This book contained some well researched an incredibly interesting material about Afghanistan and the recent military and religious history of the area. The concept of placing a Western aligned spy into al Qaeda was interesting, quite well thought out and presented.The current brutality, ignorance, greed and mindless stupidity of ISIS was an interesting backdrop while I read this book. The core of the book is that there is a significant al Qaeda attack planned. The governments of the UK and The USA work together to place a newly identified potential spy into the heart of al Qaeda. The man identified as the Afghan (the spy) is a recently retired SAS officer who grew up in the middle east, is a fluent speaker of Arabic and has a swarthy, olive complexion.There was one element of complete bullshit - the USAF jet falling out of the sky because a spanner just happened to be left inside the engine and just happened to jar loose causing the jet to crash in a remote area on top of the only hut in the snow locked mountains where the real Afghan happened to be held prisoner. The falling jet didn't kill the real Afghan but did break through his cell wall and kill some of his guards however he remained unscathed and then subsequently escaped.This was completely unnecessary as the main storyline of the book was nearing the climax and the event was so unlikely as to be ludicrous. Pushing that to one side, and the completely biased and patriotic fervor of the author, the book was enjoyable to read and I definitely felt glad it was recommended to me.
This was the first time I read a book by Frederick Forsyth and it was not the initiation I was looking forward to. The Afghan as a spy thriller simply does not live upto its genre. The story moves at a slow pace till the final act, when it speeds up somewhat, and the author frequently goes into background mode for each and every event, derailing the pace and development of the plot. 'The Afghan' is a story of a retired British Special Agent, Mike Martin, who is sent on an undercover mission to uncover a secret terrorist bombing mission, named Al-Isra. He disguises himself as a Taliban commander and wins the trust of the Al Qaida honchos. The story then moves on to how he is led on to a suicide mission that endangers the lives of the world's most powerful leaders and how the mission is foiled in the end. As I mentioned earlier, the book simply crawls for the most part making it difficult to read through till the end. This is a huge letdown in what is otherwise a well written and seemingly well researched work. There is a whole lot of information floating around about how the Secret services such as CIA work and how the Al Qiada operates its terrorist activities. However, all that sits too heavily on the story and the characters who suffer under the weight of historical details and other factual information. I would rate this book a 2/5 simply because of the above mentioned research and the final act. For those wanting a thrilling action packed story, this is simply not the right place.
You don't read Forsyth for the dialogue or the narrative style - you read him for twisty, page-turning plot and for know-how. This one, I have to admit, kept me turning the pages, but I found precious little new in the know-how. Forysth's dialogue is wooden at best. In this one, he handles dialogue by mostly omitting it altogether. When he does break his long, grey, heavy paragraphs for a line of dialogue, it's not wooden any more - it's like lead. Much the same goes for the narrative style. This is an adventure story that makes a thrilling sequence read like the legal column in a heavyweight broadsheet newspaper. It looks like one he was reluctantly arm-twisted by his publisher into writing - a book that he didn't want to bother with but which would make a bob or two for the publisher. Steal it if you must, but for pity's sake don't spend money on it.
—David J.
Frederick Forsyth has not been in best form for a long time, alas. There is something of his old peculiar strenght here, that is, meticulous description of careful planning of something that, in the end, fails to happen. But where The Day of the Jackal or the Dogs of War were brilliantly executed specimens, the end of The Afghan is a serious disappoinment.But Forsyth has understood the fact that suspense is not in the action but in the anticipation. Like in a Hitchcock film. The Day of the Jackal is a prime example: everyone knows from the outset that de Gaulle will not be assassinated, but still the book holds you in your grip. This as a hint to Dan Brown, who writes action-packet utterly boring books.
—Jari Peteri
I came to this not expecting to enjoy it - something I'm quite used to when reading things with a military theme or connection, where I have a tendency to cringe at the inaccurate references - but Forsyth lived up to his reputation of producing a well-researched story that entertains. Building on a number of contemporary themes, he manages to spin a good yarn, whilst including sufficient factual references to suspend the readers disbelief; the only thing that you might have difficulty with is the likelihood of the central character - Mike Martin - to pass himself of as a a Pashtun speaking Afghan in order to infiltrate the AQ network, notwithstanding his 25 years of service as a special forces soldier.The plot has sufficient twists and turns to maintain interest without being too predicatable. A book one could easily read in one sitting or equally pick up and put down over time.
—John Grinstead
