Jackdaws

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 14,816 ratings

Price: 2.99

Last update: 06-27-2024


About this item

In his own bestselling tradition of Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca, Ken Follett delivers a breathtaking novel of suspense set in the most dangerous days of World War II.

D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity “Flick” Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France. She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the Allied attack depends upon their lines of communications, and in the days before the invasion no target is of greater strategic importance than the largest telephone exchange in Europe.

But when Flick and her Resistance-leader husband try a direct, head-on assault that goes horribly wrong, her world turns upside down. Her group destroyed, her husband missing, her superiors unsure of her, her own confidence badly shaken, she has one last chance at the target, but the challenge, once daunting, is now near impossible. The new plan requires an all-woman team, none of them professionals, to be assembled and trained within days. Code-named the Jackdaws, they will attempt to infiltrate the exchange under the noses of the Germans—but the Germans are waiting for them now and have plans of their own. There are secrets Flick does not know—secrets within the German ranks, secrets among her hastily recruited team, secrets among those she trusts the most. And as the hours tick down to the point of no return, most daunting of all, there are secrets within herself. . . . 

Filled with the powerful storytelling, unforgettable characters, and authentic detail that have become his hallmarks, Jackdaws is Ken Follett writing at the height of his powers.

Top reviews from the United States

Cher
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2024
Great author and excellent story
Thomas C. Lowell
4.0 out of 5 stars 9/10s of this novel
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2023
9/10s of this novel were very well written and enjoyable; only the ending was convoluted relying heavily on "ex machina" .....much too much. The plot idea, based loosely on fact, was interesting and engaging....tho again often finding refuge in spontaneous, semi-credible happenings. The characters were well forged.
skfitzp
5.0 out of 5 stars No men allowed, but...
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2023
Fast paced. Brilliantly flourished characters, a good old world war two drama and insight into the SOE world of intrigue. This is a readers book.
mrliteral
5.0 out of 5 stars A World War II Story that is also Topical
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2002
It will come as no surprise to anyone that the Allies won World War II or that D-Day - a pivotal event in the war - was executed successfully. Nonetheless, Ken Follett has written a novel that makes this event suspenseful even though the reader knows what the end result will be.
Returning to the era in which Follett's best books take place, Jackdaws follows female operative Felicity "Flick" Clairet and her efforts to destroy an important German communications center. She has a plan, and it requires a team of six women. What she assembles is a motley crew of semi-amateurs, but it is the best she can get.
What makes this novel especially stand out is her adversary, the German Major Dieter Franck. Franck is ruthless, but he is not evil and while a soldier and a German patriot, he is not fond of the Nazis. Instead, he is out to stop what he considers to be terrorists: the Resistance members who threaten his people.
Considering current events, Dieter's motivations have certain parallels to what many believe about terrorism nowadays. This adds an irony that probably goes beyond Follett even intended considering when this book must have been written and raises interesting questions about what terrorism is and what is appropriate in fighting it. Which is not to say that Dieter is a good guy, but it does kind of ironically invert some things that are happening nowadays.
What is most important, however, is that this is another great book by Follett, an entertaining page-turner that does not let up on the suspense. For a great WWII spy novel, Follett is hard to beat, and this book is another indication about why this is so.
Jo Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars incredible women
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024
Grand story highlighting the commitment of the Jackdaws, their courage and bravery under fire, and their ability to perform under incredible pressure
A. B. Perchorowicz
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Pre-D-Day Thriller....
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2011
This was my second adventure with Follet and it proved to be a wonderful one. The story line follows that of the one about the "Dirty Dozen". Only here he makes several adjustments in tone, action, and characters. First, the goal is the same to disrupt or destroy a Nazi phone exchange terminal in France just prior to the allied invasion of France. A female resistance fighter makes an attempt at this with a team of resistance fighters and they fail because of poor intelligence about the facility. Some of the men are killed, some captured and later tortured, and a few escape including the ring leader who also happens to be the husband of the female agent. The female agent returns to London with a plan on how to do the job, but it is first turned down and then later approved.

The team to do the job is selected from a variety of people and they are all women except for one who is a male cross dresser. Interestingly enough the number on the team is six, or a "half-dozen". The team trains and fights among themselves based on their various backgrounds and characteristics. Finally, the big day comes and the night before the team is given a final test where one of them fails because she disclosed the mission to a stranger who is a member of the RAF and working to check the team's ability to not disclose the mission. This member is sent packing, but appears later with a high ranking officer because she is the daughter of a high government official and the female team leader is told she has to reinstate her. The team leader says, "No" and is backed up by others in MI6.

In the mean time the Gestapo has questioned and tortured the captured resistance fighters and has learned how other members are added to the group from England and where they make contact. The local contact is captured, tortured, and replaced by a person working with the Germans who later meets agents and then hands them over to the Nazis. One of the agents that is captured has a radio and the Nazis now have the codes and radio frequencies needed to contact England's inner circle of spies working in France. As you may guess the story continues with the Nazis learning of the attempt by the resistance to damage a vital supply line. The female agents are supposed to do the job, but the real target is the telepone exchange again. There's a lot of cat and mouse play between the team leader and the Nazis which is fun to read and the Nazis do catch a few of the team members, but the team leader continues to outwit the Nazi detective at a number of turns in the later part of the story as she and her remaining team prepare to destroy the telephone exchange building and equipment.

The ending is clever and action packed. Any reader of mystery and thriller books will really enjoy the last forty or so pages. The book is an easy read and at several points hard to put down. This is one you'll want to get and read.
SB Joe
5.0 out of 5 stars Follett’s top of exiting novels!
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024
This was a page turner, could hardly put the book down. The closing pages were some of the most exciting????

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