So sorry... Just found I'd used my credit with a pre-order.Mind??? We'd love for you to join in!!
You have to bring something...your Pavlova? Vegemite? hee. hee
Next time.
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April 2021 book of the month club
- Thread starter rubysmama
- Start Date
Next time.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #62
Oh, that's too bad. Hopefully you'll be able to join in another time.So sorry... Just found I'd used my credit with a pre-order.
Next time.
I started it last night, about a quarter of the way through.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #64
I'm about to start chapter 20. As I've never read a spy novel before, I had zero idea what to expect. It's kind of a cat and mouse type of scenario, and different from other novels I've read set during WWII.
I finished the book last night.
I have just finished it. Found it a quick read.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #67
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #68
Today's the 22nd, so anyone who's finished reading, feel free to post your thoughts.
I'm not quite finished yet, but should be by the end of the day, so I'll post my review tomorrow.
And I'm out of potatp salad - not a potato in the house. Must go shopping, whether I want to or not! 
As I am not a fan of spy films or books I didn't know if I would enjoy this book but I really did enjoy it. I found out that Ken Follett was born in Cardiff, just 20 miles from where I live. I hadn't read any of his books before but I definitely will read more.
I found the story interesting and quite a fast pace, didn't get bored at all. Even though it was written in 1977 the terminology was spot in for the 1940's era. I loved some of the expressions such as 'Cheerio' and 'Jolly Good Show' so typical of those times. It also brought back some memories (no I am not a war baby) but I remember a shop in my local town with the Bovril sign outside and I used to see my mother holding a newspaper in front of the coal fire to get it to draw.
My one criticism is that Henry Faber seemed to be a bit of a Superman surviving all he did, the boat journey in the storm, the fight he and David had in the jeep, I felt exhausted at the things he did.
I enjoyed the part at the end where Lucy was in Tom's cottage, found that a real page Turner but couldn't understand why Lucy used the axe when Henry broke the window to get in, why didn't she shoot him, she had a loaded shotgun.
Glad there was a happy ending.
I would give this book 4 stars out of 5
I found the story interesting and quite a fast pace, didn't get bored at all. Even though it was written in 1977 the terminology was spot in for the 1940's era. I loved some of the expressions such as 'Cheerio' and 'Jolly Good Show' so typical of those times. It also brought back some memories (no I am not a war baby) but I remember a shop in my local town with the Bovril sign outside and I used to see my mother holding a newspaper in front of the coal fire to get it to draw.
My one criticism is that Henry Faber seemed to be a bit of a Superman surviving all he did, the boat journey in the storm, the fight he and David had in the jeep, I felt exhausted at the things he did.
I enjoyed the part at the end where Lucy was in Tom's cottage, found that a real page Turner but couldn't understand why Lucy used the axe when Henry broke the window to get in, why didn't she shoot him, she had a loaded shotgun.
Glad there was a happy ending.
I would give this book 4 stars out of 5
I like a good spy novel. I did enjoy this one quite a bit.
It certainly held my interest, but I could still put it down and not have to stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning because I just had to read more- until the last part. So only one late night (or early morning) with this one.
I liked Ken Follett's writing style, the way he phrased things and interjected things. It was hard at first to imagine Lucy staying with David for that long with him being in the place he was in his mind and on that island so alone, but then it was during WW2 and that's what women did. And that's how Lucy fell for Faber.
Faber I could believe, a psychopath as a spy. He certainly knew how to operate. And wow what a superhuman running, surviving the train, and surviving the storm, I'd watched a James Bond movie just before starting this and was back in that element. Sheesh having to kill people just because they saw him.
I think maybe Lucy used the axe because she was afraid she'd miss with the rifle with the big kickback and being dark and seeing how fast Faber could move. The cavalry got there just in time!!
I didn't know about the fake regiment under Patton, I looked it up and German military really did fall for it. Blow up balloon tanks!
I wondered if Lucy might have wound up with Godliman, would have liked that...but winding up with Bloggs was just as nice. I'm glad it had an ending like that. Poor Tom having to die. And David if he was never going to get his mind to a good place, maybe better off.
A good read. I'd say 4 stars too.
It certainly held my interest, but I could still put it down and not have to stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning because I just had to read more- until the last part. So only one late night (or early morning) with this one.
I liked Ken Follett's writing style, the way he phrased things and interjected things. It was hard at first to imagine Lucy staying with David for that long with him being in the place he was in his mind and on that island so alone, but then it was during WW2 and that's what women did. And that's how Lucy fell for Faber.
Faber I could believe, a psychopath as a spy. He certainly knew how to operate. And wow what a superhuman running, surviving the train, and surviving the storm, I'd watched a James Bond movie just before starting this and was back in that element. Sheesh having to kill people just because they saw him.
I think maybe Lucy used the axe because she was afraid she'd miss with the rifle with the big kickback and being dark and seeing how fast Faber could move. The cavalry got there just in time!!
I didn't know about the fake regiment under Patton, I looked it up and German military really did fall for it. Blow up balloon tanks!
I wondered if Lucy might have wound up with Godliman, would have liked that...but winding up with Bloggs was just as nice. I'm glad it had an ending like that. Poor Tom having to die. And David if he was never going to get his mind to a good place, maybe better off.
A good read. I'd say 4 stars too.
Not my sort of book at all - a man who is so athletic, can kill 5 men without a gun in the open countryside and then messes up when he is so close to reaching his goal but faced by a woman and child. OK, James Bond was hardly realistic either.
Sorry, I know I am a dreadful cynic. I wasn’t sure whether this story was meant to be taken seriously—it was almost amusing, black humor, of course!
The first 22 chapters were hardly exciting just rather horrifying: the slaughtering of the innocents. Suspense started when there were still 5 innocents left alone on Storm Island with Die Nadel: David, Tom, the dog, Lucy and Jo.
At this point I tried to envisage how things could possibly end and make up for the deaths of so many innocent people. My only answer was that Die Nadel was working (somehow) for American or French intelligence and for some reason not cooperating directly with M15 or he was a double agent. I toyed with the possibility of Lucy, David and Tom managing to outwit him but, I was certainly not going to accept any more bloodshed. I envisaged that, in this case, David would be the hero and receive the honors he had failed to achieve as a pilot. (The dog could have played a part and not had to die!)
Well, you all know how it ended. I felt cheated as if I’d just read a book from a first-time author, following the classic route for writing a bestseller but overdoing it. A death (or 5) every 100 or so pages and then the grand finale when another 3 unfortunate creatures have to die - but hurrah, 2 escape and live happily ever after!
Though, I do have to admit that the last chapters were rather exciting.
I am glad I didn’t read the introduction to the book on Goodreads - printed at the beginning of this forum. It gave the game away so there would have been no reason to read the book at all, except perhaps for the last few chapters when Lucy was alone!
I'd give it 2 stars. Looking forward to next month's book - I promise to try to be more positive in future!
Sorry, I know I am a dreadful cynic. I wasn’t sure whether this story was meant to be taken seriously—it was almost amusing, black humor, of course!
The first 22 chapters were hardly exciting just rather horrifying: the slaughtering of the innocents. Suspense started when there were still 5 innocents left alone on Storm Island with Die Nadel: David, Tom, the dog, Lucy and Jo.
At this point I tried to envisage how things could possibly end and make up for the deaths of so many innocent people. My only answer was that Die Nadel was working (somehow) for American or French intelligence and for some reason not cooperating directly with M15 or he was a double agent. I toyed with the possibility of Lucy, David and Tom managing to outwit him but, I was certainly not going to accept any more bloodshed. I envisaged that, in this case, David would be the hero and receive the honors he had failed to achieve as a pilot. (The dog could have played a part and not had to die!)
Well, you all know how it ended. I felt cheated as if I’d just read a book from a first-time author, following the classic route for writing a bestseller but overdoing it. A death (or 5) every 100 or so pages and then the grand finale when another 3 unfortunate creatures have to die - but hurrah, 2 escape and live happily ever after!
Though, I do have to admit that the last chapters were rather exciting.
I am glad I didn’t read the introduction to the book on Goodreads - printed at the beginning of this forum. It gave the game away so there would have been no reason to read the book at all, except perhaps for the last few chapters when Lucy was alone!
I'd give it 2 stars. Looking forward to next month's book - I promise to try to be more positive in future!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #74
I don't think I've read a spy novel before, or if I have, not in years. And I've never watched any of the James Bond movies, so I really wasn't sure what a spy novel would include.
Though I guess it makes sense, due to the high stakes involved, I really hated Faber murdering so many people. Most were at least involved in the war effort, but poor Mrs. Garden back at the beginning of the book. And the dog. At least we weren't given a detailed description of his murder.
Although I post the initial intro for the book, and do read the description blurb at the time, I never reread it before I start the book, and I agree with
gilmargl
it really gives too much away. In fact, by not reading it, I kept wondering what the point was of having David and Lucy's storyline. Although just skimming through the book to clarify a couple names, the David and Lucy chapter starts by saying they would be the 3rd side of the triangle along with Faber and Godliman, but I managed to forget that I as read on in the book.
When reading a book, I also try to figure out what might happen, and in my version, David still ended up dying, however, he died more heroically by killing Faber to protect his wife and son. I actually hated the way he died, and that Faber survived. However, if David had "saved the day" then Lucy would have been just the frightened wife and mother, and would never have ended up with Bloggs, as it had to be a brave woman who would be able to be equal in Bloggs' eyes to Christine.
I was surprised that in the epilogue it seems that Jo was Lucy's only child. I was positive she'd have gotten pregnant by Faber. Or had another child with Bloggs. Maybe it just would have made the epilogue more confusing to have extra names mentioned.
One thing that kept throwing me was the word "stiletto", as every time I read it, I thought of high heeled shoes, not a knife.
Very cool, V verna davies , that the author was born near where you live.
Back when we used to post questions about books, one was "Did you learn anything you didn't know about from this book?" Usually my answer was "not really", but this time I learned all about inflatable tanks and the faux military base. Hard to believe someone came up with that idea, and that it worked.
I found the book a fast read, but like
pearl99
, I was able to put it down and not feel I had to keep reading. I'll give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
Though I guess it makes sense, due to the high stakes involved, I really hated Faber murdering so many people. Most were at least involved in the war effort, but poor Mrs. Garden back at the beginning of the book. And the dog. At least we weren't given a detailed description of his murder.
Although I post the initial intro for the book, and do read the description blurb at the time, I never reread it before I start the book, and I agree with
gilmargl
it really gives too much away. In fact, by not reading it, I kept wondering what the point was of having David and Lucy's storyline. Although just skimming through the book to clarify a couple names, the David and Lucy chapter starts by saying they would be the 3rd side of the triangle along with Faber and Godliman, but I managed to forget that I as read on in the book.When reading a book, I also try to figure out what might happen, and in my version, David still ended up dying, however, he died more heroically by killing Faber to protect his wife and son. I actually hated the way he died, and that Faber survived. However, if David had "saved the day" then Lucy would have been just the frightened wife and mother, and would never have ended up with Bloggs, as it had to be a brave woman who would be able to be equal in Bloggs' eyes to Christine.
I was surprised that in the epilogue it seems that Jo was Lucy's only child. I was positive she'd have gotten pregnant by Faber. Or had another child with Bloggs. Maybe it just would have made the epilogue more confusing to have extra names mentioned.
One thing that kept throwing me was the word "stiletto", as every time I read it, I thought of high heeled shoes, not a knife.
Very cool, V verna davies , that the author was born near where you live.
Back when we used to post questions about books, one was "Did you learn anything you didn't know about from this book?" Usually my answer was "not really", but this time I learned all about inflatable tanks and the faux military base. Hard to believe someone came up with that idea, and that it worked.
I found the book a fast read, but like
pearl99
, I was able to put it down and not feel I had to keep reading. I'll give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.As you do
rubysmama
, I try to guess what will happen next and thought Lucy would become pregnant by Faber and even thought he may become a decent person and father..but no. I also couldn't understand what part Lucy and David would play or the reason for the car accident and never imagined they would become so embroiled in the downfall of Faber. I didn't read any of intro to the book so it was all a surprise to me.
The inflatable tanks and planes was ingenious, I wonder who came up with that idea.
rubysmama
, I try to guess what will happen next and thought Lucy would become pregnant by Faber and even thought he may become a decent person and father..but no. I also couldn't understand what part Lucy and David would play or the reason for the car accident and never imagined they would become so embroiled in the downfall of Faber. I didn't read any of intro to the book so it was all a surprise to me.The inflatable tanks and planes was ingenious, I wonder who came up with that idea.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #76
I also wondered if that might happen, because he did seem to care for her. But once the good guys discovered what was happening on Storm Island, I knew that could never happen. At that point, Faber had only 3 possible outcomes - succeed, be captured or die.
Info about the dummy tanks from Wikipedia:
Dummy tank - Wikipedia.
I agree
rubysmama
David heroically defending Lucy and Jo would have been a good ending, and him get on the road to recovery.
Dummy tank - Wikipedia.
I agree
rubysmama
David heroically defending Lucy and Jo would have been a good ending, and him get on the road to recovery.- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #78
So in your version, David would have lived?
My version still has him dying, but to save his wife and son. That way, at least, the hurt and neglect Lucy felt for 4 years would be offset somewhat knowing he saved her and Jo's life.
What a pair of romantics.
That part is actually true
