Product Description
Forced to crash land because of a faulty electrical system, a young RAF pilot finds salvation on a chilly Christmas Eve. By the author of The Day of the Jackal, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Odessa File, and No Comebacks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

Charming little gem
This sweet little Christmas story has already been more intelligently reviewed by others.Perfect for youngsters and the young at heart, beautifully illustrated, and well written - this little book now has a permanent home on my bookshelf.

Nice little story
This is a pleasant and well-written little story, but nowhere near the excitement of Day of the Jackal and other top Forsyth books.

Another YES vote!
I, too, like some of the other reviewers read this book many years ago and have never forgotten it. Recently I wanted a book for a friend and not wanting to loan my copy of The Shepherd ordered another copy. Other reviewers have mentioned the plot so I will simply say DO read this book. You will come away better for having read it and perhaps you too will remember it 25 years from now...

Forsyth Surprises but Also Charms
Forsyth has produced a charming novella that strays some from his traditional suspense stories.While you won't be surprised that there is a surprising twist at the end, this heartwarmer is perfect for the holiday season, and a nice opportunity for younger readers who have not experienced his classic masterpieces to try him out.

Rod Serling meets Stephen Coonts
A fine easy reading novella with a bit of suspense.

A 1950's British fighter pilot runs into mechanical, weather, and fuel problems.Things are bleak until a mysterious escort (The Shepherd) in a vintage prop driven fighter shows up as an escort towards safety.I'll leave it at that.

The story is more than a bit predictable and the reader can easily "see it coming".Still, Forsyth sets the bleak winter scene well and with appropriate British decorum. Forsyth's experience as a pilot brings insight to the flight aspects. Beautifully and masterfully illustrated by Lou Feck (all editions, hardcover to MM paperback).

Nice story.I didn't find the suspense particulary gripping, and as I mentioned, there is more than a little predictablility . . . still, a quick and pleasant read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (194)

Stunningly Mediocre
Ok, I didn't walk into this book expecting great literature or anything, but come on!A basic level of consistency or...logical flow would have been nice.Key points on which the plot line depend conflict with the original story (Leroux or Webber, pick one and it'll conflict), and the ending is flat out nonsensical. Raoul is basically reduced to a one-dimensional Ken Doll, and scenes that are supposed to be (guessing here) perhaps symbolic? come across as a bunch of characters who have auditory hallucinations.Not well done.I read this mainly out of curiosity, due to the musical that's out in London (Love Never Dies).Having read a synopsis, I thought it sounded kinda bad.As it turns out, the synopsis was better than the book.Don't waste the hour or two it takes to skim this stunningly mediocre book. I do give it two stars, however, because there was at least one clever idea in it, it gives mediocre fan fiction writers everywhere encouragement, and at least its an easy and quick read.

The Kobayashi Report
I think this story continuation was quite nice. This book was given as a gift last year. But once I got it I wasn't able to put it down until a I finished. I liked how it ended.

Wonderful book - in its own right!
My review is based on reading this book alone without reference to the original - which I haven't read.I found the book extremely engaging and readable.The fact that different narratives can bring so much life into a story was something I did not believe till I read this novel.I strongly recommend that you read this book for its engagingand immensely rewarding story-telling style. This is Forsyth at his narrative best!

Sequel to a Musical, Not a Book--Pretty Good, Too!!!
This work is not so much a sequel to a book (Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera) as it is a sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway (and West End) musical of the same name,all based on Leroux' original work.

As such, it's success or failure--and the attiude of the public toward this book--will not be measured so much by sales and critical acclaim now, but by the sales, public reception and criticism after Lloyd's new Phantom-based musical "Love Never Dies" opens on Broadeay this fall (2010).

All in all, a pretty good, sometimes moving story. A fitting end to the saga of the Phantom of the Opera.

One's heart can not help going out to the Phantom .There is a lot of heartache and meanness in this world, and the Phantom has had more than his share. Does he find happiness and contentment in the end?Read the book. Go see the show when it opens on Broadway this fall.

And expect this book to take off both in sales and critical acclaim when Lloyd Webber's sequel, based on this book, opens on Broadway. Just has he rejuvenated Leroux's original work, he will rejuvenate and launch this book to new heights.

IT STINKS!!!!!
I am a huge PTO fan. When I saw this book advertised shortly after it first came out, I got a copy ASAP. I couldn't wait to read it. However, it was really bad!! The author changed our beloved Phantom into a monster. The worst part was the ending. Finding out Raoul couldn't be Pierre's father was bad enough-- how can you respect a "hero" who rapes his heroine?-- but I mean, my god did it have to be because Raoul got shot in his nether regions???? Couldn't the author have left him with some dignity???? Christine gets shot, Pierre dumps Raoul without so much as a second thought, you find out Raoul doesn't have a complete set but everything is great between Erik and Pierre. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they had a successful reunion and that Pierre accepts him but the ending really stunk. Don't buy the book unless you have a good supply of high blood pressure medication and tranquilizers handy. ... Read more

Product Description
The Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s was one of the first occasions when Western consciences were awakened and deeply affronted by the level of the suffering and the scale of the atrocity being played out in the African Continent.

Customer Reviews (5)

What Really Happened in Biafra
Written shortly after the break up of Biafra and Nigeria in 1967-8, this book presents in understandable language the stark truth of what really happened and the parts the British and U.S. governments played in bringing about the devastating results. Forsyth minces no words and he makes his point.

Bloody Story, Dry Read
It's hard imagining a holocaust going on at the same time as the Age of Aquarius, but that's what a young Frederick Forsyth presents in this, his first book and to date only non-fiction effort. It details the systematic massacre of the people of Biafra from 1967-1969 as they attempted, ultimately unsuccessfully, to break away from Nigeria. Originally published in 1969 as the conflict still raged, "The Biafra Story" was re-released in 2001 with a new afterward.

Forsyth's effort, however noble in intention, is a far cry from the pulse-pounding prose he soon perfected as a writer of spy fiction. As a longtime Forsyth fan who knew about the book from reading the author's bio in book flaps, I was definitely curious about it, and perhaps too expectant of excellence. After all, Forsyth not only had a compelling human drama here, he was on the ground as a journalist in Biafra and Nigeria for much of it. Expecting a real-life horror tale to read like a Forsyth thriller may be perverse, but it beats the bland recitation of dates and casualty numbers you get here.

The war, as Forsyth tells it, was largely between two tribes that found themselves together in the new country of Nigeria after the British gave them their sovereignty: the enlightened, educated, industrious Christianized Ibos and the shiftless, nasty Mecca-gazing Hausas, who persecuted the Ibos until they had enough and tried to carve out a country of their own, Biafra, on Nigeria's eastern coast.

Why the hatred from the Hausas? Forsyth ascribes it to rank jealousy, though a more logical explanation may lie in the fact when the Europeans came, the Hausas found themselves being shipped off to slavery while the Ibos prospered. That may be a generalization as unfair as Forsyth's, but a problem with "The Biafra Story" is you get little else but generalizations.

Forsyth presents what amounts to a prosecutorial screed, delivered in the ponderous style of a bewigged magistrate rather than a sweat-stained reporter in the field. "In war there are bound to be innocent victims, occasional excesses, here and there a wanton brutality conducted by soldiers of a low level," he writes. "But seldom has such a remarkable pattern of bestality [sic] been established over such a wide territory by such diverse army units."

It's hard to be objective with a slaughter like this, but Forsyth doesn't try. He presents the Biafran leader, Colonel Ojukwu, as a study in perfection, never mind his failures on the battlefield and on the diplomatic front. He goes after the then-government of his own Great Britain, who supported Nigeria unreservedly, at great length and at cost to the focus of the story. As he goes on in this vein a while, you wonder which he is more bent on: saving Biafra or bringing down the Harold Wilson regime in London?

Occasionally you get a glimmer of the real human face of the suffering of Biafra, as in a Time magazine account Forsyth quotes. But most of the time Forsyth gets bogged down writing about mercenary etiquette and the politics of airlifting food to starving Biafrans.

Perhaps the fact Forsyth was so close to the suffering made it hard for him to write objectively or dispassionately, which is a point for him as a person. But his raging against the machine grows tired and tinny, and the fact his cause is so just only makes one feel guilty getting bored reading it.

A touching book
I have read most of Forsyth's books and this is the first book where he treated a major conflict, especially one that is not of the western world. Overallit was very insightful and life DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST, SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL, it gives the reader the opportunity to understand African conflicts and the pattern of genocides that have taken place or taking place in the continent.

The best chronicle of the suffering of the igbo people
Mr. Forsyth in this book became the voice of millions of suffering Biafrans whose sin was a determination to exist against all odds.

His analysis captured the brutality of the Nigerian soldiers while the rest of the world fell victim to the deceit of the pronouncements of the Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces...General Yakubu Gowon.

Unjustly forgotten classic of the Biafran War
Forsyth is known for his later works the "Day of the Jackal", "Odessa File" and "Dogs of War".This though is his first book and in many ways superior to the rest.

A non-fiction detailed description of the Biafran war, Forsyth pulls no punches describing the valiant but fruitless fight by the Ibo tribe to secede from Nigeria.Outnumbered, outgunned and out financed by the central government, the Ibo finally fell because of the support of the European powers for Nigeria.

Forsyth does a wonderful job in giving us a journalist eye view of the conflict which eventually became known more for the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Ibo.A long forgotten classic that has never been outdone by his later novels. ... Read more

Product Description
"It's 1999 and Russia, wracked with famine and crime, nears anarchy. For Igor Komarov, a chrismatic right-winger, opportunity knocks. He waits in the wings for the next election, promising a Russia reborn. What's his agenda? Elder statesmen in the West secretly recruit the one man who can find the truth: Jason Monk, ex-CIA and the best agent-runner money can buy. His official mission: stop Komarov, whose manifesto is pure Mein Kampf, and make way for an icon worthy of the Russian people. But Monk's also got a personal score to settle in Moscow. Can he stay focused? "Another strong performance, another memorable protagonist." (Publishers Weekly) [from case] ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Turn the lights down, pour your favorite drink, and enjoy...
An impulse buy for the marlin on the cover of the cassette, I have worn this one out.Surely one of the best fishing stories ever told.A wonderful story about everything that is good in the world, and the way it should be.If you see it, buy it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A gripping and exciting thriller
"The Day of the Jackal" is one of the most famous political thrillers. The plot centers on an assassination attempt on the French president Charles De Gaul in the early 1960s by a group of right-wing extremists who were disillusioned by his "abdication" of Algeria. Their own plots invariably fail, so they decide to hire an outsider, a professional assassin for this enormously difficult task. The assassin, a British citizen, happens to be extremely good at what he does as well as extremely expensive. In order to ensure the highest level of secrecy even his contractors only know him by the codename "The Jackal." The Jackal is very professional and methodical in his approach, and seems to leave almost nothing to chance. The methods that he uses are described with an incredible attention to details, and according to some reports many of them had been used in various criminal endeavors. This provides the novel with a very high level of credibility that has rarely been matched before or since.

The novel overall has aged remarkably well. Aside from a few quaint details that can bring a slight smile (hardly anyone today thinks of international phone calls or travel as very glamorous or sophisticated), most of the technical and organizational details would not be out of place even now. The narrative style can at first seem a bit scholarly and somewhat detached, but as the novel progresses it starts to feel more and more natural and appropriate for the era at which the action takes place as well as for the plot line itself. The novel takes you on a very exciting and gripping ride, and after not too long becomes impossible to put down. It is certainly one of the best crafted thrillers that I had ever read.

still the best espionage thriller
The only bad thing I can say about Day of the Jackal is that just about every other espionage/thriller novel that I have read since then has paled in comparison. Forsyth's novel moves at a steady pace, shifting its focus between an enigmatic assassin and the French police inspector who is doggedly pursuing him. The journalistic writing style shuns sensationalism for fly-on-the-wall realism, and indeed one of the pleasures of Day of the Jackal is the voyeuristic look into the underworld it provides. While Day of the Jackal makes no attempt to tackle great themes of "literature," it succeeds so well in entertaining the reader that it belongs on the shelf next to Ernest Hemingway or Jack London rather than certain contemporary writers whose contributions to this genre suffer in comparison. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A bigger twist in at the end than ??????????
I just can't think of anything. This book is part of his collection ofshort stories 'No Comebacks', and follows Mr Sam Nutley, a mild manneredfellow if ever there was one, as he veers from the straight and narrow forthe first time in his life. How does he get out from this 'intolerable andunthinkable' situation? The only thing that annoyed me was how he wantedhis determinedly middle class, middle of the road, downtrodden life tocontinue as it was, but we are at least given some insight into this at theend. Classic Forsyth. ... Read more

Product Description
Cuando un joven voluntario americano es brutalmente asesinado en Servia su millonario abuelo no duda en exigir venganza. Para localizar al asesino se contacta con Cal Dexter veterano de las fuerzas especiales de la guerra de Vietnam y la unica persona capaz de llevar a cabo con exito esta arriesgada mision. Pero lo que empieza como unatragedia personal se convierte rapidamente en una violenta historia que involucra a los mas peligrosos agentes del terrorismo internacional. Un thriller magnifico que nos conduce desde la guerra de Vietnam hasta Serbia y la selva de America Central. Un heroe inolvidable en el mas puro estilo Forsyth. ... Read more

Product Description
Written with exclusive access to Frederick Forsyth and supported in full by him, this official book provides an in-depth look at the novelist and his work. Using previously unpublished material, and drawing from several extensive interviews with Forsyth, author Craig Cabell offers both detailed biography and a critical study of all Forsyth's books in order of publication. Forsyth, notoriously reticent on these matters in the past, talks openly about how he researches his work, discusses his own political beliefs and explains the background to each novel. Craig has also talked to many of Forsyth's inner circle, including Lord Janner, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Edward Fox and Derek Jacobi. With a section on movies made from Forsyth's books and a detailed bibliography, this is the definitive companion to one of the most accomplished thriller writers of a generation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Forsyth: A Matter of Protocol
The book by Craig Cabell is good,useful,well researched. It is academic but it is not deep enough. It is not enough for an "authorised biography". It doesn't cover most of the biographic aspects of Forsyth's life. Instead of an authorised biography I would label it: "A first approach,a glipse, to his life and work".

Interesting - Not Great
This was more of a review of Forsyth's works than a biography.I am sure he "authorized" this because it reveals so little about him. ... Read more

Product Description
Frederick Forsyth is a best-selling popular novelist. He stronglyand publicly supported the cause of Biafra in the Nigerian civil war,and covered the period as a war correspondent in Biafra. He had afifteen-year association with the Igbo leader, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. Hisbiography of'Emeka' was published in 1982 with the full cooperation of thesubject.It covers his youth, army training, the civil war, and histwelve-year exile. Still of great interest, the biography has now beenrevised. ... Read more