Never
Ratings26
Average rating4
15
Ratings26
Average rating4
New York Times Bestseller The new must-read epic from master storyteller Ken Follett: more than a thriller, it’s an action-packed, globe-spanning drama set in the present day. “A compelling story, and only too realistic.” —Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary “Every catastrophe begins with a little problem that doesn’t get fixed.” So says Pauline Green, president of the United States, in Follett’s nerve-racking drama of international tension. A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country’s secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world war are a young woman intelligence officer; a spy working undercover with jihadists; a brilliant Chinese spymaster; and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next president election. Never is an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heart-pounding read that transports readers to the brink of the unimaginable.
Reviews with the most likes.
Wow, this was a brilliant, brilliant read although close to being terrifyingly realistic too!
It was action packed with some great characters. I especially loved Kiah and Abdul and their strand of the story is definitely the one I enjoyed the most although it was scarily tense at times.
Well, with the likelihood of a nuclear war erupting, other parts were extremely tense too!
There were some not so great characters too and I would have happily reached into the book to give them a good shake!
Ken is an amazing storyteller and once again he's delivered a blinder. He's definitely become one of my favourite authors!
Thank you to PH and Ken Follett for the chance to read this book.
I definitely highly recommend it.
I find it difficult to review this book. Basically, Ken Follett has chosen to write a story illustrating how easy it would be for things to go very badly very quickly. As usual with a Follett book, the story is well written. It is peopled with believable characters some of whom I became quite invested in.
There are two basic story lines. The first follows covert and overt activities to counter jihadist criminals operating in North Africa. The second and main story line follows high-level geopolitical maneuvering and brinkmanship with literally everything on the line.
I really cannot say much more without giving things away. (The cover text will tell you pretty much what to expect.)
I dropped this book to four stars because an occurrence in the first story line pushed my WSOD a bit too far. At one point, some of the main characters were captured by slavers, but the captors didn't search them and steal everything they had. Difficult to believe.
Anyway, a long but entertaining read – very tense, very exciting. However, proly not the best book for you if you have to have a happy ending.
Ken Follet will tell you a fairly good story, so there is that.
This book though...how long are we going to gamble with the fate of the world? We are like the proverbial frog in the pan, unaware that the water is going to eventually kill us. Our propensity to violence, accident, and power are an uncontrollable/inevitable? path to self destruction. If the last administration wasn't enough evidence that the US is vulnerable to incredible stupidity and blind nationalism then just think about how as a people we are defined by vengeance and violence. And we have already justified the dropping of two Nuclear weapons.
Can't we just all agree that killing, war, violence is something that we should have rid ourselves of long ago and that it is way past time for us to “give peace a chance”?
