France to perform espionage just before D-Day. The main character/hero is an engaging woman and her cast of compatriots is interesting. The action is non-stop as can be expected. As also can be expected, nothing seems to go right, but the good guys win in the end - that formula by no means detracts from the book.

Jackdaws also displays a formula that Follett uses to great success - he tracks both sides of the plot - the German policeman after the team of women and the women. He switches back and forth in such a way as to always add tension with the switch.

Also adding to this book is the German spy-catcher. He is given a personality and expresses sympathy at times. He is not the prototypical Nazi bad guy.

One thing that detracted from this book are the love interests. Out of a major cast of about ten, five fall in love in the course of the two weeks encompassed by the book. Not to mention that three of the characters are or end up homosexual. The odds on both counts seem skewed.

All in all a fun book. As always with Follett, well-written. It is typical of the genre, but still exciting and worth the read.