Book Look - #32

AND THEREBY HANGS A TALE by Jeffrey Archer

Plot: This books runs the viewer through a series of short stories set in different moods, different genres happening in different parts of the world.

Highlights:

• Not many stories were as suspenseful and twisting as those in Forsyth's No Comebacks but they weren't lacking in garnering interest.
• The ones of note were the ones on the Italian tourist, the painter & the man who wanted to live for long!
• Twists in some were predictable, and of the lot, in some they were appreciable.

A Decent timepass read.

Book Look - #23

THE COBRA by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: No cold war, no espionage this time.With the US President's insistence to curb the deadly cocaine business,agent Paul Devereaux nicknamed The Cobra devises a plan to eradicate the distribution of cocaine by mass-seizing tons of the drug in the sea and on air before it reaches its favoured destinantions - USA & Europe. But the buck doesn't stop there; A wily route is taken to completely rout the cocaine issue.

Highlights:

• This 2010 work of Forsyth is notably trendy & divulges everything under the sun on the supply chain of the Columbian drug not named Caffeine - Cocaine! It is a good read in that sense.
• The comeback of Cal Dexter aka The Avenger is the surprise package & it is also strange that the title character doesn't appear much in the book - Probably an experiment and it succeeds partially.
• The explanation concerning Ships,seas, Aircrafts as usual are classy (remains largely unfathomable to a zero-aero-knowledged person like me)
• The final swipe act is not unheard of & the twist looked like it was stuffed.

& Thus ends the addictive Forsyth journey,unless he writes another one soon!

Book Look - #22

THE NEGOTIATOR by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: This again involves USA,UK & USSR and nuclear arms but the focus is on the kidnapping of the US President's son & how a negotiator from Spain nearly gets his deal done. The kidnapping fiasco then turns into a political matter of humongous proportions and again the negotiator traces the puzzle's path to solve it clinically.

Highlights:

• This one betters many of his other works in terms of speed the narrative carries. Could be a super bet for making a film on - racy, interesting stuff all the way.
• The negotiator Quinn is a superbly written character and his reactions after the volte-face in the middle make him an instant hero.
• The way the phone tracing, tackling of the officers by the negotiator, his deal with the kidnappers, the root cause for the episode are all narrated in detail make this work one of his best.

Betters many of his works; Another Pulsating Entertainer.

Book Look - #21

THE DECEIVER by Frederick Forsyth

 

Plot: Towards the end of the Cold War, a British SIS agent's position looks unwanted for the supposedly different direction the world is about to take. The subordinate of the agent doesn't think so & comes up with 4 stories from the past of the brilliant,maverick agent who was nicknamed 'The deceiver' to show that the man deserves to retire on his own terms.

Highlights:

• Forsyth comes up with 4 relatively compact stories and neatly ties that up to the prime character in the novel and presents a flashback-mode swansong for his SIS agent.
• Sam Mcready aka 'The Deceiver' is arguably the best of protagonist characters etched by Forsyth; Usually, he gives that singular importance to antagonists and here's a smart and candid agent whosee deeds, as expressed are superb!
• The suspenseful portions , some predictable - some not, & the usually descriptive nature of the narration provide ample reasons for another interesting read.

No deceiver this; The title is a pucca misnomer!

Book Look - #20

THE DEVIL'S ALTERNATIVE by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: Drought,famine & dwindling grain stock are Soviet's problems. Soviet's excessive armament & a probable war on western Europe for grains are USA's problems. The loss of freedom of Ukraine & other smaller nations in the USSR due to Soviet Russia's stronghold is a patriotic Ukrainian's problem. Their problems get traded off spectacularly with a hijack of a Scandinavian mammoth ship Freya!

Highlights:

• The way international politicians move their pawns carefully under the biggest of crises is shown in an amazing narration by Forsyth in a story of a mega-deadlock situation.
• The 3 tracks on USA -USSR, Ukraine & The Ship move in parallel and when the tracks join, the action gets even more exciting and gets set for a photo finish; Here again is the mindblowing final page twist; It seems to be his norm.
• Forsyth's inputs on political diplomacy, ship-related info , arms movement & espionage stuff show, again, his tendency to tremendously research on the subject he writes about; This makes him special.
• On the flip side, he seems too 'pro-UK', for, he reserves his ill-concealed remarks mainly for USSR and for USA to an extent but UK is off the radar every single time!

Book Look - #19

ICON by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: A President nominee of Soviet who enjoys a dream pre-poll run has dreadful plans for his fellow country men to be executed after his successful run to the presidential office. But, his secret 'Black Manifesto' is taken by a cleaner and sent to the UK Embassy who realise its seriousness and put a word to the USA. A former US agent and a British SIS man combine to get back into Soviet with the dreaded manifesto and convince responsible high-powered men in the country to ensure loss to the otherwise predictable winner - the author of the manifesto.

Highlights:

• The style adopted or the book-play is engrossing. It shuttles back and forth between the 1980s and the 1990s and relates a person from the 80s to the events set in the 90s. The 80s part is more of an Soviet Information provider and the 90s part is what constitutes the real fiction.
• Jason Monk is a splendidly characterised gutsy hero and the fraud acts adopted by UK,USA agencies wrt Russia as explained are interesting. So is the meticulously planned disintegration of the President Nominee's reputation.
• The butterfly effect shown is not to be missed. A bottle of beer somewhere sometime leads to the downfall of a psychotic leader and the rescual of Russia!
• The theatrical finish that it has is only apt to this terrific tale!

Engrossing stuff; The best of all Forsyth I've read.

Book Look - #18

THE DAY OF THE JACKAL by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: 6 attempts of an agency within France, adversely against the policies and the rule of the french President, to kill him flop and that's when they hire a professional assassin code-named The Jackal. The meticulous planner leaves no stone unturned in his bid to kill the President and in his way stands a determined French detective who keeps tracing all the marvelous moves of The Jackal. The death of the president, to be or not to be, is what makes the grand finale .

Highlights:

• The book split into three 'Anatomy' parts is aptly named. The three parts literally dissect and show all that there is to assassinate a big shot.
• The 1 st part, about the Jackal and his plans to the minute details is riveting to say the least
• The 2nd part, about the commisaire's tracing of his killer suspect gives an idea of the intelligence that deals with big scale crimes
• The 3rd part, in comparison with the first two, is a tad low on what it offers but it paves the way for a thrilling finish!

Book Look - #13

THE FIST OF GOD by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait hoping for a retaliation aided by the USA and UK allied troops. He wants to humiliate the westerners by killing their soldiers in huge numbers with his secret nuke project Qubth-ut-Allah - The Fist of God. The allied forces send in Mike Martin, an SAS official, disguised as an Arab to Baghdad and they learn Iraqi inside information through exchanges between Martin and a mole 'Jericho' in the Iraqi core political circle.

Highlights:

• Forsyth does it again! 600 odd pages of impeccable information is what is in store in this book. There is abundant information on the Iraq war of 1990s; the reasons, the results and all.
• The Jericho-Martin-Base station exchanges and the revelations they offer make this book an irresistible read.
• The parallel work in the bank at Germany to identify Jericho, the presentation of Saddam Hussein's conniving nature & details on the war aircrafts & nuke weaponry are the other major highlights.

Book Look - #12

THE DOGS OF WAR by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: A UK based business maniac discovers the abundant presence of the mineral in demand - Platinum - in a politically unstable African province Zangaro; He wishes to dethrone the dictator there and install a new ruler of his choice so that he can get the mining rights and monopolise. He chooses a mercenary for the dethroning operation and the planning & execution of the operation by the mercenary crew form the fascinating majority of the book.

Highlights:

• As is often the case, the meticulous ways of the protagonist - a mercenary Shannon here - is a major highlight of this work.
• The way his plans are presented give us tremendous insights on to the relatively unknown mercenary operations trade, smuggling of ammunitions across the sea etc.
• The final action of Shannon which makes him a true hero has a message which gets delivered right at the end - the last page!

Lowlights:
After a decent enough hype, the role of the Russians as the party-poopers turn out to be insignificant at the end.

Book Look - #10

THE PHANTOM OF MANHATTAN by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: A man with an awkwardly disfigured face, leaves from France to America carrying a part of the secret life he'd had in France. With his smart and tacky ways, he creates an empire of his own and through a letter from his caretaker in France , he comes to know of the startling other half of the secret. This makes him use his second love- the opera to bring from France his first love - the opera singer he loved & a pack of surprises get unveiled.

Highlights:

• I didn't know, when I picked this book, that it was a sequel to a book written by another author. But a crisp epilogue and an astonishingly imaginative story makes this a brilliant work to be read.
• The narration style employed is unique - Each chapter narrated by different characters that form the story; a narration with very little contribution by conversations; a narration where all the characters come from various walks of life in the society - GRIPPING!
• The shattering revelations and a special climax make this a superb page-turner.

Book Look - #9

THE VETERAN by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: This book comprises five medium-size stories that have contextual descriptions and details to the most immaculate level. They focus on subjects ranging from a british trial on an assault case to art world felonies to drug trafficking to 14th century rome to the wild west of the 1800s.

Highlights:

• Each story has its own highlights but if there is one thing that is common to them all - It is the level of detail at which Forsyth narrates. I saw a tagline that befits him wonderfully - "With Forsyth, you live and learn".
• The psychic twist to the story of Rome & the brilliant climax of 'The Veteran'
• The drug trafficking story & the one on the west were gripping (especially the wilderness depicted in 'The whispering wind' was fascinating) but they had confusing ends. I am yet to fathom them accurately.

Book Look - #8

AVENGER by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: An American youth is brutally killed in Bosnia during the Bosnian war. The grandfather of the killed seeks revenge on the absconding big shot killer who seems to have escaped into thin air after the war. It takes the efforts of an ex-vietnam army member dubbed 'The Avenger' to find the whereabouts of the absconding killer (who happens to be part of a huge plan to trap UBL) , nab him & hand him over to the bereaved grandfather.

Highlights:

• An apt one-word description 'riveting' would befit this work. An excellent express speed narration aided by solid happenings makes this work. The final page twist is astonishing too!
• The travails of a Vietnam bound army 'Tunnel Rat' is brought out picturesquely in the side flashback story. So are the jungles of South America.
• There is no love,no relationship portrayed in this one - there has been none in any of his books I ve read thus far - Quite daring not to have page-fillers!! and that makes Forsyth even special.

Book Look - #7

THE AFGHAN by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: The American & British intelligence agencies get a clue on a suspected-to-be serious Al-Qaeda operation 'Al-Isra' against the west & they collaborate to prepare and devise counter-operation 'Crowbar' and send a former British SAS colonel as a doppleganger of a captured extremist to identify the exact Al-qaeda operation. How he prepares and tackles the challenge fills the rest of the pages.

Highlights:

• Even though the plot is not exactly new, the way it has been narrated makes for an interesting read.Forsyth takes the reader into the world of the Middle east terrorist hub & the formative years of Taliban.
• One wonderful aspect of his writings is that he relates his work of fiction with true life characters & to suddenly get introduced to characters such as Osama bin laden catches the reader surprised.
• This one is also a travelogue taking us through the middle east,UK, the wilderness of the US-Canada border and the vast spread of Indian & Atlantic Oceans.

Book Look - #6

THE FOURTH PROTOCOL by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: Top members of the Soviet Republic establish internally Plan Aurora - a plan to topple Margaret Thatcher's conservatist government at UK & bring the Leftists to power so as to enable the spread of Communism from USSR into UK. The plan that involves breaching of the fourth protocol of a Nuke deal by setting up a small atomic bomb at Ipswich town by sending an 'illegal' into UK is upset by a smart british service agent,John Preston & some who's who of both UK & USSR.

Highlights:

• The handling of the narration is exemplary. The interlaced style, with happenings in different places presented back and forth, makes this even more gripping.
• The attention to detail is Forsyth's forte. Besides reading the novel, one gets to understand the hierarchies in USSR politics, UK Intelligence & SAS, components of a Nuclear Fission reaction, landscapes of South Africa & what not!!
• The way the couriers' breach the british boundaries to bring in their stuff are interesting to read.
• Finally, the masterstroke in the climax!

Book Look - #3

THE ODESSA FILE by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: The Assassination of US President John.F.Kennedy is linked to a three way arms & nuke battle among Germany-Israel-Egypt. Members of the ODESSA -Former SS generals under Hitler's regime are behind the activities. An old diary recovered from a dead Jew gets journalist Peter Miller going after an SS General Roschmann,who had foreseen the genocide of 80,000 Jews at Sigi during WW II. Miller is in pursuit with an unrevealed personal interest too & how he settles his account by gaining access to the Odessa file is what this suspenseful fiction is all about.

Highlights:

• Too realistic to be accepted as a work of fiction.
• The first 50 pages are hard to cross,with the intro of so many characters, but after that it is rocket-sailing all the way to the finish line.
• Tremendous information is presented on the brutal ways of Nazis involved in the mass-murder of Jews all over Europe.

Book Look - #2

NO COMEBACKS by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: This is a compilation of ten short stories,each centered around one character and involving just a handful of characters.

Highlights:

• Crisp narration style employed - True with a majority of the stories on offer.
• Terrific attention to detail provided in most of the stories - Boat-fishing & a game of cards are exhaustively explained in two of the stories.
• Astonishing twists brought forth in the final page of some of the stories.