Reviews

My first Ken Follett. Won't be my last. Kinda like reading Jeffery Archer. Good quality story, written in a way that's pleasurable and easy to read with no useless waffle or overly descriptive BS.

twocolorsinhead's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

hartstrings's review against another edition

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3.0

This was a great old-fashioned spy novel-set in England during World War II. Faber, the German spy learns vital information about the Allied troops. He desperately tries to get the information out of the country. On the British front, there is a massive effort to catch Faber who ends up shipwrecked on an almost deserted and aptly named Storm island.

anniecase45's review against another edition

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2.0

After finishing Follett's novel, its defined genre of "thriller" seemed laughable to me. Maybe the narrative tropes wouldn't have seemed so cliche and tired in 1979, but today, after decades of revitalized James Bond films, Homeland, Deutschland 83 and many others, there is nothing surprising or exciting about Eye of the Needle. I saw every single plot twist coming a mile away and that was unfortunate, because the distance from one "action" scene to the next seemed interminable. It's not a hard read, but it's not worth the time, either.

Read Harder 2016: Book from the 1970s

leedugger's review against another edition

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5.0

completely engrossing and entertaining.

charcosta's review against another edition

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5.0

FAN-tastic. Admittedly, I don't like history, let alone war history, but Eye of the Needle was my first book by Follett, and it was soooooo good. I’ve easily read this book 3-4 times, and I’ve recommended it plenty more. With characters you love and love to hate all woven into carefully chosen elements of history, he brings the history to life. Perhaps my history teachers should have used this technique in school… by making history relevant, even to fictional characters, because then ‘history’ becomes present. It becomes now. Follett is a master at layering fiction over nonfiction. This is an ideal first book.

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