- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Dutton; First Edition edition (Dec 6 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0525946284
- ISBN-13: 978-0525946281
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.7 x 5.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #316,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Penzler Pick, November 2001: Each book by Ken Follett, one of the most successful suspense writers of our time, is a welcome event. With Jackdaws, he returns to his most successful era, the darkest days of World War II.
It is 1944 and the Allies are preparing for the invasion of Europe. In the occupied town of Sainte-Cecile, the French Resistance is preparing to blow up the chateau that now houses the crucial telephone exchange connecting the French telephone system to that of Germany. Bombers have been unable to inflict enough damage on the chateau to disrupt communications for more than a few hours at a time, but the Allies need to make sure that communications is down for longer so that there will be as little warning of the invasion as possible.
Felicity Clariet, known as Flick, is a British secret agent patrolling the streets around the chateau waiting for the first explosions that will give the signal for the attack to begin. She is married to Michel, a Resistance fighter. When the operation goes horribly wrong, they barely escape with their lives and Flick returns to her home in London--but not for long. When Flick returns to France it will be as part of an audacious, quickly assembled plan to put female spies in the chateau as telephone operators and cleaners, enabling the Allies to destroy the ability of the Exchange to warn Germany in advance of the landing on the beaches of Normandy. The twists and turns of the plot will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Follett tells us that Jackdaws is based on a true story. The Special Operations Executive sent 50 women into France as secret agents. Thirty-six survived. --Otto Penzler
From Publishers Weekly
Returning to the WWII setting of the novels that made him famous, Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca, Follett (Code to Zero) delivers a very entertaining, very cinematic thriller about a ragtag, all-female band of British agents, code-named Jackdaws, sent to blow up a key telephone exchange in France on the eve of D-Day. Well, not quite all female: one "woman" recruited for the job by heroine Felicity Clairet, aka Flick, a major with the British Special Operations Executive, is a transvestite and that's just one among many twists that make this novel such fun. Opposed to Flick and her team are two Nazi villains whose escape from central casting doesn't keep them from playing their parts with zest: suave and urbane Maj. Dieter Franck, a master of psychological and physical torture, charged with breaking the Resistance in northern France, and Sturmbannfuhrer Willi Weber, brutal guardian of the chateau that houses the telephone exchange. The action runs over 10 days. After a failed assault by the Resistance on the chateau, an assault that introduces the novel's key players, Flick returns to England, racing the clock to recruit a team of women who can infiltrate the chateau by posing as its French domestics; among her selections are an imprisoned murderess, an aristocrat and that transvestite. The English scenes are interesting enough but lack suspense, which Follett supplies in spades by cutting to France, where Major Franck tracks Resistance members and gets wind of Flick's mission which, when at last underway, will enthrall readers. Adventure, romance, derring-do and a bit too much nasty violence crowd the pages of what promises to be one of Follett's most popular novels ever. Major ad/promo; simultaneous abridged and unabridged audio from Penguin Audio.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back to World War II,
By J R Zullo (São Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jackdaws (Mass Market Paperback)
Like some other bestselling authors (namely John Grisham and Tom Clancy), Follett's last books flopped in the critics' and customers' reviews. "The third twin", "Code to zero" and "Hammer of eden" were thrashed from left and from right, and in my opinion deservedly so. Follett is a talented author, but in these three books it seems he chose subjects that didn't appeal to the general public. Besides, his style of wrtiting was different from the successful one that made books like "Pillars of the Earth" and "Eye of the needle" become most wanted among legions of Follett's fans. It looked like the author himself lost interest in his books, and his fans didn't take it lightly. These facts may be true, and the proof is that Follett wrote two thrillers in sequence, less than one year apart, going back to the subject and the atmosphere he knows best: World War II. It seems his public liked the change. At least, the reviews are a lot kinder than before. "Jackdaws" is the story of a group of women lead by secret agent Flick Clairet. Their mission is to parachute into occupied France, and blow-up a telephone exchange that will help provide the security the Allies need on D-day. OK. That's a good subject. The plot in "Jackdaws" is interesting and the pace is very fast. In fact, the very opening scene is a pistol shooting between the Gestapo and agents of the french Resistence. The chapters are all full of action, and Follett doesn't let the rhythm slow down. Yes, it seems he's back on track. But there are some problems. I was left with the impression that, though the plot is interesting, it's somewhat thin, and Follett had to struggle hard to keep the reader's full-time attention. That's why there are so many cold-blooded murders, shootings, etc. One other problem is about the characters. Flick Clairet and the nazi torturer, Dieter Franck, are both cool (enemies at haeart), but also full of contradictions. Sometimes what they did and said was plainly wrong. And all other characters are shallow to the point of oblivion. Follett tried to spice things up: there's homosexualism, a transexual, one (almost hot) lesbian scene. But it didn't work out as well as he intended, because he concentrated to much of the book's focus on the two main characters. I give "Jackdaws" 4 stars because, even if it's not Follett's best, it kept me up reading way after midnight. And also because Follett shows that he worries about his readers. It's like he's thinking: "OK, I tried to change subjects, but maybe I didn't do my homework so well. I'll go back to World War II, give my constant readers (as Stephen King would say) two good books on that subject, and then I'll do a better research on future stories that are not about WWII". Let's hope this is true. Grade 8.3/10
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
great WWII fiction,
By Brendan "brendan077" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jackdaws (Mass Market Paperback)
Follett creates a riveting book during one of the most challenging times in history, with death and torture possible around any corner. The suspense feels real as we follow the French Resistance and the Germans trying to catch them. We find Flick Clariet to be an amazing heroine, stronger and more capable than most men would be. The antagonist in this book is very frightening, creating a real tension as the reader doesn't know if the protagonists will actually succeed. The strength of Dieter Franck makes the book that much more suspenseful and exciting. Ken Follett is a master at putting you in the time period he is writing about. I loved this book and I look forward to reading many of his other WWII fiction. I highly recommend this book to anyone.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!,
By
This review is from: Jackdaws (Paperback)
Every Follett book is special, and so is this one.You won't regret it.
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