Rating: 
Summary: There are worse ways to spend two afternoons on a beach...
Review: It's May, 1941, and something is rotten in the state of Denmark- - yep, it's those darned Nazis again! Luckily, Ken Follett's got 'em in his sights, and everything turns out swell. There, you've saved $7.99 (plus tax).This isn't exactly a *bad* book. But you'd be well advised to heed several implicit warnings before you buy it: (1) the paperback blurbs are from, well, less than encouraging sources (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and so on); and (2) the blurbs themselves are either suspiciously fragmented ("Tense...") or say things like "up to [his] usual standard" and "meets his usual standards." Hmmm. And indeed, there's ample reason for this damning with faint praise. The prose is, at its best, workmanlike- - a kind of flat, toneless storytelling whose principal aim (and perceived virtue) seems to be to stay out of the way of the plot. This ain't Le Carre. The dialogue tends toward the stilted, with occasional lapses into downright awkwardness (and unintentional humor) in the demanding places you'd expect: family relationships, patriotic sentiment, young love. This ain't Elmore Leonard, either. Making these weaknesses (just) bearable is Follett's story, a ripping Boy's Own tale of good 'n' evil: the fledgling Danish Resistance needs to get specs and photos of a devastatingly effective German radar installation back to Britain for the RAF, a task ultimately realized by two plucky Danish teenagers- - blond boy-physicist Harald and his knockout girlfriend, long-legged ballerina Karen- - in the eponymous Hornet, a sporty little two-seater airplane owned by the heroine's father, reclusive millionaire Bruce Wayne. Oh, wait, that's not his name. Anyway, there are enough simple mistakes (Danes measuring things in feet and inches) and historical lapses (Stalin communicating with Churchill on June 23) to remind you that formulaic thriller has to be a forgiving genre: don't ask too many questions or you'll spoil your own fun. As Ken himself warns us on the page before the prologue: "Some of what follows really happened." He might just as well have put it "Some of what follows is really entertaining." The rest you have to put up with- - or save your $7.99, wait for the movie, and hope the dialogue (etc.) improves in the screenplay.
Rating: 
Summary: Very intriguing! Highly Recommended!
Review: I believe that this is one of Ken Follett's best recent thrillers. I'm sure you've read the other reviews and heard what it was about, so I won't go into detail! If you like spy thrillers and war stories, buy this book right now!!
Rating: 
Summary: airport reading
Review: This is not a great novel, but it is a fast, easy read and made the time go by quickly on a recent flight home from vacation abroad. Major faults of this book are shallow characters, and a simple plot without many twists. (Also, the author flagrantly exceeds the limit of the humane use of the phrase "ersatz coffee.") On the other hand, I finished the 400-something pages in a single day, which is a testament to how a simple story can be compelling, and how much a person will put up with flying coach on an airplane. It's more like a novelization of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie than a good thriller by the likes of Frderick Forsythe, John Le Carre, or even the earlier Follett.
Rating: 
Summary: contrived, predictable, simplistic
Review: How Ken Follett could produce some of the best recent fiction, and then this makes me wonder whether he's just in it for the money--relying on his good name and his fans' gullibility to sell this stuff. I'll think twice before picking up his next one--and that's a great disappointment. Disappointment because he obviously knows good writing.
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Summary: Hornet Soars!
Review: A great story. I loved all of the characters, and found myself cheering out loud for young Harald. Of all of Ken Follet's previous book I have read, this if by far the best. I had to pace myself because I did not want it to end.
Rating:
Summary: Formulaic crap from a former master
Review: Yeah, I read the whole thing, even gasped several times. But as the plot contrivances began to pile up, I just got depressed. The whole thing is a series of cheap coincidences, manipulative character "development" (oh gee, the evil policeman takes care of his invalid wife--he can't be ALL bad!) and transparent obstacles the plucky young heros must overcome. There's never any doubt what's going to happen, so you slog through all these tedious plot-delay tactics, yearning for an actual surprise. Bottom line: Creaky, crappy, and mechanical. And this from a man who wrote some of the best books of the genre. I'm beginning to suspect he's created a computer program to plot his books--he just feeds in the old storylines and clicks commands, in this case, "Norwegianize!"
Rating: 
Summary: For what it is it is good - airport reading
Review: I got this book as a Christmas gift. It makes for entertaining if not 100% plausible reading. Recommended - especially if one is on a commercial airliner and you want the time to pass quickly. After the book I wanted to resume my flying lessons. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: busy as a bee
Review: I had a hard time putting this novel down, there are no easy stopping places in this well-paced thriller. The setting is early war-time Denmark, recently surrendered to the Germans, and under a then light Nazi heel (the only privation seems to be limits on petrol and butter). The British bomber fleet is having a disastrous time of it flying across Denmark, for unknown reasons obvious to the modern reader. It takes a while to develop a fast pace-with diversions into three discreetly developed love stories-but Follett always has something going on: sneaking, spying, flying, hiding, plotting, chasing, etc. We see developments through the words of several characters, from Danish innocents to dutiful Nazi Socialist sympathizers in the police. The premise is intriguing. There are clearer explanations of flying an airplane than I've ever seen before, in very basic Hornet and Tiger Moth biplanes. The whole book smells of a concoction, or more charitably, an entertainment. Reading the unfortunately explicit blurb first, much of the suspense was removed for me. You can watch Follett pre-positioning the people, skill, and equipment needed for the successful espionage. You can kinda tell what's going to happen: who's going to be the hero, who's going to get which girl, how they'll escape. Another reason this isn't a real thriller is the lack of atmosphere, it never hits you in the gut, just buccolic Denmark in the summer of 1941. It lacks ominous scenes, shocking coincidences, menacing Ge.sta.po, or vibrant descriptions of anybody or anyplace. The characters are pleasant or bad enough, but no one's "grey' or conflicted and it all seems a bit easy for them. Even the schoolboy hero can figure out the Germans' technology before the British physicists. The ending seems much too hasty after the long buildup. Smoothly written but lacking emotional involvement. Enjoyable enough if you don't have high expectations, or want a mild taste of life in a collaborationist country. It makes a nice historical novel for young readers.
Rating:
Summary: The Master Has Returned!
Review: Ken Follett's research has turned what could have been a very implausible plot into a daring possibility, and he has achieved it with ordinary people who, under unimaginable circumstances, discover the resources within themselves to do extraordinary things. Every detail reflects realism, for I too researched this era and the Danish Resistance for my novel and recognize the truth behind Follett's characters, setting, time and plot. I trained on an aircraft very similar to the Hornet Moth in 1965--a fabric and wood Canuck made in the 1930s that could not be insured and flew with just a joystick and rudders between me and destiny. People who have never flown a plane like this don't realize how remarkable they are--they fly in spite of you--and so all the flight sequences and the rebuilding of the Hornet ring absolutely true. Someone like Harold who had good reflexes and instincts could fly a Hornet as easily as he did in the escape to England, and Karen's understanding of flying, the structure and the mechanics of the aircraft is normal for a women who takes up flying because she really wants to do it, not because she has to do it like so many roles women have to play simply because they are female. In telling this tale, Follett has captured why the Danish Resistance was so successful with very few captures where others in Occupied Europe were so corrupted that betrayal became a chronic cancer crippling their operations. Even the king displayed stoic courage while retaining dignity for himself and his country's citizens. This is a true thriller and a spectacular read!
Rating:
Summary: Horent Sting
Review: "The Germans know were coming, were losing men. We have to do something." Hornet Flight a book by Ken Follet explains the war through the vantage point of two ordinary teenagers that discover a German Military secret and become British Spies.
Set during 1941 the British are sending RAF bombers to Germany. The Germans some how know there coming and the British think they may have the new technology of radar. A young man named Harold along with a female confidante Karen are chosen to get pictures of this German radar technology and get it to the British before it is already time for the next British air raid.
The story starts off with Digby, an army commander, talking to his brother in a military hospital. His brother who was shot down from the last air strike is trying to get information from his brother why the fleet was spotted so easy and soon. Digby explains that the Germans have supposedly developed radar. Bart says that we were told they were months behind us in that technology.
Peter a Nazi working for Germany try's to stop Harold and Karen throughout the book. Peter holds an old grudge on Harold that his dad had on his dad. Arnie, Harold's brother is the one that works for the British as a spy passes the job of getting the photo graphs of the German radar back to the allies. At points the peoples actions are some what predicable at the beginning of the book, but the pace quickens as the plot develops.
The book begins in 1941 with Digby talking strategy with his brother. It's an old dark hospital early in the morning. Bart, sitting in front of a window with his head in bandage as his brother enters. Bart was on a bombing raid in a RAF bomber when his plane was shot down by German aircraft. He was left floating the sea for weeks cold, and hungry. The two brothers start on talking about how the Nazis could have such a system to detect aircraft hundreds of miles away.
Hornet Flight by Ken Follet is a great book with an action, suspension, and love plot that develops to very end. In the begging the book slowly drags on but near the end the pace really picks up and you'll never put it down. If you've heard about a lot or not very little about this book it will all be good, I guarantee it.
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