I was babysitting for my son Chris in early January 2019 and saw the 2018 book The Fox which he had recently purchased and read. Now I have read lots of Forsyth thrillers over the years and regard him as one of the legends. The Day of the Jackel remains a superb read. He followed on with The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, The Shepherd, The Devil's Alternative and others, all excellent reads.
Boy, was I disappointed. I think the Goodreads review by Natalie Mullins rated it correctly
2.5 Stars at best! The epitome of average. I love Forsyth, some of my favourite works are his but this will not be one of them. It feels like a political rant in places, in others a review of world events. Through all this is an unrealistic, unbelievable, even ridiculous plot which has an even stranger ending. It’s so far from a Forsyth I’d hazard a guess at a ghost-writer.
At 80 years of age, is he just after a few final bucks with a trash novel, or is he just past his best. Whatever, it seems like he has just taken a bundle of current world hotspots, wrapped them all in a right wing diatribe, and tried unsuccessfully to weld them into a particularly stupid story line.
By way of comparison, think of the subsequent Rambo films which take as the baddies the latest USA enemy of state! This book is pitched at the same level.
I won't even bore you all by going into the story. Bypass it and save yourself the time and the frustration.
I will be promptly returning this book to Chris.
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