Rating:  Summary: The Master Has Returned! Review: Ken Follett's research has turned what could have been a very implausible plot into a daring possibility, and he has achieved it with ordinary people who, under unimaginable circumstances, discover the resources within themselves to do extraordinary things. Every detail reflects realism, for I too researched this era and the Danish Resistance for my novel and recognize the truth behind Follett's characters, setting, time and plot. I trained on an aircraft very similar to the Hornet Moth in 1965--a fabric and wood Canuck made in the 1930s that could not be insured and flew with just a joystick and rudders between me and destiny. People who have never flown a plane like this don't realize how remarkable they are--they fly in spite of you--and so all the flight sequences and the rebuilding of the Hornet ring absolutely true. Someone like Harold who had good reflexes and instincts could fly a Hornet as easily as he did in the escape to England, and Karen's understanding of flying, the structure and the mechanics of the aircraft is normal for a women who takes up flying because she really wants to do it, not because she has to do it like so many roles women have to play simply because they are female. In telling this tale, Follett has captured why the Danish Resistance was so successful with very few captures where others in Occupied Europe were so corrupted that betrayal became a chronic cancer crippling their operations. Even the king displayed stoic courage while retaining dignity for himself and his country's citizens. This is a true thriller and a spectacular read!
Rating:  Summary: Horent Sting Review: "The Germans know were coming, were losing men. We have to do something." Hornet Flight a book by Ken Follet explains the war through the vantage point of two ordinary teenagers that discover a German Military secret and become British Spies. Set during 1941 the British are sending RAF bombers to Germany. The Germans some how know there coming and the British think they may have the new technology of radar. A young man named Harold along with a female confidante Karen are chosen to get pictures of this German radar technology and get it to the British before it is already time for the next British air raid. The story starts off with Digby, an army commander, talking to his brother in a military hospital. His brother who was shot down from the last air strike is trying to get information from his brother why the fleet was spotted so easy and soon. Digby explains that the Germans have supposedly developed radar. Bart says that we were told they were months behind us in that technology. Peter a Nazi working for Germany try's to stop Harold and Karen throughout the book. Peter holds an old grudge on Harold that his dad had on his dad. Arnie, Harold's brother is the one that works for the British as a spy passes the job of getting the photo graphs of the German radar back to the allies. At points the peoples actions are some what predicable at the beginning of the book, but the pace quickens as the plot develops. The book begins in 1941 with Digby talking strategy with his brother. It's an old dark hospital early in the morning. Bart, sitting in front of a window with his head in bandage as his brother enters. Bart was on a bombing raid in a RAF bomber when his plane was shot down by German aircraft. He was left floating the sea for weeks cold, and hungry. The two brothers start on talking about how the Nazis could have such a system to detect aircraft hundreds of miles away. Hornet Flight by Ken Follet is a great book with an action, suspension, and love plot that develops to very end. In the begging the book slowly drags on but near the end the pace really picks up and you'll never put it down. If you've heard about a lot or not very little about this book it will all be good, I guarantee it.
Rating:  Summary: Bad, bad, bad Review: I loved THe Eye of the Needle, Pillars of the Earth but this book is really bad.Most of the one or two star reviews I read have said it all, poor plot,poor writing,style of prose much worse than earlier thrillers of his. Really, don,t waste your money. My wife had the flu and enjoys being read to so I tried this book on her and she asked if I could give it minus one stars. Boring chapters on boring lives of Danes in early part of war,I only finished it because I paid for it.Even ending was predictable and didn,t come soon enough.Look elsewhere unless you enjoy badly written books or are a masochist. Even the major premise of the book is flawed, Only British Air FOrce stands between Hitler and world domination.PLEEZ give me one large break. Losses of British bombers on air raids over Germany are staggeringly high, up to 50percent. Maybe the evil Kruauts are up to something.Maybe they have new radar on a remote Danish island and must be stopped at all costs.Oh, be still my beating heart, the suspense is killing me.As one other reviewer said, time to cross Follett off the list.
Rating:  Summary: Classic Follett Review: All of Euroope has fallen to the Nazi Jackboots, and England stands alone, bracing the for the inevitable. The Nazis have developed a secret weapon tha pinpoints their bombers and vectors fighter aircraft on thier flight paths. Unless something changes soon, the RAF will cease to be a viable military force. Against this backdrop, Ken Follett takes us to occupied Denmark and fledgling resistance movement called the Nightwatchmen. Their movements are tracked by the Gestapo and their willing accomplices in the National Police. But Denmark is also the site of one of Germany's new RADAR sites and the knowledge a Danish schoolboy is vital to England's war effort. Besides being a great story, Follett goes back to where he started. The characters are rich, and I immediately took a dislike to Peter Flemming (one of Follett's best villians). You find yourself cheering and crying as a desperate flight to freedom in Hornet Moth bi-plane crosses the North Sea. A must read!
Rating:  Summary: Everybody can be a pilot? Review: If you read this book like a thriller you will be disappointed, some parts are thrilling but not even half of the book, this is not a bad story but is not the best of Follett, nevertheless is a book that will get you a good time. This book is a story of the WWII but you will not know to much about that war in this book, but maybe, just maybe you will know how to flight a plane.
Rating:  Summary: Good read Review: A good but flimsy read. Shallow. Good for sure escapism. Good beach book, but it is already the end of summer.
Rating:  Summary: Not his best, but a good way to spend a few hours Review: Follett is good, even when he's bad. I found too many contrivances to make this more than a formula plot for a rather ordinary B movie. Peter Fleming had a grudge against the Olufsons, but I would have believed it more readily if he had been motivated simply because he was a policeman and he was doing his duty. His handicapped wife was a cheap trick to get reader sympathy, and his treatment of her was abominable. He also didn't treat his cohort very nicely, either. I didn't mind the technical jargon pertaining to the plane, but found it beyond credibility that those two kids could actually fly that thing. The ballet was there only to allow the girl to get a sprained ankle; the Nazis were portrayed as being stupid and careless. This is a potboiler, but I still enjoyed most of the first 90%.
Rating:  Summary: An Exciting, Satisfying Thriller From World War Two Review: The nice thing (if you can call it that) about World War Two in Europe was that the bad guys were so thoroughly bad. Ken Follet is a master of World War Two thrillers. In this tale, the Germans are shooting down British night bombers so readily that it threatens the survival of the British war effort. British intelligence deduces that the Germans have a new way to track British bombers, but they have not been able to identify it. It falls to Harald Olufsen, an eighteen year-old physics student in German-occupied Denmark to stumble across a secret, German installation near his home that looks like a collection of bed springs. He deduces that it is a new sort of antenna system and tells his older brother, Arne, about it. Harald doesn't know that Arne gathers information for the British. Arne suspects that the Germans and Danish police are after him, so he reluctantly asks Harald to slip into the German installation and photograph the antennas. As the Germans learn of the photos and close off all escape routes, it seems impossible to get them to England. The only possiblity is a damaged Hornet Moth biplane belonging to the family of his friend, Karen. As the Germans and Danish police close in, Harald works frantically to get it to fly. The suspense is great throughout the story, the characters are believable, and the plot twists to overcome repeated barriers all make sense. This is another outstanding book by Ken Follet.
Rating:  Summary: Not his best, but I still love KEN FOLLETT Review: Like some of the other reviews, the book is predictable, but follet's writing is just great. he is so easy to read, very enjoyable, i always look forward to his next novel. I heard rumors of a sequel to the pillars of the earth, that would be great.
Rating:  Summary: Nazi Resistance like you've never heard before. Review: This story is set in World War II, where a small group of Nazi resisters are determined to do what little they can to save Denmark. A young boy named Harald, barely a teen from the sounds of the book, yet architecturally and electronically a wizard intellectually, comes across a fenced in area one night as he is on his way home. Tired, he realizes if he jumps over the fence and crosses the 300 yards to his house, he will get there much quicker. Once he has jumped the fence, however, it is then he realizes there is this huge satellite dish, along with two other tiny dishes that tilt back and forth. He doesn't know what this means, but with his incredible forte for electronics and architecture, he soon finds out it is indeed radar, and that is why the RAF keeps losing all it's fighter planes. Soon, if this continues, the RAF will lose the war. He must enlist the aid of his older brother Arne and his girlfriend Tilde and Arne's fiance to help him photograph these disks and fly them to England in what amounts to nothing more than a bi-plane. This is an edge of your seat thriller, as more than one person is captured by the Nazis, yet the Danish resistance, although tiny, is born. World War II lovers will recall that the Danish resistance was one of the strongest resistances at the end of World War II. There is one small yet brave reason for this. I gave it four stars. Technical jargon about the inner workings of a plane elude me and throw me off the rhythm of books (such as Tom Clancy with his submarine stories), but I stuck with it and am glad I did. A fine read, one worth putting a little heart into.
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