'Jackdaws' by Ken Follett

Jackdaws, Ken Follett (3.5)

This book joins two of Ken Follett’s strengths in writing: history and espionage. Years ago I enjoyed ‘Eye of the Needle’ and ‘Pillars of the Earth’, which managed to bring his books to an even larger audience. While this book is not as good as either of those, it was fun and compelling. ‘Jackdaws’ tells a fictional story based on a real group of heroes. Apparently in WWII, a group of British women, led by one particularly wily female agent, worked behind enemy lines in France to cause damage to the Nazi effort. Follett has written about fictional assignments and situations for these women. The tension of the story builds as the narration bounces from the female agent to the German Major trying to catch her. Given what I’ve read about real spy missions during WWII, some of the action seemed far-fetched and the characters came across as manufactured, but generally it was fun to read.