Book Club Blog

If you were told an 18-year-old son of a preacher teamed up with a Jewish girl during World War II to repair and fly an old, wrecked plane from Denmark to England, you might be inclined to disbelief. If the teller of the story is Ken Follett, however, you'll encounter a story by him at his very best -- writing World War II thrillers.

Unlike most other books dealing with Nazis and the second world war, this doesn't cast them in the eternal dishonourable fellows committing abominable acts. The focus is more on the inter-family rivalry, which gets Harald Olufsen (our hero) expelled from school and his brother killed, all at the instigation of Peter Flemming, a police officer.

One thing I loved about this book is the complexity of the characters -- no one is completely good, and none is completely bad, and we can sometimes sympathise with Flemming (the villain) when you consider he feels a sesne of duty to act the way he does (although he's quite overzealous).

What makes the book really engrossing is the tension between Harald and his love interest (Karen) who makes the flight with him, and Follett doesn't get too sexually explicit (if you've read Jackdaws and Lie Down with Lions).

There's nothing more to say, except that this is a good read.