Never by Ken Follett

Found this paperback at Sam's, a Follet novel I'd not read, a saga in one volume, 802 pages, published originally in 2022 this edition in 2023 . A great mystery, action intrigue featuring three dynamic females and a couple stalwart males. 

 Pauline Green  President of the US faces personal domestic challenges with her teenage daughter and with her husband while she faces decisions that can lead the US into nuclear war after tense military operations against North Korea and  China.  Tamara Levit is a CIA operative assigned to gather intelligence about jihadist terrorists for the French CIA, Direction General de la Securitei Exteriuere (DGSE) in Chad Africa where "everything is the same shade of tan, bleak as a moonscape."  Tamara meets a young widow, Kiah, in a village; Kiah dreams of leaving destitution and starvation of her village for France and a better life for herself and young son.  Ultimately Kiah's tumultuous, twisted, treacherous  brave journey despite the backing out of her brother in law will intertwine her with CIA operations and a new life.  Colonel Susan Marcus is page 106,  "part of what the US military called a Tier 2 Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force or for short, Special Forces."  Abdul is a Lebanese/ US undercover CIA agent in Chad working to find jihadi hideouts and the contact for Tamara and the French.  Abdul is operating as a cigarette vendor.  Tabdar (Tab) Sadoulis an Algerian French operative with the French CIA,  DGSE .  Chan Kai in Beijing China is Chinese intelligence, vice minister of international intelligence.  Tamara's insufferable boss in the CIA office is Dexter.  James Moore is a political opponent of President Paulines and constantly trying to stir public opinion against her until his interpersonal relationships bring him down.  

A multitude and more of fascinating characters who keep this novel moving along.  

Tab discovers jihadis have weapons made by Norinco a Chinese Industrial group in Niger and lays  the intrigue from China to Africa.  

Page322 "  A lie goes halfway round the world while the truth is getting its boots on."  

As with every Follett novel this is outstanding reading. 5*****

BCK COVER 

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The Modigliani Scandal by Ken Follett

 

                  I read this in March .  It is the most different novel by Ken Follett and one I knew nothing about previously although it was first published in 1976, this paperback edition was published in 2019 and has an introductory letter by the author.  Usually he writes sagas that span generations and eras, this is a specific time and place and is a great story, intrigue, bordering on mystery about art. 

 If I were to use one word to describe it, Twisty would be as close as I could get.  In only 279 pages Follett tells an amazing fast paced story about a lost or forged art masterpieces and the treachery of the world of collectors of these gems. 

 Set in Europe it begins in Paris innocently enough, where 25 year old Dee Sleigh  a primary character, recent graduate  of art academy and college with a degree  in Art History. is taking the summer off before she decides what to do with her life.  She is in Paris with Mike, her boyfriend through whom she learns about an old man in his 90's who  was  a friend to several old master painters/  artists before WWI. 

 At his  place she sees a sketch, a drawing with the faded signature Modigliani.  Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France.   The old man had a massive art collection but no longer.  He tells her about  Modigliani's drug habits and how artwork was lost in a fire.  But he also tells her that  he had given some to someone in Italy.    Long ago.  Mike has flown back to London  to handle business for a couple of days.  Dee is elated and  decides to go to Italy and pursue the artwork.  Without Mike there and no one to tell of her  potential find, she jots a postcard off to her Uncle Charles telling him of what she hopes to discover.    So the chase begins.  It is a tale that will come close to disaster for Dee a couple times.  Tracking the artwork and determining forgeries or not is elusive.  Page 90  compares it "like chasing canned peaches."  Now that is different!  

Fast paced,  I could not put this book down, wondering what next.  I give it 5 *****   I include the Introduction below  written by the author in 1985 and his  letter from 2019  for the updated republication of the novel.  

Intro page 1  

Intro page 2  

In the Introduction, page 1, the author notes that he doesn't "believe everything in life is blind chance.   We do not control our lives..........the truth is complicated.  Mechanisms beyond our control and sometimes beyond our understanding determine a person's fate, yet the choices he makes have consequences."   

End of update 2019

2019 Update    

His update in 2019  "Nostalgia Isn't What it Used to Be"  describes the books "people love and remember for years.....usually good in every way, plot, character, prose, imagery, everything."  That fully describes every Ken Follett book I have read and this one is no exception.  

Back cover  

I stated above another 5 *****

A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett

  Paperback Back and front cover 

I purchased this paperback to take with me  on my European trip along the Danube in November and December.  It went along all those miles and remained right in my tote bag as a companion, I never did open it other than on the flight to Amsterdam.  But recently I opened it and was drawn in as always with Ken Follet's fictional sagas.    Yesterday I was "resting" taking first doses of antibiotics for a UTI so that was how I read through and finished it, all 568 pages, it kept my attention, so I could remain at rest, curled up with a good book and so the afternoon passed easily.  

This work about the fictional Pilaster banking family begins in 1866...from the beginning, Follet sets a scene that will work its way through generations and the primary characters. Page 1, ""On the day of the tragedy, the boys of Windfield School had been confined to their rooms. It was a hot Saturday in May and they would normally have spent the afternoon on the south field, some playing cricket and others watching from the shady fringes of Bishop's Wood.  But a crime had been committed.  Six gold sovereigns had been stolen from the desk of Mr. Offerton, the Latin master, and the whole school was under suspicion."    In another few lines we meet Micky Miranda and Edward Pilaster, two friends, students.  Their  friendship will remain lifelong through years and events and the attachment will become deadly over decades.  

I enjoy Follet's works and this one was first published in 1993. His characters are reflective of all human traits, good and bad,  adorable and detestable.  It's difficult to pin one word to the genre, some reviews reference  "political and amorous intrigue, cold blooded murder, gripping complex plot, fascinating characters, financial crises" but consistently reviews applaud "old fashioned entertainment."   

Hugh Pilaster is the unworthy cousin whose father died disgraced and who is generously taken in by his uncle Joseph and aunt Augusta, a character who makes Cruella deVille seem angelic. But Hugh is the essence of a man who will always do the right thing, while cousin Edward, son of Augusta and Joseph is a weak character at best, a pervert at worst.  Kind of a Cinderella tale of male cousins, and in the end good triumphs.  The story based in London, reaches to a  fictional South American country, Cordova, and the  nitrate mines there amidst extreme political disruptions.  Scenes weave from ballrooms to board rooms to brothels to the exclusive men's clubs in London.  The Pilaster family legacy of success holds intrigue, deception, tragedy, triumph all the while reflective of wealth of the times, the influences,  and the impact of markets across the ocean in America and globally.  Besides Augusta, Mickey Miranda is a true devious villain character and another one who opposes Hugh.  There are several other characters all with different  attributes.  What I enjoy about Follett's work is his characters are revealed in depth,  they are  lifelike, some detestable, some shaky, some likeable.  Humanity portrayed back in time perhaps not so different today.. 

The last  lines of the novel, "But it was over now.  The debts were paid. If there had been an evil spirit it had returned to the bottom of the pond.  And Hugh had survived.  He stood up.  It was time to return to his family.  He walked away, then took a last look back.   The ripples fom the stone had disappeared and the surface of the water was immaculately still once again. "  

This is a 5 ***** read, an excellent novel that kept my attention til the end.  

World Without End by Ken Follett

This sequel to "Pillars of the Earth" is the second of the trilogy to this sensational historical fictional saga by this masterful  story teller and researcher..I read it in less than a month, all 1014 small print pages in this massive paperback tome published by the New American Library.   First published in 2007 in a Dutton edition, it is a delight for any historical fiction reader continuing the  tale of Kingsbridge Priory early England, reaching across the channel into France and as far as Florence Italy.  How Follett weaves all the many characters through the novel while covering suspense, tragedy, triumph, the breadth of human emotions, vice and character traits all the better to humanize the people is a testament to the gift of this author and his intense research.  

From the back cover, "Two centuries after the townspeople of Kingsbridge finished building their exquisite Gothic cathedral, four children slip into the forest and witness a killing...an event that will braid their lives together by ambition, love, greed, and revenge."   It begins December 1, 1327,  page 1, "Gwenda was eight years old, but she was not afraid of the dark.  When she opened her eyes she could see nothing, but that was not what scared her.  She knew where she was.  She was lying on the floor in a bed of straw at Kingsbridge Priory in the long stone building they called the hospital.  Her mother lay next to her.....When the dawn broke it would be All Hallows, a Sunday this year and therefore an especially holy day..." 

Among so much history of the English and French wars, the crusades, the plague, the church with it's plethora of sometimes evil leaders, I  refreshed myself and learned new history either forgotten by me or not known.  I had always believed that our current jury system was based on Old English Law,  the old common law..but learned on page 210 that indeed the concept of 12 men jurors  (and they were all men then) stretched back to Normandy, France.  

It would not be essential to have read the first novel, Pillars to appreciate this tale, but it would give a sense of familiarity and continuity to have done so and I am glad that I did.  I now look forward to reading the 3rd of this saga.   It is a book into which the reader can be truly drawn, enfolded and engrossed. Multiple characters, multiple plots and life which is not always triumphant jump off the pages.  I need say no more, Follett is famous for his intrigue.

   I give this a 5 *****.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This is a monumental saga which I waited too many years to read and as much as I enjoyed this  historical novel that spans the 12th century  years in England and Europe between 1120 to  about 1174,  my review will be brief.  What can I say that has not been acclaimed by critics ever since the book was  first published in 2002?  I read this in June 2013; at least it did not take me as many years to post this review as it did to fulfill my intention to read it.   Now I have awaiting to be read,  the sequel, "World Without End"   which I will begin when we return next month from a trip. 

Follett is a contemporary British writer of thrillers and historical fiction and considering the millions in  worldwide sales of his books, he is at the top of the favorite writers for many folks, including me.  His books are not for timid readers; this New American Library Deluxe edition in paperback, published in 2007 is over 1000 pages. Beginning with the preface written by the author about how this book came to be written over three years;  there was not a word that I could miss.   

He begins, with  full agreement from me at the start, "Nothing happens the way you plan

it.......A lot of people were surprised by The Pillars of the Earth, including m,  I was known as a thriller writer. In the book business when you have had a success, the smart thing to do is write the same sort of thing, once a year for the rest of your life.  Clowns should not try to play Hamlet; pop starts should not write symphonies, I should not have risked my reputation by writing something out of character and over ambitious."   Follett  went outside his norm  to write this and  we are all enriched by that, yet, he is correct, stick to what you do best, use your skills and make them work for you. The characters in Pillars follow that advice.  The sinister evil people truly remain that way, people really do not change that much.  Look for a facade when  change is touted.      

The history about building cathedrals is enriched by every character in this saga, good and evil. The novel opens November 25, 1120  when the White Ship sets sail for England, as quoted from A.L.Poole in From Domesday Book to Magna Carta.  Immediately the author follows with the first words,  I could not resist..."The small boys came early to the hanging.  It was still  dark when the first three or four of them sidled out of the hovels, quiet as cats in their felt boots."  When I read "The End of Your Life Book Club", (see my review July 2013, this blog) I was pleased to see this was one of the great books Will and his mother shared and that first sentence of Pillars in quoted.  

Through many characters and happenings weaving lives tragedies and triumphs,  this novel follows Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, "a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gohic cathedral the world has ever known,"  Tom the  poor mason who becomes the architect, the Lady Aliena who carries a lifelong dark shameful secret to Philip's appointment  to bishop, and the caning of the King Henry II in Canterbury in 1174.    There is every human emotion in this novel as well as every conceivable human activity--murder, arson, treachery, torture, tolerance, love, lust, triumph the good, the bad and the ugly.  

Absolutely a 5 ***** read.     I wish I had a list of all the characters but I read this without any attempt to compose that I was just that engaged by this epic.