Hornet Flight

Hornet Flight
by Ken Follett

Hornet Flight
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Book Summary Information

Author: Ken Follett
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-12-04
ISBN: 0451222296
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: NAL Trade

Book Reviews of Hornet Flight

Book Review: Not great, but...
Summary: 3 Stars

Many of the criticisms leveled at this book by other reviewers are certainly valid, particularly the contrived manner in which Follett moves his characters about. As readers, we know we are being manipulated by the writer... but the writer should at least have the decency to conceal the fact. If this were a movie, you could see the wires and mirrors.

I liked the gadgetry -- a steam-powered Nimbus, for instance. I also appreciated that the callow teenage characters acted, well, callow. Ever read a book where the teenagers act and talk like super-suave, hyper-cosmopolitan thirty-five year olds? Whether by chance or design, Follett avoids this error. Unfortunately, that bit of realism is just too realistic for some readers.

I also appreciated the fact that the characters are fallible. The too-perfect protagonist has always annoyed me. Well, Follett's characters make mistakes in this book (read: LOTS of mistakes). That is life, especially as a teenager, even a teenage genius. And let us not forget that in real life at least one spy was caught because he was hit by a car while jay-walking. Even spies can be amateurish, and relatively new resistance movements can expect such disasters.

So, I liked it enough to keep it on the shelf for future re-reading, but I would recommend purchasing the book used (as I did), or checking it out at the library. Key to Rebecca was greatly superior.

Summary of Hornet Flight

View our Ken Follett feature page.

Ken Follett and the intrigue of World War II-"a winning formula" (Entertainment Weekly) if ever there was one. With his riveting prose and unerring instinct for suspense, the #1 New York Times bestselling author takes to the skies over Europe, where a young Danish man-equipped with only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane at his disposal-will change the course of the war...


An old-fashioned tale of ordinary people thrown into the drama and danger of war, Hornet Flight is a rippingly good read. The time is 1941, and British bombers attacking Germany are being blown out of the sky in horrific numbers. How do the Nazis know they're coming? The answer is an infant technology called radar, and the Brits--with help from the Danish Resistance--must figure out how and where the German radar stations operate.

Follett, an old pro at World War II storytelling, vividly evokes the period, creating a sense not of historical re-creation but of urgently unfolding news. His cast of characters is memorable, including Harald Olufsen, a brainy 18-year-old pulled into the Resistance half against his will, and--typically for Follett--several central, well-drawn women. The plot does have some predictable elements: for example, from the time Harald first encounters a tiny wood-and-linen biplane called a Hornet Moth, half-rotted and stored away in a Danish barn, we know that it will heroically take to the skies. Then, when the very outcome of the war begins to turn on Harald getting a certain roll of film from Denmark to England, well... you can see where things are headed. But it's great fun to watch them develop, and Follett throws in just enough unexpected shocks to keep you off balance. Though it lacks the intensity of Eye of the Needle, Follett's finest and best-known book, Hornet Flight offers generous helpings of suspense and a climax that could hardly be more satisfying. --Nicholas H. Allison

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