Ken Follett: A Dangerous Fortune

Murder, Financial Crisis and more Murder
Most of us think of Ken Follett for his medieval Pillars of the Earth sagas and the recently finished Century Trilogy. We forget that Follett is also a prolific author and master storyteller who has written some excellent spy thrillers and historical family sagas.

While A Dangerous Fortune is a family saga it is also a murder story and a peek into the almost unregulated world of banking in the late 19th century. The saga starts in 1866 on a day when a schoolboy drowns in a strange accident. Present at the accident was Hugh Pilaster and his older cousin Edward, members of a banking family and Micky Miranda, son of a brutal South American landowner.

There were other tragedies that day as Hugh's father committed suicide when his bank collapsed. Hugh gets taken in by his uncle Joseph Pilaster who is head of another more successful bank. His wife Augusta treats him badly. She is the scheming matriarch of the family who will do anything to advance her son Edward to get control of the Pilaster bank. She is a real villain who is domineering and unscrupulous - a fantastic character.

Mickey Miranda befriends Augusta and inveigles himself into the world of the Pilaster family and affects their personal and business lives.

Ken Follett has written a great family saga that will keep you entertained as you follow the webs if complicity, and the ups and downs of the Pilaster family. Highly recommended to discerning readers who want to read a good family sage and thriller with a historical background.

Ken Follett: Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy, Book 2)

A very lengthy epic saga
Ken Follett took on a major task when he started a trilogy about the 20th century seen through the eyes of families from various countries - this time from America, Germany, Russia, England, and Wales. The first in the trilogy, FALL OF THE GIANTS was a huge (slightly disappointing) read at 850 pages and this one was similarly huge, so much that I put it aside for a couple of years until I could find the time to absorb such a giant book.

I wasn't disappointed when I did find the time but I wasn't ecstatic. I have read a lot of books focussing on different parts of the same terrible times and they probably gave me a better canvas overall than the single canvas that Follett attempted.

Follett takes us through the build up to WWII and into the war in Europe and then in the Pacific seen through the eyes of a diverse group of characters, many of which are related or who knew one another before the war. IMHO he goes a bit far in trying to get interesting characters and put them into key places during these chilling and dangerous times.

I recently read THE WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBRANCE by Herman Wouk which gives an American take on the same events covered by this book. Those books will stay in my Classic Epic Sagas collection but I am not sure if this one will go into that collection.

Ken Follett: Eye of the Needle

Click to see in Amazon

Great Golden Oldie WW2 Spy Thriller
With "Eye of the Needle" Ken Follett has written one of the best WW2 spy thrillers. In 1944 the most vital information on the outcome of the war was the location of the invasion of France - information that could fundamentally change the outcome of the war. The location of the landings in Normandy was closest kept secret with MI5 implementing the most amazing misinformation campaign in history.

By 1944 MI5 had caught and executed most German spies, but was able to turn some into double agents sending misleading information back to Germany. There was one ruthless agent - nickname "The Needle" (Die Nadel) - who was able to elude capture for years. What was even more important was that Adolf Hitler knew him and trusted everything that he sent back to Germany and was waiting for his report about where the landings would take place.

Follett creates a wide range of memorable characters, including the cold blooded Die Nadel. An absent minded Professor becomes head of MI5 strategy of disinformation, helped by his Scotland Yard assistant whose wife was killed in the Blitz. A young Spitfire pilot who loses his legs in a car accident on his honeymoon ends up in a loveless marriage hiding from the war on a remote island off the coast of Scotland.

Follett sets up an exciting chase when Die Nadel tries to escape with the information Hitler needs. The plot surprisingly shifts focus at the end from a spy thriller to a unexpected lusty romance with a chilling ending.

This tale is not only exciting but also plausible (see Mark Black's  "D-Day: A Very Brief History"), with vivid details about life in the United Kingdom during the War. It was an enthralling and electrifying story (you must read the ending to really understand what I mean).

While reading this book I kept comparing it with Jack Higgins "Night of the Fox" which is also based on the secrecy of the location of the D Day landings. The stories have completely different angles and my comparative rating is a dead-heat.