My third foray into Ken Follett and he’s yet to disappoint.Starts a bit slow what with the exposition of the central characters: Alex, the ruthless German spy sent to Cairo, Vandam (yes, really), a 40-something major in the British Staff Intelligence, Elene, a beautiful Jewish woman who’s had a string of bad luck with men, Sonja, a renowned dancer in Cairo with a strange sexual fetish (but, more importantly, an Anglophobe), and several others. But the pace steps up when Vandam gets intrigued with the case of murder by a European named Alex Wolff who seemingly vanished into thin air. Soon enough, things take a turn for the worse when he realizes that Wolff is a spy for the Nazi. Then it becomes a cat-and-mouse game. Vandam becomes tenacious on Wolff’s scent and the spy recognizes a worthy adversary.The beauty of thrillers such as this is the coming together of events and people in so ‘innocent’ or at least inconspicuous moments that would later have shattering effects. What’s more, Follett was able to sustain it all throughout. And his portrayal of the characters leaves no room for any perfect personas: all of them are flawed and constantly stumble into mistakes.Thru providence and the sheer gullibility in the part of a British officer, Wolff was able to get highly confidential information, resulting in resounding defeats for the British. As the trail of Wolff almost always strangely leads to the discovery of the English novel by Daphne du Maurier, Vandam begins to put two and two together as to how Wolff operates. And as the looming force of the German army advances ever closer to Cairo, Vandam has to work quickly to catch this spy in his own game, even if it meant using Elene as bait, the woman whom Vandam is rapidly becoming attracted to.This is a real take-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat race for time. By the third quarter, I was regularly quietly blurting ‘oh, fucking hell’ whenever a new twist comes around to thwart Vandam’s plan. I was glued to the pages.A real treat. The ending ending was a little too soppy for my taste, but it’s negligible. And though Wolff is not as compelling (nor as scary) as Die Nadel, the story is still gripping.
DeludenteMi aspettavo una spy story avvincente��� e invece no, �� stata una delusione. Non vedevo l���ora di arrivare alla fine��� ma solo perch�� annoiata! La storia: una spia tedesca ruba i segreti dell���esercito inglese grazie all���aiuto di una danzatrice del ventre. Un ufficiale inglese con l���aiuto di una ex-mantenuta egiziana riesce - dopo oltre trecento pagine e tentativi mancati in maniera grossolana - a fermarlo e ribaltare le sorti della guerra. I personaggi: Alex Wolff la spia. Tedesco cresciuto in Egitto. �� un personaggio intrigante, spietato, vizioso e senza scrupoli. Sonja, la danzatrice. Aiuta Wolff perch�� odia gli inglesi. E perch�� lui le promette una concubina. Il maggiore Vandam, il nostro ���eroe��� si presenta come vedovo tormentato e padre presente. Lavora al controspionaggio e inizia l���inseguimento di questa specie di super spia. �� una sorta di ���bello e dannato��� ma nella versione ghiacciolo. Snobba una dottoressa ��� unica donna, nel libro, che per vivere fa un mestiere dignitoso ��� per innamorarsi di El��ne, mantenuta in crisi di coscienza. Per farla breve, la storia �� raccontata in modo scorrevole e questo �� l���unico motivo per cui le stelline sono addirittura due. Per�� non mi ha coinvolto, non mi ha lasciato niente e non �� stata nemmeno un gradevole passatempo. I personaggi sono senza spessore, piatti. E poi conferma, tristemente, la mia teoria secondo cui agli uomini piace solo un certo tipo di donna���
What do You think about The Key To Rebecca (2003)?
The first few pages were fantastic. And then it just became a horrible book. Spoilers ahead. It relies heavily on stereotypes--the inscrutable Arabs, the highly sexualized "Oriental" women, the frigid, repressed British women... and so on. The writing is stiff and overly expository. The character emotional development happens in spurts and doesn't make a whole lot of sense.Which really just leaves plot. The plot, over all, is the one good thing about this book. However, a few key turns happen in
—Anne Pinckard
This book was very easy to put down until the last 80 pages when the action finally took place. I can handle some racy stuff in books, but there are a couple sentences I really wish I hadn't read that are in this book. The sex that is talked about is way too perverted for me. There wasn't a lot of it and I did my best to skim over it while not missing out on the plot, but I really couldn't see the point of most of it. I read another goodreads' member's review of this book before I started it that said it seemed like the author just threw salacious stuff in as an afterthought with no relevance to the story - I have to agree for the most part.
—Kelly
This is my second KF book, following on from "Eye of the Needle" (which was an audio book). While Eye of the Needle was about a German spy in London in WWII and the British intelligence officer's attempts to catch him, "The Key to Rebecca" is about, er, a German spy in Cairo in WWII and a British intelligence officer's attempts to catch him. Same story, different setting? No, not at all, fortunately. Although the two novels have similar themes, KF makes the most of the different setting, with the reader feeling the heat and tasting the sand as Vandam, the British intelligence officer, has to cope with local hostility and an incompetent superior while struggling to capture the clever, ruthless and very slippery German agent, Wolff. Again, KF gives the story a human angle, with Vandam a widower with a son to bring up; Wolff's old flame Sonja, a depraved belly dancer who despises the English; and Elene, a beautiful young Jewish woman who hopes Vandam will help her escape from her dependency on affairs with wealthy older men. Each is destined to have an influence on the war in the desert as Rommel strives to crush the Allied forces in Egypt. KF writes in an engaging, easy to read style, which encourages the reader to fly through the pages, desperate to discover whether Vamdam will ever get the better of Wolff, who always seems to have a trick up his sleeve. Not quite as good as Eye of the Needle, and probably more of a 3.5 stars, but too enjoyable to knock it down to 3 stars. Next!
—Joe Stamber
