Triple - Ken Follett

“Triple” as a narrative and a plot can be said to be quite different from Follett’s forte that is Second World War espionage tales. Though it includes espionage of a different level, this story of his set during the late sixties and the base plot revolves around a heist planned to steal Uranium at a location which could be termed an unthinkable, the high seas.

One of the major points which attracts the readers is the complexity of the entire plot and the level of detailing done to achieve the Climax. Multiple countries and their respective Intelligence offices getting involved makes the plot interesting and thrilling to read. The Characters are interlinked and they come out as very impressive, especially that of “Nat Dickstein”. It cannot be argued that the character of “Nat” is among one of the best written by Follett. The layers which have been provided to the person and the shades within which he carries forward in the story makes you wonder about the life he must have led.

One of the impressive facts about the book is the beautiful descriptions of the cities within which the plot travels. There are multiple cities here in where the plot travels, and all through you cannot help but imagine those characters rolling through those cities in front of your eyes. The narration takes its time to come to the ultimate motive of the story and of course the entire setting allows the climax to be more of a thrill. The entire narrative about the climax heist has been thrillingly written and the impact is seen very well.

Bringing together such a story is a task in itself, and more difficult, if the basic plot is inspired by a real life factual event. Though the event’s timeline has been changed in the story. The entire human tailing by different spies belonging to respective countries adds to the entire thrill and Follett could be said to be master in it, though he makes it a bit simple in his narrative.

The entire plan which is devised for the ultimate heist has been narrated in detail and the best part is that the narrative is not one sided, on the parallel side, each and every act is investigated by the agents tailing the protagonists and the characters who could be referred to as antagonists in this narrative, so build up to the climax is on both the sides.

What the plot makes us think is about the times in which the human lived during the sixties and seventies, after the World War, every country wanted to be safe and sound and have a defense  system which could not be compromised. It also makes us think about the ultimate end to such conflicts and the need for human espionage.

Published in 1979, “Triple” as a book is thoroughly entertaining, informative and makes us think about the future of the world.