Customer Reviews

Lie Down With Lions

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

It's unfortunate that one of the previous reviewers found so much to hate in "Lie Down With Lions," and I'm guessing it's because that reader was looking for the wrong things. No, Follett's not Faulkner, and you'll get no musings on the human condition. But that's not why one reads Follett; you read Follett for the tightly written, superbly constructed thriller, and, in "Lie Down With Lions," that's exactly what you get.

The action is intense, right from the outset, where American agent Ellis blows his cover in Paris, losing in the process his girlfriend Jane, who takes up with another guy and heads with him to Afghanistan, to offer medical assistance to a populace wearied by war against the invading Soviets (sort of a 1980s version of Médecins sans frontières). Ellis tails her there, under the auspices of the US government, to train the Afghan fighters. At which point, the plot thickens, and doesn't let up till the very end.

The dynamics of the Ellis/Jane relationship are great, very natural and well drawn in a way one doesn't usually find such relationships drawn in action novels. Their moments of greatest intimacy--including an amazingly and erotically written love scene that rivals anything in Miller or Joyce--help drive one of the novel's main tensions, a tension between the reader's responses to these two characters who are often at odds but both very sympathetic. This tension, though, merely underscores the real, action-based tension surrounding the military skirmishes taking place on the greater stage outside the Ellis/Jane relationship.

As some reviewers have pointed out, "Lie Down With Lions" isn't much use as a history primer on the war in Afghanistan, or as a probing meditation on the nature of existence. But that's really beside the point. We read Follett, like we read Clancy and Grisham, because they're amazingly talented story tellers with interesting stories to tell. I've read "Lie Down With Lions" three times and enjoyed it immensely each time.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan began on Christmas Eve 1979. The inhabitants of this geographically isolated land, rose up to defend their country. They armed themselves with whatever was on hand, gathered into loose formations and began to attack and sabotage the Soviet Union's personnel, installations, depots and transports with any available weapons. Scattered guerrilla bands, with fierce pride, and a tremendous ability to endure, fought against the far superior and more numerous Soviet forces and sophisticated weaponry.

"Lie Down With Lions" opens in Paris in 1981. John Ellis, an American CIA agent, is working undercover and living with a politically active Englishwoman, the sensual, lovely Jane Lambert, who he plans on proposing marriage to as soon as he completes his assignment. Jean-Pierre Debout, a French doctor and member of the Communist Party, is going to Afghanistan, ostensibly to provide medical assistance to the rebel forces fighting against the Soviets. He has, however, another agenda. Jean-Pierre also loves Jane and wants her to accompany him to Afghanistan as his nurse-assistant. Ellis, after capturing an important KGB agent, is exposed as CIA. Jane leaves him in disgust, not only because of his job, but because he lied to her.

The Valley of Five Lions, a place of ancient legend, lies deep in the Afghan mountains, far removed from civilization. Jane and her husband, Jean Pierre have been working here, in a rebel village, for a year. They minister to the local inhabitants, who have never seen a doctor before, and patch together and stitch-up the wounded warriors. An American visits the valley with an important message for Masud, a famous and effective guerrilla leader, from the White House. The messenger is John Ellis. A terrible treachery is discovered, shortly after he arrives. A nightmare flight with the Soviets in pursuit occurs, across the Hindu Kush, leading to an extraordinarily suspenseful confrontation. The action here is unbelievable with Ken Follett, the master of the suspense-thriller, at his best.

As usual, Follett's narrative is riveting and the action intense. His characters are well drawn and believable, with all their complexities and conflicts. There are so few novels written about Afghanistan, especially during this important period in history, and that makes "Lie Down With Lions" all the more worthwhile a read.

P.S. Yes, there is also an amazingly erotic, and well written sex scene.

I purchased this book because the setting -- Afghanistan -- sounded interesting, I like spy stories, and I'd just read Jackdaws by Follett which I'd thoroughly enjoyed. This book exceeded my expectations.

Three characters are the main focus of the story -- Ellis, a CIA agent, Jane, the woman he loves and wants to marry (although she doesn't know it), and Jean-Pierre, the man who also wants Jane for himself.

From the beginning Jane and Ellis's relationship is rocky because she doesn't know he's a spy and some of his actions have her puzzled. She wants more of a commitment and he doesn't seem willing to cooperate. On the day he decides to come clean about what he does for a living and how he feels about her, all hell breaks loose. The next thing Ellis knows, Jane is gone and so is Jean-Pierre.

Ellis later accepts an assignment to Afghanistan and their paths cross again. The fact that Jane now has a child doesn't change the way he feels. He's still in love with her, but he expects no love in return. Aside from that, his mission could get him killed and he doesn't want to bring harm to her or her child. Besides that, Jean-Pierre, who's always been jealous of him, has no intention on losing Jane to a past rival.

What follows is a roller-coaster ride of action, danger, romance, and suspense. I listened to the unabridged audiobook version of this book and the cast of six readers were excellent. They changed their tone and pace to fit the scenes that they read. As a result, the characters seemed to come alive. Follett does a pretty good job of giving you enough of a description to help you envision the scenery and the dialog was good. To top it off, the action made sense and was interesting.

I don't know if the book accurately portrays the people of Afghanistan, so I didn't accept some of the characters' observations about how they are as a people. I mainly listened to the book to be entertained and it did that superbly.

I read this book many years ago, but I'm buying another copy to read again and I expect it to be pretty tattered after it gets passed around to friends and family. How many novels (thrillers, love stories, good reads) are set in Afghanistan? Not many,and this all of those. I don't know if this is the "real" Afghanistan, but it is one version. The people I know are hungry to learn anything they can about this isolated country and Lie Down With Lions is a great place to begin. Ken Follett understands women and writes about them well; women will relate to this story. The Soviets are the bad guys in this book and the Afghans are the victims. Read this and get a glimmer of understanding into the background of these people.

One of Follett's best, Lie Down with Lions is a fast-paced, intriguing read. While I feel he will never touch Eye of the Needle, Pillars of the Earth or The Man from St. Petersburg (hence, the four-star rating), Lie Down with Lions showcases Follett's best skills virtually on every page. If you have never read Follett, start with one of the aforementioned books. They are his best (especially "...Needle" and "Pillars...") and will make you appreciate some of the finer nuances in Lie Down with Lions. My only gripe (I WON'T ruin the plot) is that the last 80 pages were a little too detail-oriented giving the effect of being just a TAD too slow-paced. Only a tad though. Certainly not enough to keep anyone from reading this fine novel. But it is somewhat like exiting the freeway at 70mph and suddenly having to do 55mph. 55mph is still quite fast for the surface streets, but 70mph was better (for the freeway, of course)! Take this book on vacation. Read it over a lazy three-day weekend. Use it as a wonderful escape during your lunch hour. Just don't do what I did: clocked in late from lunch everyday! Enjoy!

About 20 years ago in Paris, a CIA agent from America called John Ellis is undercover and living with an Englishwoman named Jane Lambert. At first it was just so he could fit in more, but after a while they started to fall in love. He wanted to propose to her, but decided to wait until after his "assignment" was over. There's another man named Jean-Pierre who is also in love with Jane. Jean-Pierre is a doctor who has decided to leave and go to Afghanistan to help out all the sick people. Since he will be gone for two years, he asked Jane to come along. At first she refused, but after she learned that Ellis was a spy she went.

She loved all the village people and stayed in a small town in The Valley of Five Lions. She grew close to everyone, but more close to Jean-Pierre. They married and she had a baby, and she never once questioned her marriage until one day Ellis showed up. Then she learned of Jean-Pierre's secret...

I absolutely loved this book because of the love and the action. I never guessed what would happen and the ending was almost perfect.

This book was excellent reading in terms of FICTION. It should by no means, however be used as a basis for learning about the Afghan people. My main objections are with regard to his character's sweeping statements about the "cruelty" of the Afghans and how almost all of the men are portrayed as chauvanists and almost all of the women as weak and subservient. Also, if one is going to borrow the persona of a real man to use as one of his characters, he could at least have researched the man's character a little more. Ahmed Shah Masud was by no means the cruel, impassive commander who would order the casual execution of a Russian captive. In fact there were several young Russian fighters who actually ended up joining his forces.
I could go on and on about the depth of character of Masud and the Afghans that were missing from this book, but I realize that the purpose of this book was mainly for entertainment.
For a real taste of Afghanistan and her people, there are many other great books out there. ...

Lie Down With Lions, Ken Follett's final spy thriller before he began the cycle of historical books that occupied him for a decade, takes place mostly in the mountains of Afghanistan in about 1982, during the height of US-funded resistance to the Soviet invasion. Here a CIA agent and decorated Vietnam veteran, a British woman he loves, a French doctor who is a KGB operative posing as an international aid worker (and also the husband of the British woman), and the KGB itself all interact among Afghan resistance fighters (the fathers of today's Taliban) who seek to throw out the Soviets and establish an Islamic nation governed by the Koran. This time out Follett's novel is less about suspense than it is the straightforward telling of a sound story. The violence is held to a minimum and always the plot rests squarely in the gray hues that lie between the black and white morality so common among other authors. Unlike so many other Follett tales, particularly Triple, this book does seem a bit dated with its Cold War Realpolitiks and Islamists as good guys, but as a vehicle for a jaunt back in time to when the world stage was a different place, this is an interesting trip. There is also the matter of its unexpected ending, which was a stroke of genius. All I'll say is that in the last pages when all seemed at its darkest, Follett delivered a deus ex machine-style happening that settled scores magnificently in a satisfying way I didn't see coming. Lie Down With Lions is a perfect example of why a good book can be more fun to read than a great one.

If you like excitment and action you will love this book. Believable characters lead into a plot of mystery and action in a stark landscape. Betrayal, love, and survival pit a young woman aganist harsh realities and difficult choices. Yet, the heroes retain their humanity. It's a good story.

Follett's common theme of creating vivid characters and aiming them on a collision course takes you to Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. Lie Down with Lions moves fast and has one of the most intense sexual scenes I have ever read. Like a metaphor for the book as a whole, the same characters are soon on an icy trek over the Himalyas.

Like his lovers, the book is hot and cold. The plot is thin and implausible. The bad guys are two dimensional. But Follett's descriptive powers are in good form. This is a great book for a boring trans-continental flight.