The Afghan – Review October 23, 2007
Posted by josephkam in book, forsyth.add a comment
Pros
As always, great attention to detail and a gripping plot
Cons
Less than substantive conclusion
Review
I’ve been a Frederick Forsyth fan from the moment I read The Day of the Jackal, years ago in the 10th or 11th grade. When I saw that he had a new book out, I grabbed the opportunity to be transported into the world of high espionage, foreign lands and uber-cool characters. I was not to be disappointed on a number of these fronts. In the Afghan, Forsyth takes a more contemporary approach by focusing on what is currently the most pressing world security issue: Terrorism. So there was no super spy or assassins with sniper scopes. Instead, he takes us into the world of the Taliban and AQ, where a plot is afoot to create more damage to the West than the twin towers attack. I will not go into the plot details in order not to spoil the story for anything, but suffice to say that Forsyth has not lost his ability to suck the reader into his world. He succeeds in making the boundaries between fiction and reality seem blurred primarily because of his outstanding research on the topics that his characters are dealing with and the geographical locations that they are in. Some of my most grand visions of the great cities in Europe have been formed by reading Forsyth novels and when I see actual pictures, they are usually exactly how I envisioned them.
In The Afghan, Forsyth seems to lose steam in the second half of the book and I, personally, felt that he could have done much more in terms of character development,in several instances where he had set things up most promisingly. I also think that he should have added an epilogue to tie some loose ends up. All in all, when I finished the book, it seemed like Forsyth was tired of writing and just wanted to wrap thing up quickly. This is a much different Forsyth that I have been used to.
Summary
Fans of Forsyth will enjoy the book but this is not one of his better works. A stellar first half gives way to a mediocre and rather tame ending, both in terms of character development and plot!
