Lie down with Lions - Ken Follett

Readers who love spy novels may be tempted to read Ken Follett’s 1985 published book, “Lie down with Lions” after reading the book blurb. If one starts to read the book, the initial chapters are the perfect start to a spy novels but once the action shifts to Afghanistan, Follett goes into uncharted territory, with espionage in the back ground, the story takes the form of a triangular game of deceit and chase game in between the three principal characters of the story. Lie down with lions is much more than just a spy novel. It gives the reader an expanse of flawed characters that Follett perhaps didn’t try in his earlier books. In addition to everything, perhaps up to 1985, this would go down as Follett’s best description on the detailing of a country that comes out as an exceptional geographical touring of the country.

The story primarily revolves around three characters, Ellis, Jane and Jean- Pierre. Two out of the three are spies of their respective authorities. Under different circumstances they all land up in Afghanistan. While Jane and Jean –Pierre get married before they land up at Afghanistan, but Jane has no idea what is the ultimate purpose of her husband to arrive at the beautiful landscape. So begins the ultimate game of deception and mixed love that leads into a finale in the form of a very long chase out of the country. Of course to know who is the antagonist and who is the protagonist, one needs to read the complete story, but one thing is very much sure, all of them were flawed in their very ways.

The plot is straight forward and the reader would get the motive of each of the character half way through the book but the writing is very detailed. The story is more about the characters rather than the events. In fact, this book would be one of those where Follett had included the least of twisting events to confuse the plot. In fact the major second half of the book is an outright chase that also gives a chance for the readers to get a glimpse of the beautiful landscapes of Afghanistan.

It cannot be denied that Follett had indeed done an impeccable research on the country and its landscapes which he also described in the list of the books that he referred at the end of the book. The description is extremely detailed. Readers who love travelling will surly love the book as it is full of such descriptions about this country.

The book also contains the trade mark love making movement and it is surely one of the more detailed ones this time. There are hardly any irritating antagonist except one who would keep popping up during the second half of the book.

“Lie down with Lions” is a very well researched geographical book describing the country of Afghanistan in very detail but it is not the best of Follett in terms of plot and storytelling.