Product Description

A brand new thriller from the master storyteller set against the menacing backdrop of the Second World War and crackling with suspense and action. It is May, 1944 - a time of international tension where nothing is certain...Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance attack a chateau containing a telephone exchange vital to German communications - but the building is heavily guarded and the attack fails disastrously. Flick Clairet, a young British secret agent, proposes a daring new plan: she will parachute into France with an all-woman team known as the 'Jackdaws' and they will penetrate the chateau in disguise. But, unknown to Flick, Rommel has assigned a brilliant, ruthless intelligence colonel, Dieter Franck, to crush the Resistance. And Dieter is on Flick's trail...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82200 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ken Follett has made his mark as one of the most assured thriller writers in the business, and although his form has faltered of late, Jackdaws shows that he's lost none of his steely skill. The time is May 1944, and Follett takes us into the provincial French town of Sainte-Cecile, suffering under the Nazi yoke for several years as the novel begins. Follett's heroine is the resourceful "Flick", whose real name is Felicity Clairet. She is English, and honoured throughout the town as the wife of Michel, who heads the Resistance circuit based in Rheims. During the day, Flick performs first aid for the townspeople; by night she risks her life alongside her husband in the Resistance.

Flick has to persuade herself that she is ready for her most important mission: to inaugurate a fighting team for an attack on a château used as a key Gestapo base--her team (all women, with one exception) are the eponymous "jackdaws". This fresh concept is carried off with the kind of effortless skill that was the distinguishing feature of Follett's best books, and his protagonist Flick is a distinctive, unusual creation. --Barry Forshaw

Review
Two weeks before D-Day an attack by the French Resistance on a telephone exchange vital to the Germans fails against the heavily guarded building. A young British secret agent plans to parachute into France with an all female team known as the Jackdaws to penetrate the building but a ruthless German intelligence colonel is on her trail.

About the Author
Ken Follett was only 27 when he wrote the award-winning novel Eye of the Needle which became an international bestseller. He has since written several equally successful novels and the non-fiction bestseller On Wings of Eagles. He lives with his family in London and Hertfordshire.

Customer Reviews

This Is the Follett I Remember
One of the earliest books in this genre that I read was the, "Eye Of The Needle". The author has since ranged widely amongst a variety of subjects, however with, "Jackdaws", Mr. Follett returns to World War II just prior to the Invasion of Normandy. And like his previous efforts with this historical setting it is very well done, and will bring fond memories to those readers who were waiting for him to turn his pen once again to this theme.

The book is a substantial work offering readers well over 400 pages of taught writing that unfolds over a little more than a week prior to D-Day. Like all books of this event it contains heroes; however they play against the background here, as a heroine takes charge of the story as well as the events in the book. The book begins with a notation that states that 50 women worked as secret agents in France for The Special Executive during the war. The book never seems to reach the moniker of historical fiction, although comments at the end strongly insinuate there was a real woman who, at the very least provided the inspiration for the heroine, "Flick". The women who volunteered to serve behind enemy lines in occupied France, and repeatedly traveled back and forth across The Channel during the war were clearly remarkable women, and were as fearless as any of their male counterparts.

This novel is a bit scattered in its tone. The changes in the mood of the book work well as a whole, however they can seem a bit jarring and out of place as the book is read. If very graphic descriptions of the most brutal interrogation of both men and women are an issue, several areas of this book will be troublesome to read. I don't feel the length to which Mr. Follett took the level of detail was necessary, he is a wonderful writer, and many of these dungeon settings with their attendant horrors struck me as gratuitous. The main event of the book will either work well for a reader, or will be dismissed as being far too improbable. Mr. Follett increases the likelihood of the latter response as the team that is selected is from a practical standpoint untrained but for Flick, and their conduct is so outrageous it tests the reader's ability to suspend disbelief. There are always amazing true stories conducted by a group that should have a near zero chance of prevailing, however Mr. Follett takes the group a step further by making them all fairly dysfunctional as individuals. This is a bit like the stories of a group of jailed soldiers being granted a chance at redemption. The difference is they are at least soldiers, again with the exception of Flick, the group ranges as far as a member who can be likened to Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria, albeit reversed.

As odd as it may sound in conclusion I did very much enjoy the book. The only rationale I can offer is that the Heroine Flick was a wonderful character, beautifully written, and as competent as any Special Forces Operative. So while there may be bits that will make a reader wince with incredulity, read on. This is very much a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Thrilling WW2 adventure
An exciting and very interesting story about an all-female SOE team with a daring mission to disable a key German communication centre in France on the eve of D-day. The team leader is the determined Flick Clairet who has to battle good old-fashioned sexism as well as the Gestapo to achieve her goal. The book has come out at just the right time with so much publicity about the role of female agents in WW2 with the release of the film 'Charlotte Gray'. Ken Follett has really done his homework and 'Jackdaws' takes you into the lives of agents, the Resistance, and the German soldiers and Gestapo. Highly recommended.

Follett has returned at the top of his form.
Follett has always been one of my favorite authors. I began reading his books with The Eye of the Needle and looked forward to everything after that. There was a time where I detected personal political convictions taking over his writing, and his books lost the page-turning edge that they had always had for me. Code to Zero began the return to the top of his form. He has returned with the exciting Jackdaws. The strong female character, Flick, makes this a book for women in the 21st century. And for the men, there is lots of action. A very good read.