Hornet Flight

Ken Follett

Nov 2003 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Ken Follett and the intrigue of World War II—"a winning formula" (Entertainment Weekly) if ever there was one. With his riveting prose and unerring instinct for suspense, the #1 New York Times bestselling author takes to the skies over Europe during the early days of the war in a most extraordinary novel. . . . 

It is June 1941, and the war is not going well for England. Somehow, the Germans are anticipating the RAF's flight paths and shooting down British bombers with impunity. Meanwhile, across the North Sea, eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande and discovers an astonishing sight. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows he must tell someone. And when he learns the truth, it will fall upon him to deliver word to England—except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in a ruined church—a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely to ever get off the ground . . . even if Harald knew how to fly it.

Look out for Ken's newest book, A Column of Fire, available now.

Ratings and reviews

I would have given this a five star rating if they would have escaped in a submarine. But if that had happened he would had to change the title from Hornet Flight (after the hornet Moth airplane) to something like the Catshark Swim ( after a WWII US Gato Class Submarine). But after thinking about it, maybe it is better the way he wrote it. After all it would be hard to hide a submarine in an abandoned church without the nazis finding it and it would have been hard to find enough fuel to run the submarine. So I think I will give it five stars in the end.

A gripping WWI thriller. I still get daydreams of going around Denmark thanks to this book's vivid narration. One of those books that you wished that didn't end upon reaching the last leaf.

A story teller who knows how to keep you reading. A thriller with ronance daring that only Follett can do. Period

About the author

Ken Follett is one of the world’s best-loved authors, selling more than 160 million copies of his thirty books. Follett’s first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War. 

In 1989 The Pillars of the Earth was published, and has since become the author’s most successful novel. It reached number one on bestseller lists around the world and was an Oprah’s Book Club pick.
 
Its sequels, World Without End and A Column of Fire, proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold 38 million copies worldwide.
 
Follett lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife Barbara. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren, and three Labradors.