Customer Reviews

Hornet Flight

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Have you ever dug into the pockets of an old coat and found a wadded five dollar bill? Imagine the secret delight, the sense of discovery, the feeling of regaining something you'd totally forgotten about.

"Hornet Flight" is that sort of delight. I was an early Follett fan, devouring "The Eye of the Needle," "The Key to Rebecca," and "The Man from St. Petersburg." His strengths--his characters, his detailed research, his pacing--kept me coming back for more. Then, as Follett branched into other areas of fiction, my interest wavered.

The WWII theme of this latest book brought me back, and I discovered that forgotten "five dollar bill." The story revolves around young Harald Olafsun, a Danish man faced with the occupation of the Nazis and the bland apathy of many of his countrymen. When he realizes that the Nazis have a new technology that gives them the edge in air-battles, when he finds himself entangled in a budding resistance movement, he uncovers his own courage and the surprising resilence of his fellow people...and the treachery of some of her trusted authorities. Soon, Harald and an attractive Danish upperclass girl come to the realization that they alone have the ability to get invaluable info to the British by way of a dangerous flight in a dilapidated Hornet Moth.

"Hornet Flight" is not the most valuable thriller I've ever found, not the slickest or most modern, but it's a nice surprise all the same. Follett's old skills are evident--characters we can believe, well-balanced pacing, and the details to make wartime Denmark seem touchable. I'm sure glad I dug into these old pockets. You just never know what you might find.

Ken Follett is my favorite author. I have read every single one of his books, bar none. Bar none, this was poorest book he has ever written. The settings, characters, and story line are classic -- you can pick almost everyone of them out of his previous WW II era novels. It has a lot of plot similarities to Eye of the Needle and Jackdaws.

However, the overall plot is extremely predictable. You can see just what is going to happen after reading the first 25%. The details however revolve time and time and time again on a whole series of coincidences which is very out of character for Follett. I liked most of his books because the story line follows a logical flow with interesting bobs and weaves stemming from an initial premise. This was more like a low budget movie where things happen by coincidences and characters survive by inches or seconds so many times it becomes unbelievable and ridiculous.

The climatic seen of the flight to England has to be the absolutely worst piece of writing ever by Follett. The events are ridiculous, the characters repeatedly make stupid errors, and the whole thing plays like a cheap B movie. For instance, are we to believe that the only character who knows how to fly the plane falls asleep during a night flight over water half an hour after almost being shot out of the sky -- and the inexperienced person that's awake lets her sleep? Or the king of them all, are we to believe the character waits till the airplane is within minutes of running out of gas before remembering to add the extra can of gas he has in the cockpit -- which he could have done 4 hours earlier? Or how about delaying a day the flight that will change the war and save thousands of lives so that the main character can go to the ballet? Or how about the German guard helping push the plane out for takeoff because he can't put two and two together? He must not be related to the other character that can throw a cigar into the cockpit of a small airplane at takeoff speed.

Come on Mr. Follett, you can do better. Your novels Eye of the Needle, Pillars of the Earth, Key to Rebecca, Night over Water, Hammer of Eden, and Dangerous Fortune were classics.

Harald Olufsen, a student in occupied Denmark, stumbles upon a secret German radar station. Unless he relays this discovery to England, huge RAF loses will continue and British and Russian war efforts may crumble. With the help of his heroic brother, a new love and a British agent, Harald needs to dodge some determined pursuers and navigate a 600-mile trek across the cold North Sea to gain his freedom and to help the war effort. Ken Follett delivers a realistic and engaging tale in "Hornet Flight".

Follett is no stranger to World War II yarns, but he approaches this thriller with a new and refreshing perspective. Rather than painting the Germans as rabid Nazis, he portrays them only as menacing background. The real villain is a Danish detective with a very complex personality, determined to break the spy ring and extract personal vengeance from Harald and his family. The hero is imperfect, yielding a clever idea one moment and staggering into a pitfall the next. This heightens the realism and suspense. In fact, Follett downplays his normal gunplay, using the space to develop a very rich ensemble of characters woven into an intriguing and rewarding story.

"Hornet Flight" neither begins nor ends with explosions. The reader ends up enjoying the journey as much as the destination.

I haven' read a Follett novel since Eye of the Needle which I thought was one of the best spy/suspense novels written during the 20th century. When I picked up Hornet Flight I knew I was going to be told a story that I would not forget. Well, Hornet Flight is good, I mean good....but it is not up to Eye of the Needle.
The story revolves around Harald Olufsen an eighteen year old Dane and information he holds regarding a secret German installation that allows the Nazis to shoot down at will the British long-range bombers before they can reach their objectives. The story is fast paced and full of very believable characters. One of the things I like about Follett's stories is that if you're a villain, then you are completely nasty. No grays here.
You'll enjoy the book even though it is contrived and predictable in places. You can forgive this because there are twists and turns that keep you from becoming too bored. If you've liked other Follett novels you're probably going to enjoy this one.

Ken Follett's "Hornet Flight" is a rousing World War II adventure full of all of the characters you'd expect in a film noire spy thriller about the Nazis. We have the plucky Englishwoman, spunky high school kids, brave soldiers and a scarred-up German officer who wears the jackboots and everything.

You know how it's going to end even before you start thanks to too much information on the description page but it's still a rollicking fun ride. It hit me just right during these blase winter days.

It's May, 1941, and something is rotten in the state of Denmark- - yep, it's those darned Nazis again! Luckily, Ken Follett's got `em in his sights, and everything turns out swell. There, you've saved $7.99 (plus tax).

This isn't exactly a *bad* book. But you'd be well advised to heed several implicit warnings before you buy it: (1) the paperback blurbs are from, well, less than encouraging sources (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and so on); and (2) the blurbs themselves are either suspiciously fragmented ("Tense...") or say things like "up to [his] usual standard" and "meets his usual standards." Hmmm.

And indeed, there's ample reason for this damning with faint praise. The prose is, at its best, workmanlike- - a kind of flat, toneless storytelling whose principal aim (and perceived virtue) seems to be to stay out of the way of the plot. This ain't Le Carre. The dialogue tends toward the stilted, with occasional lapses into downright awkwardness (and unintentional humor) in the demanding places you'd expect: family relationships, patriotic sentiment, young love. This ain't Elmore Leonard, either.

Making these weaknesses (just) bearable is Follett's story, a ripping Boy's Own tale of good `n' evil: the fledgling Danish Resistance needs to get specs and photos of a devastatingly effective German radar installation back to Britain for the RAF, a task ultimately realized by two plucky Danish teenagers- - blond boy-physicist Harald and his knockout girlfriend, long-legged ballerina Karen- - in the eponymous Hornet, a sporty little two-seater airplane owned by the heroine's father, reclusive millionaire Bruce Wayne. Oh, wait, that's not his name.

Anyway, there are enough simple mistakes (Danes measuring things in feet and inches) and historical lapses (Stalin communicating with Churchill on June 23) to remind you that formulaic thriller has to be a forgiving genre: don't ask too many questions or you'll spoil your own fun. As Ken himself warns us on the page before the prologue: "Some of what follows really happened." He might just as well have put it "Some of what follows is really entertaining." The rest you have to put up with- - or save your $7.99, wait for the movie, and hope the dialogue (etc.) improves in the screenplay.

It's hard to believe Ken Follett could write a book this amateurish. It reads more like his first rather than his latest. The sentences are simple; basic statements are explained; the situations rather simplistic. The storyline is credible; the characters are not...much too naive. It's hard to believe this is the same author who wrote The Eye of the Needle; The Key to Rebecca; The Pillars of the Earth (which I loved) and many other really fine books.

If you must read it, check it out at the library and save your money for his next book. Hopefully, he'll return to his former style.

Although this book was entertaining, it lacked the page turning apeal of Follet's older works. Having read most of his books, this was a disappointment to me. The characters were not all that compelling, the storyline simplified one of the most complex times in World history, and the hero and heroine were a bit unbelievable.

I would suggest picking up any of Follett's earlier works before this one. Particularly On Wings of Eagles, Pillars of the Earth, Night Over Water, or A Dangerous Fortune. Those books had me turning the pages in a frenzy to find out what would happen next.

Hornet's Flight left me wanting -- wanting to know what happened to certain characters, while all the same not really caring much about any of them. It left me emotionless over a time period that was wrought with emotion and fear. I was glad to have finished this book -- albeit an entertaining read. But one that made me wonder when Follett will come out with a book that lives up to the standard he set for himself.

In the past I've enjoyed Follet's earlier thrillers, such as Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca, and I certainly like WWII spy tales, but this newest one is pretty paint-by-the-numbers. Set in occupied Denmark in June 1941, at the height of Nazi power, the story is about a spy ring desperately trying to figure out the German's new secret weapon-radar. At the center of the story is Harald, a whiz-kid teenager with a mechanical bent who stumbles into the resistance and his Jewish ballerina girlfriend helper. Also entangled in the story are the Harald's brother (in Danish Air Force), his brother's fiancee (who runs the Danish Desk at MI6), the boy's stern preacher father, various schoolmates, the girl's wealthy parents, and a Danish policeman who has a vendetta against Harald's family, and his female partner.

Apparently partly based on real event (it would have been nice to have an afterword which explained this in detail), the book is loaded with coincidences which strain credulity. The characters' relationships all dovetail far too neatly. The action moves swiftly and everything is well-paced, but it's rather like an old fashioned "Boy's Own" adventure, or perhaps a Hardy Boys or something, with some really terrible dialogue and scenes where the teen heroes get to meet Winston Churchill and the Danish King. I suppose it'll serve the purpose if you're desperate for a WWII thriller for airplane or beach, but Follett's written much better books, and if you're looking for the real deal in WWII espionage fiction, try anything by Alan Furst. And if you're looking for good histories about the Danish resistance to Nazi occupation, check out Darkness Over Denmark, and In Denmark It Could Not Happen.

This was dull throughout, with the only excitement at all coming at the very end, and even that was very easy to anticipate, and hardly novel. The premise was weak, the plot illogical, and the characters mostly uninteresting. The abrupt character change in Peter Fleming seems to have been designed to ensure that the reader not sympathize with anyone who cooperated at all with the occupying powers; earlier, Fleming had seemed a loyal and charming police officer with a strong sense of duty. I had hoped the book might go beyond the usual stereotypes and examine questions such as whether those British bomber pilots whose lives the hero wanted to save were doing the right thing in fire-bombing German cities. Incinerating women and children from the air might just possibly be viewed as evil, even if carried out by our British allies!