2005: #74 – Hornet Flight (Ken Follett)

Book #74 was Hornet Flight, by Ken Follett. The back of the book reads:

It’s June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies – indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler.

But on a small Danish island across the North Sea, Harald Olufsen, a bright eighteen-year-old with a talent for engineering, stumbles upon a secret German installation. Its machinery is like nothing he has ever seen before, and he knows he must tell someone – if he can only figure out who.” “With England preparing its largest aerial assault over, what Harald has discovered may turn the course of the war – but the race to convey the information could have terrible consequences for everyone close to him: For his older brother Arne, a pilot in the grounded Danish air force and already under suspicion of the authorities. For Arne’s fiancee, Hermia, an MI6 intelligence analyst desperate to resurrect the foundering Danish resistance. And most of all, for Harald himself, because as the hour of the assault approaches, it will all fall to him and his friend Karen to get the word to England. And the only means available to them is a derelict Hornet Moth airplane abandoned in a ruined church, a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground.

Pursued by the enemy; hunted by collaborators with almost no training, limited fuel, and no way of knowing if they can even survive the six hundred-mile flight, the two will carry with them England’s best – perhaps only – hope to avoid disaster.

Ken Follett is one of those authors I wish I’d discovered earlier. His books are so engaging that you hardly notice how far along you are in it. The last two I’ve read (this one and Jackdaws) were set in WW2, which probably makes me enjoy them a little bit more. It’s been one of my favorite eras to read about since I’ve started reading. I really enjoyed this one, and I’m glad I had a snow day today so I could sit down and finish it!

I’m going to try to finish book #75 before the end of the year.

Book count: 74
Pages in book: 528
Page count: 26,987

15,000 page goal reached 6/14/05!
50 book goal reached 7/19/05!

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2 Comments

  1. TECh says:

    Jaime, is there any way to increase the font size? With my bad eyesight, I can barely read your blog. In fact, late at night or when my eyes are tired, I can’t.

  2. jaime says:

    Is this better? Frenzied Feline has asked me too, I just hadn’t had a chance to do it yet.