Customer Reviews

Triple

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

So far as captivating page-turners go, few writers of popular fiction can top Ken Follett when he is at his best, and though I've not read all his novels, I definitely consider Triple (a political thriller) to be one of the best of those I've read. (Other favourites of mine are A Dangerous Fortune and The Third Twin--and I am eager to read The Pillars of the Earth).

Briefly (and without giving anything away), the plot centres around three secret agents--one from Israel's Mossad, one from Russia's KGB, and one from Egypt's Intelligence Agency. It involves the arms race between the Israelis and the Arabs and takes place in 1968. I really can say no more other than to mention that one of these groups has an idea for ensuring that it remains a competitor in that race, and the method the agent has for bringing that idea to fruition (and this is what the novel is all about) is complex and really quite ingenious.

Stripped to its most basic level, this could be said to be something of a cat and mouse story. However, there is so very much more to it than that, for Follett is a master storyteller who not only excels in deftly handling relationships between individuals (no mean feat in itself!) but is simply brilliant at creating characters that the reader cares about and hence in writing novels that one hates to reach the end of.

Though not a light read, this novel is certainly enlightening. I, for one, learned a fair bit about Middle Eastern politics and something about nuclear weaponry. Further, I felt Follett did a splendid job of conveying the political situation from the points of view of both the Israelis and the Palestinians in a manner that simultaneously evoked both sympathy for and censure of both sides. It's a sensitive topic (perhaps even more so now than in 1979 when the novel was first published) and one in which Follett's skill as a writer really shines through.

Highly recommended to fans of Ken Follett in general, to fans of the spy genre in particular, and to anyone who enjoys a consumately written (and insightful) thriller!

Ken Follett is one of the best "bestseller" authors around. And he's versatile--check out Pillars of the Earth, which couldn't be more different than this book, Triple.

Triple centers on Nat Dickstein, who is working for the Israelis with the seemingly impossible task of stealing a sizable amount of uranium. Dickstein's exceedingly clever plan keeps you turning the pages, as do the counter-efforts of the Russians and Arab agents who want to derail his plan. The main characters are well-developed and multi-sided--and the "bad guys" are not just cookie-cutter heavies--they have their sympathetic side as well. Which, I think, is what kept me from putting the book down until I finished it. Great reading for a vacation, trip or just relaxation.

An Israeli agent is ordered by his government to obtain radioactive materials so Israel could build its own bomb. The bosses don't know where and how to get them. The agent should figure it out by himself. To make matters worse, he should steal the stuff in a way no one would ever suspect Israel has the materials.
Of course, the bad guys and the Americans are also around, to complicate the plot even more.
An extremely intelligent premise: a mission against all odds.
A digression: I rate this Follett's book second only to Pillars of The Earth or The Eye of the Needle, and side by side with The Man from St. Petersburg.
In addition to being (in my view) his best plots, each of these four books inaugurated a formula, later somehow repeated by Follett in other books. (For example, The Key to Rebecca or Lie Down with Lions follow the steps of The Eye of the Needle). In this sense, Triple, although a spy story like The Eye... it is also very original.

Follett takes a set of not quite believable characters and blends them together into a story that flows smoothly. If you like espionage, intrigue and sex mixed in with a little Mafia, a touch of academia, a smidgen of nuclear threat, and the high seas, you'll probably like this book. As in so many modern American novels, the firm porn (midway between soft and hard) is a little monotonous unless you happen to have a bit of the peeping Tom in you. Like so much in this fantastic story it is contrived but folded smoothly into the storyline. When I began skipping over the heavy breathing and anatomical explorations the story improved measurably.

One of Follett's first spy-thrillers - Triple - is a typical cat and mouse spy novel, which is characterized by many dynamic characters all of which play a big and even role in the plot. From all ends of the political and religious spectrum - Follett introduces various characters right in the beginning of the novel with an unlikely meeting of future foes. The story begins at Oxford University in London England, where a group of students participate in political discussions. What they don't know is that their political differences will some day become more than just political differences. Eventually they'll all be at different ends of the race for nuclear weapons in the mid-East.

I enjoyed the novel profoundly. It was a very good weekend page-turner, and I would suggest it to anyone who admires Follett's work. The reason I'm giving it 4 stars is because I've read more recent work of his including the Key to Rebecca, the Pillars of the Earth, and A Dangerous Fortune - All three much deserving of 5 stars. Although a great novel, I still must limit Triple to 4 stars because it's not quite on the level of entertainment as those aforementioned. The writing style of Follett is unique and he produces great stories with awesome skill. If you have not read those three novels I've mentioned, please take time to read them. You'll be incredibly entertained if you were to read any of them - with my personal favorite being The Pillars of the Earth.

I think this is the period of time when Ken Follett was probably at the top of his game. This book comes close to The Pillars of the Earth. This is a great story, similar to The Sum of All Fears just 15 years earlier and better action. Follett has always been great at developing his characters and he does it again with this book. And he always gets the facts correct; he must spend a good deal of time researching the topics. This book moves very fast and has a number of twists, there is real suspense built up through out the book. This book is one of the best of the class.

I read this book looking for some post 9/11 escapism focused on the middle east. This is a fast moving action story that maintains its pace through all 340 pages. Follett has created an unforgettable character in Nat Dickstein, who in many ways is a metaphor for Israel herself. He has found a way to leave his hatred behind, yet methodically pursues his aims by any means necessary, looking hopefully towards a peaceful future.
In my view this is as good as "Eye of the Needle", and maybe better than "Pillars of the Earth" which I thought was overlong. Follett shows us the Israelis, Egyptians and Russians all in a bright light, where it is the ends, and not the means, that counts.

Triple is a spy novel set in the mid-60s when Israel is rushing to beat the Arabs in a race to build an atomic bomb. This book as all the action, suspense and romance you'd expect from Follet. His research is excellent and this book is very believable. As one of Follet's earlier novels, it definitely stands the test of time.

Making an atomic bomb is easy to do if you have a nuclear plant and the raw material (yellowcake) to make the uranium needed. Egypt has been successful in building the plant but now they need the yellowcake. Israel also has a plant and is in dire need of the same raw material.The Russians are backing the Arabs in this race so we have the agents from the Mossad, the KBG, and the Arabs and a double agent thrown in for an advantage to which nation? Ken Follett is a great writer of suspense and keeps you guessing thru the entire book as to who is going to steal and keep the stolen goods. Schoolmates from Oxford and one of their professors from ten years ago seek to favor one country over the other. We know the prof favors one country but who does his daughter favor? Who comes up with a reasonable way to transport thethousands of tons of yellowcake and who figures out a way to steal it from them? You won't want to put this book down until the end so plan on loosing some sleep. After you finish this book you may want to catch your breath before you start another of Follett's books, "Eye of the Needle" which is another suspensful spy story of WW II vintage. Both deserve more than a five star rating.

Follett intertwines history with imagination and tells the story of how Israeli secret service agents out-conned the Soviets, Arabs, and just about everybody else, to get the nuclear weapons technology needed for their nation's survival. Set in the time between the 1967 and 1973 Mid-East wars and revolving primarily around an Israeli agent and concentration camp survivor named Nat Dickstein, Triple is big on thrills and carefully-presented plot twists, and nowhere is it even for a moment boring. Nat Dickstein is one of Follett's best and most sympathetic creations. Entirely human, no whisperings of James Bond or Superman within him, the emotionally-vulnerable Dickstein falls in love with the daughter of a western intellectual whose sympathies lie with the Arab cause. Opposing Dickstein are Palestinians sworn to Israel's destruction, and elite KGB agents with special dispensation from none other than Yuri Andropov to do whatever it takes to keep plutonium out of Jewish hands. The story slips in and out of a number of settings, from the "neutral ground" of western Europe, to mafia family strongholds in New York, to the killing grounds of the Middle East, and in a few cases it even returns in flashback form to the horrors of Nazi death camps in the 1940's. Triple, though written a generation ago and set a decade before that, by no means seems like historical fiction. Its stories of a small-scale nuclear arms race, espionage, and passionate hatred threatening liberty, are every bit as pressingly current today as they were almost forty years ago.