Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle

Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle

Plot: One enemy spy knows the secret of the Allies greatest deception, a brilliant aristocrat and ruthless assassin -- code name: "The Needle" -- who holds the key to ultimate Nazi victory. Only one person stands in his way: a lonely English woman on an isolated island, who is beginning to fall for the killer who has mysteriously entered her life.

My Review and Thoughts:

Ken Follett is a master at words and capturing those words in a brilliant story of suspense, deception, and a killer spy. Set during WW2 a ruthless one of a kind Nazi spy code named The Needle is hard at work working for the victory of the Nazi's. This is truly a terrifying book of thrills and dangerous actions. 

A great read with thick plotted actions and edge of your seat moments with pure tension to cause everything in the emotion department for the reader. This is not about explosions or shoot outs like James Bond type of spies, this is more believable and a reality based story. This is about those stealthy true spies. 

The introduction to characters, the build up of characters is a well thought out and flawless action by the author. They are re-latable and true. Faber and Lucy are both excellent written characters. Twists and turns and many surprises. I think what really stands out is the pure cat and mouse like game. 

Murders, secrets, thrilling ordeals give this book a stable that is often mesmerizing. Follett gives it his all in this excellent novel. I recommend this wonderful spy tale. A superb read of surprises, drama, action, suspense and just about everything you need in a great book. I do feel the descriptions place you there in England during the war and also the characters map out a crafted well plotted book. 

I enjoyed all the emotions, the drama and love reality went well with the book even though it was a WW2 spy book. The character of Faber has a great weapon and also Follett describes the murders in amazing detail to attract and capture the reader's imagination.

I enjoy books that truly have a sense of real life history and then they weave fiction around them creating a believable reality to the book. This is one of those books that stand the test of time and also a book even though you know the outcome to WW2 it works for the imagination because the characters are so well crafted that the reader becomes apart of the action, the spy like drama and most of all the thick suspense running wild from page to page.

This also was made into a 1981 movie by the same name and in reality the movie is very good, not as good as the book but it still captures the basic stance of the written word. The movie stars Donald Sutherland as Faber and Kate Nelligan as Lucy.

This was originally brought out under the title of Storm Island in 1978 when it was published by Penguin Group. This was the book that made Follet a successful novelist which he was awarded with the Edgar Award for Best Novel by Mystery Writers of America.

The whole book is a worthwhile treat for any lover of thick plotted WW2 action and suspense books that leave the reader breathless with a great tale.