The Key to Rebecca

It's hard to find an absorbing World War II spy novel that stands up to Eye of the Needle, The Unlikely Spy, or Jackdaws, but this one was a great read once I got through the first 50 pages, and was very enlightening about Rommel and the North Africa campaign. I was sorry to get to the end!

I've always loved a well-written historical fiction, and Ken Follett is one of the best writer in this genre. The story is about this spy, part-egyptian part-german, who stole crucial military intelligence from the British High Command in Cairo to aid the German African Corp in their north African campaign. For the most part, the book was well-paced, the villain of the piece suitably cunning and ruthless, the manner in which he plotted to steal the military intelligence, and how the British counter-intelligence eventually managed to slowly tightened the noose around him, were entirely believable. It especially tickled my fancy to read that the book strongly implied that Erwin Rommel owed his renowned reputation in his victorious north African battles very much to the intelligence provided by the spy.The book is by no means perfect. The writer added a romance between the hero (the MI5 officer tasked to apprehend the spy) and a beautiful Palestine-Jew whom he recruited to set a honey-trap for the spy, in the effort to spice-up the emotional tension in the story, which I felt was absolutely unnecessary. I guess being an English writer, he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to suggest that a pale-skinned, stiff-upper lipped English MI5 officer was equaled to the task of seducing a sexually-attractive Arab woman just as well as his French or Italian counterpart. The section in the book describing their bumbling first sexual encounter is also silly and incredulous. The writer's attempt to paint the hero as a tender and gentle lover only ended up making him read like a wimp in bed and no better than love-lost teenage school-boy. James Bond would definitely not have approved.The biggest fault of the book is the ending. For a spy who had been so cunning, ruthless, and had successfully evaded the British authorities for the most part, near the book's end he suddenly seemed to have lost some of his mojo, and in my opinion, made some very questionable decisions, that ultimately led to his capture. I guess the writer needed to reel-in his spy somewhat, to humanize him, to suggest that he is not infallible and can make mistakes, so that we can all have a satisfying conclusion to the tale.After all, how else can one explain Erwin Rommel's defeat at El Alamein?

Like most of his works, Ken Follett creates an interesting story that combines history and fiction. This is a page turner.

Ken Follet is one of my favorite authors. The Key to Rebecca was a quick, oldie-but-goodie. I might be slightly less enthused because I read this book in bits & pieces over a few weeks on my Kindle, where it's harder to gauge what you've read and what's left to read. I think it's a book you should dive into & read quickly. The Key to Rebecca is a spy novel, set in World War II. The novel ping-pongs mainly between the determined Major Vandam, a British officer, & Alex Wolff, the cunning, handsome & suave spy on the German side. Both Wolff & Vandam have gorgeous lady loves who assist them, not only in the bedroom (whoa!), but in their professions as well. Follet is a captivating author, detailing the lives of both the protagonist Vandam, & the antagonist Wolff, & the war unfolding around them. I will say the book dragged a little-it was divided into three parts & at the beginning of part three, I was taken aback in a good way, thinking, here comes the action we've been waiting for, but there was still a third of the book to go! But still very entertaining & worth a quick read.

I’ve been meaning to read The Key to Rebecca for years, and the story did not disappoint. It’s a special treat when an author is able to stitch history and fiction together so skillfully that the seam is almost impossible to detect.However, the Kindle edition has some annoying flaws, such as periods inserted in the middle of sentences. Most distracting of all, the character Kemel is often referred to as Kernel…I assume because the OCR used in creating the Kindle edition had trouble distinguishing between “m” and “rn.” I hope someone from Amazon sees this review and takes the opportunity to have the Kindle version corrected; once upon a time, there was an icon on product pages that made reporting such errors simple, but alas, I had no luck reporting this problem.

Loved this cat and mouse thriller set in Egypt during the War. The Nazis have a spy working in Egypt and a British intelligence agent who bucks the system is trying to find him. This is the second spy-type novel that I have read from Folliet - the first being one of his first’s Eye of the Needle. Loved them both and want to read more. Ironically, the “Rebecca” in the title of this novel is one of my all-time favorite books, “Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier.Bottom line - Folliet is a great writer so his books are already fun to read. The history and suspense is great but it’s the characters that keep you interested. They are multi-dimensional and unique. Plus, Mr Folliet always adds some, let’s say, well-written sex scenes.I would love to hear any of your favorites of his books that are also in this genre.

I felt like I was there. The spies, the British, the Germans, the Bedouins and the Egyptians all occupied my Kindle and my imagination. I enjoyed the trip.

The book was good, giving insight into the actions of spies and intelligence officers duringWW II. It got a little draggy with the side plots involving secondary characters.

A classic Ken Follett novel. Easy to read, grabs you at the beginning and carries you along effortlessly. World War 11, set in Cairo, this spy novel is relevant today. It is one of his older novels but still very good. Recommend.

This was a very interesting story and well told. The characters were well described and you got to know them.

Adoro o autor Ken Follet e este livro ficou além das expectativas

Ken Follett est vraiment un écrivain hors pair. Ce nouvel ouvrage qui décrit avec force des moments historiques n’omet pas pour autant la richesse et la fine psychologie des différents personnages qui volent la vedette aux évènements hyper importants qu’ils sont en train de vivre.Le suspens est de plus en plus haletant et l’on souffre autant que les protagonistes en se demandant s’ils vont réussir à s’en sortir.J’ai beaucoup aimé aussi les changements de style quand l’auteur se met dans la peau de chacun des personnages et transcrit ce qu’ils sont en train de penser.C’est encore un livre qui ne s’oublie pas facilement.

One of the best novel I have read. At the end of some chapters we get so much engrossed in the book. Only when some feeling that we are reading a book brings us out of engrossment. Author has succeeded in holding reader's breath.