Jackdaws Mass Market Paperback – November 26, 2002

It is an interesting story but a lot of really unbelievable things in the strategy and tactickal aspects of the mission. At times, the characters are a bit strange in their thoughts. This not his best book. Buy it used.I understand it is based on a true story -- I am sure Follet got a bit "imaginary" in the story tellling.

This was my second adventure with Follet and it proved to be a wonderful one. The story line follows that of the one about the "Dirty Dozen". Only here he makes several adjustments in tone, action, and characters. First, the goal is the same to disrupt or destroy a Nazi phone exchange terminal in France just prior to the allied invasion of France. A female resistance fighter makes an attempt at this with a team of resistance fighters and they fail because of poor intelligence about the facility. Some of the men are killed, some captured and later tortured, and a few escape including the ring leader who also happens to be the husband of the female agent. The female agent returns to London with a plan on how to do the job, but it is first turned down and then later approved.The team to do the job is selected from a variety of people and they are all women except for one who is a male cross dresser. Interestingly enough the number on the team is six, or a "half-dozen". The team trains and fights among themselves based on their various backgrounds and characteristics. Finally, the big day comes and the night before the team is given a final test where one of them fails because she disclosed the mission to a stranger who is a member of the RAF and working to check the team's ability to not disclose the mission. This member is sent packing, but appears later with a high ranking officer because she is the daughter of a high government official and the female team leader is told she has to reinstate her. The team leader says, "No" and is backed up by others in MI6.In the mean time the Gestapo has questioned and tortured the captured resistance fighters and has learned how other members are added to the group from England and where they make contact. The local contact is captured, tortured, and replaced by a person working with the Germans who later meets agents and then hands them over to the Nazis. One of the agents that is captured has a radio and the Nazis now have the codes and radio frequencies needed to contact England's inner circle of spies working in France. As you may guess the story continues with the Nazis learning of the attempt by the resistance to damage a vital supply line. The female agents are supposed to do the job, but the real target is the telepone exchange again. There's a lot of cat and mouse play between the team leader and the Nazis which is fun to read and the Nazis do catch a few of the team members, but the team leader continues to outwit the Nazi detective at a number of turns in the later part of the story as she and her remaining team prepare to destroy the telephone exchange building and equipment.The ending is clever and action packed. Any reader of mystery and thriller books will really enjoy the last forty or so pages. The book is an easy read and at several points hard to put down. This is one you'll want to get and read.

I've never read this author but his writing is easy to follow. It has more than enough action and likable characters. If you've seen "The Dirty Dozen", then you know how it ends. The nice change is that they're all women.An aside, the book I ordered was large print and it came as large print, great. It's a preference I have because lately none the of the large print books I've ordered have come as large print. Very disappointing, but still readable.

Very action packed. Had to sometimes turn back the page on my Kindle because had to ask "who died, who got away, where are they?" That's how fast paced it was. The ending was great too!

Like all of Follett's books the writing and research are superb. I lost sleep until the satisfying end. I was quite bothered by the many description of torture throughout the book. Accurate though they may be I found them a bit gratuitous. If you are squeamish take a pass. I did very much appreciate the depiction of strong women that bravely fought alongside their male colleagues in the French Resistance.

I enjoyed this story and a different point of view as to those who helped the cause. The characters on both sides of the dispute were interesting and well developed. I will read more by this author.

The beauty of a Follett wartime novel is that you know he has done his research to the nth degree. Every detail is authentic, and combined with compelling characters, it’s a must-read for fans of the genre.The only question remains is why on earth has nobody made this into a movie? Or perhaps better yet a mini series, since a movie might have to skip over the details which would be a shame. But if it was done carefully and following the book (rather than deviating in typical Hollywood fashion), I’m sure it would be a massive hit.

Lots of action.Fun reading from end to end. All with a balance of action, romance and the fun of not knowing where next it goes.Fun Reading.

I ordered this novel and then forgot that it was the story of a daring mission in France to destroy a German communications centre just before D. Day. The French Resistance had already made one ill fated attempt to destroy it, so an experienced female spy, Flick Clairet, recruits an all female team to make a second, dangerous attempt. She is not aware that Rommel is using an equally experienced spy catcher, Dieter Franck. He becomes obsessive about capturing Flick and foiling any efforts on the part of the Resistance to carry out sabotage. I expected 'good' to triumph over 'evil' in the end but there were twists and turns in the plot which made the ending unpredictable. If you deplore violence of any kind, this is not the novel for you. The description of torture is graphic and authentic but does not make for comfortable reading. The novel is well written and the characters believable.

Follett has always written fast moving stories with plenty of twists and turns, this book is no exception. I don't know if the research is good or not because there are some atrocities that happen during wars that not many people want to know about.I am old enough to have been brought up by survivors of WW11 and understand the need for younger people to know about fascism and Nazis.I can never condemn a book showing women to be at their strongest, nowadays i think that most young women are heroes to live in the present time. This book is worth four stars to me as I am not very good at reading about violence.

All in all this was a very enjoyable read. As ever with Ken Follett's books I was rewarded with a very well written, perfectly paced peice of work. The characters were all written well into the story and also very believable, but at the same time very interesting and charismatic. As for the plot, well I found it very good, however somewhat predictable in parts. I would have given this book five stars, however, there was one part of the story that was for me a little to ridiculous when some of the team went to a certain hotel in Paris. I won't elaborate on this as it may spoil the story for anyone else who does go on and reads this story. I hope they do go on and read this, because if they do they're in for a good few hours of entertainment.

Usual racey and racing Ken Follet adventure. In part based on a real event of WW2. Quite a plausible story with excellent character development. If you have no idea how awful some means of torture can be, you will be in no doubt after reading this. The outcome for the heros and villains is always in doubt until after the last line of the book. A real page turner until you’re past the last page of the main book. Well worth the money.

I read the reviews first. I found the German reviews most balanced. It is not his best but it captures the era and the Big Event that is pending. A good SOE story. Well worth anyone's time. Ken Follett is a master of fact because he does his homework and has it marked by experts. You will not be disappointed