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December 21, 2003
Review: Assembly line espionage
THE haste with which suspense author Ken Follett is churning out books is now being felt in the quality of his work. His debut novel Eye of the Needle released in 1978 was innovative, creative and well-written. Since then he’s produced consistent moneymakers, but very few outstanding books with the exception of Key to Rebecca and Pillars of the Earth. His latest release, Hornet Flight, is not one of his best works and reads more like “assembly-line espionage” than an exciting, original effort. Admittedly, it has its share of twists and turns, but the novel is basically a paint-by-numbers thriller.
Follett returns once again to his most successful era, the second world war. This time around, the story is set in occupied Denmark in June 1941 at the height of Nazi power and revolves around a small group of Nazi resistance members. The war is not going well for England and the Germans seem to be somehow anticipating the resistance’s flight paths and shooting down British bombers. Hermia Mount, an intelligence analyst with MI6 in England, suspects the Germans may have perfected a radar system like the one the British themselves are struggling to achieve, but her ponderings are shot down by her bosses.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, eighteen-year-old Dane Harald Olufsen accidentally stumbles upon a satellite dish. An electronic wizard, he quickly realizes it is a radar and the key reason for why the resistance movement keeps losing all its fighter planes. Recognizing that this set-up could cost the resistance the war, he enlists the help of his Jewish ballerina girlfriend, his Air Force older brother and an assortment of key people in the resistance to help him photograph these critical pieces of equipment. It falls in the protagonist’s hands to deliver them to England, except he has no way to get there other than in an old, decrepit, tiny Hornet Moth biplane, found rusting away in a ruined church. The plane is falling apart and Harald does not even know how to fly it, but he knows this is one journey he has to make.
Follett’s writing as always is clear and fast-paced. At times he gets bogged down with the technical jargon of the plane in Hornet Flight, but this is actually quite fascinating as well as historical. Still, the author could have minimized some of that detail and instead better developed the characters in the novel.
As various key characters get captured by the Nazis, the anticipation and tensions in the novel grow, but still most of the tale is fairly predictable. Hornet Flight — like many of Follett’s works of fiction — is inspired by a real event and he notes at the outset that, “Some of what follows really happened.”
However, the story is loaded with improbable coincidences and contrived, cardboard characters and many of the plot’s twists detract rather than enhance the story.
Follett’s writing is quite hackneyed as well. At times, the dialogue could use a lot of work and many of the descriptions are cliched. Trying to convey a woman’s desire for seduction, the author writes, “She was sitting up in the single bed, wearing a light blue silk nightdress, reading an American novel called Gone with the Wind. At other times, the phrasing is simply exaggerated. Trite and poorly written phrases detract from the storyline and reduce the adventure tale into maudlin drama.
More detailed histories about the Danish resistance include Darkness Over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews by Ellen Levine and In Denmark It Could Not Happen: The Flight of the Jews to Sweden in 1943 by Herbert Pundik. The Danish resistance proved to be one of the strongest and most critical toward the end of the war and makes for an intriguing background to this novel.
While this suspense thriller will please Follett fans, it is unlikely Hornet Flight will attract many new fans. Perhaps the well-celebrated author should take some more time out to write each book. Maybe that will improve the assembly feel of his latest work. Hornet Flight, in particular, is just too similar to his last release Jackdaws. On a brighter note, there are current rumours of a sequel to Pillars of the Earth and that should return Follett to his brighter days.
Hornet Flight
By Ken Follett
Pan Books. Available with Paramount Books, 152/O, Block 2, PECH Society, Karachi-75400
Tel: 021-4310030
Email: paramount@cyber.net.pk
ISBN 0-330-49068-0
582pp. Rs275
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