The Afghan (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

The book gets off to a cracking start. As always Mr Forsyth has done his research, which makes the setting out of the plot all the more believable. Indeed, with a foot so firmly placed in reality the book reads almost as if it was a journalistic account of an actual event rather than a work of fiction. So why does this book that is so engrossing for the first 200 pages suddenly massively disappoint. Well, I am sorry Mr Foryth but suddenly, and for no good reason, this gritty and believable story goes into a complete fantasy land. I shan't go into detail but basically it involves an aeroplane developing mechanical problems somewhere over the vastness of the USA What, we ask, has this got to do with our plot? All is soon revealed, as by a truly staggering coincidence of fantastical proportions, the plane crashes onto the exact spot where one of the main characters happens to be. If he had been hit by a meteor it would have been more believable. As it is, this is the point where the story virtually collapses. The strong thread of reality, which weaves together the first two thirds of the book is severered beyond repair. As a result I felt a profound indifference to what followed. What a shame!

I have bought, and enjoyed every one of Mr. Forsyth's excellent fiction works, and I thought that he had avoided the problem common to many novelists, in that they tend to lose their 'edge' regarding plotline, 'readability' and tone after some success! Unfortunately, with 'The Afghan', I fear that Mr. Forsyth's long rule as a 'must buy' to an addict such as myself is fast approaching the end of it's path! Where the character Martin in !Fist of God' was utterly believable, because the writing led you carefully along that path of credibility, in 'The Afghan' his life turns into dust, because the author simply 'lost the plot'

I tend to agree with one of the previous reviewers when he said that the publisher probably wanted a quick release, so got something cobbled together! I expected far better from Frederick Forsyth, and am very dissappointed with his latest book!

The back page blurb claims this is 'Forsyth's finest novel since the Day of the Jackal'. If only! Whereas the Day of the Jackal is a breathtaking example of dazzling, original brilliance, the Afghan is an example of an author either a) sitting on his laurels or b) stuck for ideas. The problem isn't the apparently plausible terrorist plot itself, but Forsyth's attempts to crowbar (no pun intended if you've already read the novel) a western agent into the ranks of an Al Qaeda plot. In order to do this the author relies on three astronomical coincidences, only one of which is even remotely plausible - that two of the antagonists met briefly in Afghanistan (and then met a pre-infamy Osama Bin laden into the bargain); the other two are that an unsuspecting Al Qaeda incorporate the agent into the exact plot the west is worried about - as oppose to any other of their myriad operations - and that a malfunctioning f-15 fighter just happens to crash into a remote hut in the remote wilderness chosen by the C.I.A. for it's complete and utter remoteness!

All of this is a shame, because anyone interested in how the security services go about their business would find many sections of the novel very interesting. Forsyth's always been interested in the minutia of how devices/organizations work, but perhaps to cover for weaknesses in the plot here he often overdoes it, for instance giving long, lovingly detailed descriptions of a relatively minor plot device (an F-15) that most 14 year old schoolboys would already have gleaned from the same magazines that Forsyth cribbed his facts and figures from. The upshot of all this is that the character of Mike Martin is swamped and disappears almost completely from view. Which is great if you're an undercover agent, but not if you're the focus of a novel. Ironically the most sympathetic character of the whole novel is the Taliban fighter, a man caught up in conflicts not of his making who has his whole life destroyed by a stray American missile. If that had happened to any of us, we'd have sought revenge too. Which is quite an interesting thought from a rabid right winger like Forsyth.