Eye of the Needle

by Ken Follett

His weapon is the stiletto, his codename: The Needle. He is Henry Faber, a coldly professional killer and Germany's most feared deep-cover agent in Britain. His task: to discover the Allies' plans for D-Day, and get them to Germany at all costs. It's a task he undertakes with customary relish and ruthlessness--until he encounters Storm Island, and a woman called Lucy

• ISBN10: 006074815X
• ISBN13: 9780060748159
• Publish Date: 23 November 2004 (first published June 1979)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 June 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 339
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

This is my first Ken Follett book (much to the disappointment of my wife) but I wanted to tackle something small before attempting on of his epics. Eye of the Needle tells the story of a German master spy ‘The Needle’ and his attempt to uncover the plans of the English army during World War 2 (a few weeks before D-Day). This book was a little light on the espionage and too much focused on the generic thriller formula. I also felt the feeling of World War 2 was missed; this book could have been a lot darker and grittier without losing anything in the story. But then again I’m just a sucker for darker books, so when it's a WWII novel is a little on the light side, I tend to get disappointed. I love the antagonist ‘The Needle’ and kind of wished he was the protagonist, I think the character could have made a decent book series. I guess people don’t want the Germans to win the war. There are some amusing scenes but all in all it was like reading a Jason Borne style novel set in World War 2; while exciting it really could have been a lot better.

[ibeforem]

Eye of the Needle was Follet’s first book published in the U.S., and it’s no surprise that it’s sold somewhere around 10 million copies worldwide. I consider Follett’s WWII books to be his best. He is able to put us smack dab in the middle of the war, usually in a situation we wouldn’t expect. Here, he takes a single question — What if the Germans knew the Allies were attacking Normandy? — and turns it into a thrilling cross-country chase that culminates in an unexpected showdown on a tiny island. He gives us characters that are three-dimensional and complex, even if they aren’t major characters in the story. Perhaps most interesting was Follett’s fictional Third Reich.

I was fortunate enough to see Ken Follett speak at the National Book Festival this year, and now I’m a bigger fan than ever. How can you not like a man who tops off every writing day with a glass of champagne?