Product Description
Ken Follett had the purest of motives when he began writing fiction: he did it for the money. But after Eye of the Needle catapulted him to success and secured his reputation as a master of the spy thriller, he both built on that success with other spy thrillers and experimented equally successfully with other genres such as the family saga and the historical romance. This is the first full-length study of his work and it includes individual examinations of each of his major novels, from Eye of the Needle (1978) to A Place Called Freedom (1995), as well as his early novels. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wanna Buy A Duck?
I love Ken Follett, but not enough to take a second mortgage out on my house to buy this. Way too expensive, thank god borders runs their establishment like a library. not worth the bucks

Pitimus
I am sure when this writer finished his thesis no one knew what he was trying to say.a waste of money, and paper. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

thank you
Sorry -- cannot review -- sent to an inmate in the CA prison and have not heard if it was rec'd.

Eye of the Needle
This is a fantastic read which tends to show the versatility of Follet as he deals with a German spy and his relationship with a very resourceful English lady."Eye of the Needle" is completely believable, and as more current data is released and exposes some of the clandestine activities conducted during WWII, one can come to believe almost anything is and was possible.

Follet's talented writing, character and situation development, holds you.It is truely a page turner you don't want to put down.

E.J.Walden, author "Operation Snow Owl"

Hitler relies on The Needle
Hitler must ultimately decide what threats are real and when.He relies on the one man he knows can accomplish the task of finding out the truth.So he sends to England "The Needle" a deep cover spy who is so confident that he does not let the intermediate folk get in his way. Any that do do not live to tell about it.

First, they have to believe that he actually exists.Then they have to find him.It they can find him, can they stop him?

Yes, the story is intriguing.Yet it is the people interaction (loyalty, love, and credibility) and the attitude of "The Needle" that make the story.Ultimately, the question is "Will he succeed and what effect will this have on future generations of those who knew him?"

Eye of the Needle
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Absolutamente magnífica
"Los Pilares de la Tierra" me encantó aunque por momentos se me hizo algo larga. "Un Mundo Sin Fin", su secuela, la encuentro más ágil, se lee más rápido y la terminé en menos días. Las tramas me parecen un poco más ligeras que las de su antecesora, pero no por ello la encuentro inferior. Ambas lecturas te envuelven y sumergen de inmediato en los problemas y preocupaciones de los protagonistas y en el fascinante diario vivir de la edad media. Es una digna sucesora de "Los Pilares" y la recomiendo ampliamente. No decepciona en ningún momento y se disfruta igual. Le doy un 5/5 incondicional. ¡Enhorabuena Ken Follet!

Un Mundo Sin Fin
Demasiado largo. Interesante pero en muchas instancias inprobable. En comparacion al primero libro "Pillares de le Tierra" es inferior. Sin embargo, vale la pena leerlo porque no te aburres. Bien escrito.

Impresionante¡¡
Es un libro magnífico, no hace falta haberse leído LOS PILARES DE LA TIERRA, y aunque parece muy "gordo", se lee fluidamente y rápido.

Amazing from amazon
I was waiting for this book, and is wonderful, very well writing with nice descriptions of medieval time, is like a way to live the sensations of the people in that time.
fsr

Una secuencia digna de Los Pilares de la Tierra
Ken Follet lo hizo de nuevo!!! Una secuencia digna de Los Pilares de la Tierra. ... Read more

Product Description
Germany 1944. Intelligence was piecing together evidence of a hugh armyh in southeastern England. The object was to fool the enemy into preparing for an invasing via the Pas De Calais, so that on D-Day the Normandy assult would have the advantage of surprise. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hitler relies on The Needle
Hitler must ultimately decide what threats are real and when.He relies on the one man he knows can accomplish the task of finding out the truth.So he sends to England "The Needle" a deep cover spy who is so confident that he does not let the intermediate folk get in his way. Any that do do not live to tell about it.

First, they have to believe that he actually exists.Then they have to find him.It they can find him, can they stop him?

Yes, the story is intriguing.Yet it is the people interaction (loyalty, love, and credibility) and the attitude of "The Needle" that make the story.Ultimately, the question is "Will he succeed and what effect will this have on future generations of those who knew him?"

Eye of the Needle
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Early work by Follett
In the "Shakeout," the main character - Roper - is an industrial spy.He is a clever calculating manipulator, who nevertheless has a different side to him as the reader finds out.The book is one of Follett's early works, and this is obvious from the start.As the author confesses himself in the introduction, the "Shakeout" is between bad and good.It is short (at about 150 pages), a bit disconnected and the characters not as developed as they could be; the writing style is different from later works, and there is an entire chapter devoted to having sex, going to a concert and having sex again, halting the main plot with them.Still, the book is interesting especially for those who are familiar with Follett's later, "improved" writing, and I would recommend it as a quick read. ... Read more

Product Description
De alguna manera, los alemanes estan anticipandose a las incursiones aereas de los bombarderos britanicos. Hermia Mount, una inteligente analista britanica, empieza a sospechar de la existencia de una estacion de radar secreta en la costa de Dinamarca. En Copenhague, el policia colaboracionista con los nazis, Peter Flemming, intenta descubrir la red de la resistencia danesa. Entretanto, Harald Olufsen, un joven estudiante danes, se ve involucrado poco a poco en la investigacion de Hermia. Cuando finalmente descubre la verdad, en la isla danesa de Fano, ocupada por los alemanes, no tiene manera de hacer llegar la informacion a Gran Bretana. Un relato de suspense magistral y con unos personajes carismaticos que vuelven a confirmar a Ken Follett como el maestro indiscutible del genero. ... Read more

Product Description
Ken Follett: The Transformation of a Writer focuses on theartistic development and cultural implications of an importantcontemporary novelist--the author of such best-selling works as Eye ofthe Needle (1978), The Pillars of the Earth (1989), and The Hammer ofEden (1998).

Beginning with his earliest published novel, The Big Needle (1974),this study explores the tension between the popular and the seriousthat has underlain much of Ken Follett's work, examines his blendingof genres, film adaptations of his novels, and his keen ability toextend his readership through a "hybridization" process.

Other chapters engage in a linguistic analysis to survey hisartistic development and flexibility with forms; explore thestructural, archetypal and mythic patterns underpinning much of hismore successful work; and demonstrate that his recent involvement inBritish party politics is reflected not only in his latest works buthas been implied by his novels from the very beginning.

This study, which should appeal to both the scholar and the generalreader, concludes with an assessment of Ken Follett's work so far anddemonstrates that while he is part of a continuum, he has uniquelytransformed his chosen genre--the thriller--and has made a significantcontribution to popular cultural forms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent discussion
Narayan Radhakrishnan of Rebeccasreads highly recommends KEN FOLLET: The transformation of a writer as a fascinating
"critical companion" of the progress of the craftmanship of one of our most popular writers of the last half of the 20th century. Do catch our Interview with Carlos Ramet. ... Read more

Product Description
Una de las mas vibrantes e imaginativas obras de quien quiza sea el escritor mas leido de la actualidad.Con una trama de la investigacion genetica, unos personajes perfilados y un ritmo trepidante, esta novel esta concebida sencillamente para apasionar. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Unreadable
Unfortunately the printed letters are too small to read this exellent book. I read it in German. I wanted to give this book to my wife as a present.

No es el titulo correcto del libro
La trama del libro es buena, pero es muy poco de lo se habla sobre la genética es un libro más bien policial, me hubiera gustado más (por el estado de ánimo seguramente) si el título fuera otro, pues cuando uno cree que va a leer algo (genética en este caso) y el libro apenas menciona el tema baja el estado de ánimo hacia el libro.

Follet never lets you down!
Follet did it again!A page turner thriller!You have to read it! Other novels by Ken Follet that I strongly recommend are:
1.The hammer of Eden
2.The eye of a needle
3.A dangerous fortune
4.Lie down with the lions

Ken Follet - un excelente novelista y su novela actual
En este libro Follet plantea uno de los retos de la ciencia moderna en la clonación de seres humanos.

El relato es muy realista y esta lleno del sentido humano que el le pone a sus novelas. Realmente es una lectura que se disfruta.

El autor sabe como presentar los detalles de la novela, sin cansar al lector, y va introduciendo la trama de una forma muy interesante.

Realmente recomiendo este libro a todos aquellos que buscan una lectura interesante, fuerte y de actualidad ... Read more

Product Description
Bestselling author Ken Follett's first novel for preteen readers. Mick and Izzy stumble across loaded guns and overhear thieves planning a big heist. But before they can solve the mystery, Izzy is kidnapped. "A suspenseful, quick-paced mystery."--Publishers Weekly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Great Mystery For Children
I read this when I was younger, and I actually really loved it! It's a really great children's mystery, revolving around a group of robbers in London. This a children's book, but a short and quick read, and it can be very good for the parent as well as the child. It's fun, sad, action-y, and a lot of other things. It's an all-around great read.

The review of The Mystery Hideout
Mick Williams is a poor kid and he throughs news papers for his job He is a really good kid and a good student in school. And Izzie is a kid who is middle class guy. There is gona be a hatoel built on their house and their house is gona be torn down.
then the two kids were exploring the old house and they run across the discize gang that has been robbing London for a really long time. ... Read more

Product Description
La riqueza de los Pilaster se basaba en el banco de la familia, una de las mas solidas y repetables instituciones financieras del Londres victoriano. En torno al consejo de administracion, que preside el anciano Seth Pilaster, giran las ambiciones de la familia, sobre todo las de Augusta, su maliciosa nuera, y las de Hugh, nieto de Seth. Augusta, junto a su falta de escrupulos, cuenta con la alianza de Miguel Miranda, vastago de una brutal familia de caciques sudamericanos que desea contar con el apoyo del banco para sus proyectos de dominio. La lucha entre la perfidia de Augusta y la tradicion de honrandez de Hugh maracara durante treinta anos los destinos del banco. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

UNA OBRA MAGNIFICA...
The author, a masterful storyteller, weaves an intriguing and mesmerizing tapestry of events that surround the wealthy Pilaster banking family in the latter part of nineteenth century England. Its panoramic sweep will hold the reader in its thrall. This complex story tells of the ebb and flow of their personal fortunes and the personalities that are to profoundly affect them, for better or worse.

Augusta Pilaster is the scheming, socially conscious, self-appointed matriarch of the family. She is a woman who will stop at nothing to ensure that her reckless and easily manipulated husband, Joseph, and their indolent, dissolute, and lackluster son, Edward, will get and retain control of the Pilaster banking enterprise. Her Machiavellian machinations, however, will eventually trigger the downfall of the family's fortune.

Hugh Pilaster, Augusta's nephew by marriage, is the Pilaster who has the brains and work ethic to take the Pilaster banking fortunes to a new level. His Achilles heel is that he seems destined to be attracted to working class women, a chink in his armor that Augusta Pilaster uses to her and her immediate family's advantage. He, too, is Augusta Pilaster's unwitting pawn, until the day of reckoning comes.

Micky Miranda is the romantically handsome scion of a South American despot. Micky attended an exclusive school with Edward and Hugh Pilaster, when they were young. While there, tragedy struck when a mysterious swimming accident took the life of one of their friends, an event that was to shadow their lives in ways no one could have imagined. Micky Miranda would eventually enter into a web of complicity with Augusta Pilaster that would impact on the fortunes of both the Miranda and Pilaster families.

This book takes the reader through all strata of English society, from the drawing rooms of the upper classes and nobility to the exclusive men's clubs and brothels that cater to exotic appetites. It is a totally engrossing and absorbing tale of love, hatred, and treachery that spans three decades. It is a story that the discerning reader and those who love well written historical fiction will thoroughly enjoy. Bravo! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A RIVETING WORK OF HISTORICAL FICTION...
The author, a masterful storyteller, weaves an intriguing and mesmerizing tapestry of events that surround the wealthy Pilaster banking family in the latter part of nineteenth century England. Its panoramic sweep will hold the reader in its thrall. This complex story tells of the ebb and flow of their personal fortunes and the personalities that are to profoundly affect them, for better or worse.

Augusta Pilaster is the scheming, socially conscious, self-appointed matriarch of the family. She is a woman who will stop at nothing to ensure that her reckless and easily manipulated husband, Joseph, and their indolent, dissolute, and lackluster son, Edward, will get and retain control of the Pilaster banking enterprise. Her Machiavellian machinations, however, will eventually trigger the downfall of the family's fortune.

Hugh Pilaster, Augusta's nephew by marriage, is the Pilaster who has the brains and work ethic to take the Pilaster banking fortune to a new level. His Achilles heel is that he seems destined to be attracted to working class women, a chink in his armor that Augusta Pilaster uses to her and her immediate family's advantage. He, too, is Augusta Pilaster's unwitting pawn, until the day of reckoning comes.

Micky Miranda is the romantically handsome scion of a South American despot. Micky attended an exclusive school with Edward and Hugh Pilaster, when they were young. While there, tragedy struck when a mysterious swimming accident took the life of one of their friends, an event that was to shadow their lives in ways no one could have imagined. Micky Miranda would eventually enter into a web of complicity with Augusta Pilaster that would impact on the fortunes of both the Miranda and Pilaster families.

This book takes the reader through all strata of English society, from the drawing rooms of the upper classes and nobility to the exclusive men's clubs and brothels that cater to exotic appetites. It is a totally engrossing and absorbing tale of love, hatred, and treachery that spans three decades. It is simply a terrific book, as it is a captivating and wholly entertaining work of well-written historical fiction. Bravo!
... Read more