Large type / large print. edition (December 1, 1986
ISBN-13
978-0451163509
Dimensions
4.19 x 1 x 6.94 inches
Weight
6.7 ounces
Description
"A deadly romantic triangle, a clandestine mission with global stakes, an exotic location, a plot as gripping and ingenious as Eye of the Needle . . . engineered to perfection with breathless acceleration . . . I couldn’t put it down." — Los Angeles Times "Sheer suspense." — The Washington Post "Vintage Follett. . . . This is his most ambitious novel and it succeeds admirably . . . tense, vivid, exciting . . . balances physical action with internal drama . . . satisfies on deep levels." — USA Today "May be Ken Follett’s finest yet. . . . The suspense mounts as swiftly as Afghan villagers running to escape Russian guns—and the pages will turn just as fast." — Cosmopolitan "An exciting and complex tale." — Philadelphia Inquirer "Masterful . . . plot and counterplot, treachery, cunning and killing . . . keep you on edge every moment." — Associated Press "Combines modern warfare, international espionage, and a love story while also, in typical Follett fashion, playing out the fate of his characters amid thrilling escapes and shattering revelations." — Richmond Times-Dispatch "A gripping thriller and love story. . . . Follett builds the tension until it is as taut as a cable across the Khyber Pass. . . . There is an incredible sex scene and desperate trek across ice-covered mountains . . . an exotic setting, a strong, courageous heroine, a strong, courageous hero, good guys, bad guys and a supporting cast of thousands. . . . A roaring good read." — Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Solid suspense fiction . . . romance, adventure, exotic settings with a healthy dash of intrigue. . . . When it comes to reliable entertainment, few authors deliver as consistently as Follett." — Pittsburgh Press "Follett’s great strength is his female characters—they are smart, strong, independent, and when they love a man, by golly, he knows the game is up." — People "Harrowing escapes . . . larger-than-life characters performing larger-than-life deeds. . . . It shouldn’t work but it does." — Booklist "Beautiful in conception and execution . . . full of adventure and love blended as only a master such as Follett can do . . . a most provocative tale." — Ocala Star Banner "Ken Follett scores again . . . an enthralling web of suspense . . . a well-crafted love story . . . unrelieved page-to-page tension . . . a wonderfully clean and simple writing style . . . holds constant interest." — The Anniston Star "Exciting . . . romance, adventure, intrigue. . . . Ken Follett can hold his own with the best." — Indianapolis Star " Lions roars . . . highly entertaining, quickly paced . . . skillfully crafted . . . and a nicely detailed quartet of characters that make the novel click." — Los Angeles Herald Examiner "Deftly-built tension . . . the thrills of a chase . . . well-developed characters and atmosphere . . . keep the action going and have the credibility of a true tale." — The Orlando Sentinel 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.xa0Its sequels, World Without End and A Column of Fire , proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold 38 million copies worldwide.xa0Follett lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife Barbara. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren, and three Labradors.
Features & Highlights
"Vintage Follett . . . This is his most ambitious novel and it succeeds admirably." —
USA Today
Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman. They were two men on opposite sides of the Cold War, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan—to the moment of truth and deadly decision for all of them. . . .
Look out for Ken Follett's newest book,
A Column of Fire
, available now.
Customer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
★★★★★
30%
(3K)
★★★★
25%
(2.5K)
★★★
15%
(1.5K)
★★
7%
(691)
★
23%
(2.3K)
Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
4.0
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Solid, action-packed crowd-pleaser
It's unfortunate that one of the previous reviewers found so much to hate in "Lie Down With Lions," and I'm guessing it's because that reader was looking for the wrong things. No, Follett's not Faulkner, and you'll get no musings on the human condition. But that's not why one reads Follett; you read Follett for the tightly written, superbly constructed thriller, and, in "Lie Down With Lions," that's exactly what you get.
The action is intense, right from the outset, where American agent Ellis blows his cover in Paris, losing in the process his girlfriend Jane, who takes up with another guy and heads with him to Afghanistan, to offer medical assistance to a populace wearied by war against the invading Soviets (sort of a 1980s version of Médecins sans frontières). Ellis tails her there, under the auspices of the US government, to train the Afghan fighters. At which point, the plot thickens, and doesn't let up till the very end.
The dynamics of the Ellis/Jane relationship are great, very natural and well drawn in a way one doesn't usually find such relationships drawn in action novels. Their moments of greatest intimacy--including an amazingly and erotically written love scene that rivals anything in Miller or Joyce--help drive one of the novel's main tensions, a tension between the reader's responses to these two characters who are often at odds but both very sympathetic. This tension, though, merely underscores the real, action-based tension surrounding the military skirmishes taking place on the greater stage outside the Ellis/Jane relationship.
As some reviewers have pointed out, "Lie Down With Lions" isn't much use as a history primer on the war in Afghanistan, or as a probing meditation on the nature of existence. But that's really beside the point. We read Follett, like we read Clancy and Grisham, because they're amazingly talented story tellers with interesting stories to tell. I've read "Lie Down With Lions" three times and enjoyed it immensely each time.
133 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Absolute worst Follet novel
Was this terrible book really written by the same guy who plotted such masterful thrillers as Eye of the Needle, and A Dangerous Fortune? Actually, all the stock Follet ingredients are there: feisty independant woman stuck in some crucible, love triangle, life-or-death pursuit. But I have to disagree with a number of reviewers here: the characters are *not* well-developed, consistent, or believable.
As a character, JANE makes zero sense. She's sketched out as an intelligent, resourceful woman with a clear sense of ethics who loathes betrayal...yet after an unforgivable betrayal, she seems to get over it and forgive the traitor in, oh, about 10 minutes. JEAN-PIERRE, her villainous husband, actually thinks such "dastardly" thoughts as "Now I'll get you--and you'll be mine forever!" This is villainry on the cartoonish level of Austin Powers' Dr. Evil (especially when compared to the complex hero/villain of Eye of the Needle.)
Please don't buy or read this book. If you want to try Follett, sample the two books mentioned above, or The Pillars of the Earth, an expansive, ambitious novel that can't really be pigeonholed as a thriller.
17 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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This book joins a handful of my all-time, most favorite read
Few writers can craft a story as artfully as Ken Follett. His characters, always well developed, are especially vivid in this book. Mr. Follett's respect for women is evident in the strength of character and spirit with which he endows them. Speaking as someone who has read all of his books, I believe that this may be his finest work. If you like this book, may I recommend "The Mask of Time" by Marius Gabriel and another Follett book, "The Man From St. Petersburg". If you read and enjoy these as I did, I'd love to hear from you. Jack Jackson
8 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Vapid and weak. Literary Gruel.
I cannot believe all the good reviews on this site for "Lie Down with Lions". It is truly an empty action novel with little to redeem it.
To give the book some credit, the characters were well defined. Unfortunately they were two-dimensional and transparent. This is one of those novels where the villain is SO EVIL and the protagonist is a cartoonish superman. You can almost visualize the author rubbing his hands together between chapters, in rapture at how cool the protagonist is, but I found the character to be pathetically shallow and underdeveloped. If they made a movie out of this book, the hero would best be portrayed by Chuck Norris (and that's not a compliment).
The author's world is again, a ridiculously over-simplified black and white world. "Ooooo, those evil Russians! Thank God for America!"
If you're a simple-minded American who likes vapid action with no real content (and apparently there are a lot of you), I'm sure you'll think this one is a classic.
7 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Fast and action packed
English linguist, Jane, is torn between two lovers, CIA agent, Ellis, and communist spy and doctor, Jean-Pierre, who is following in his father's footsteps in becoming a Soviet spy. Following a police round up of terrorist cells in Paris, Jane blames Ellis, claiming that he showed a lack of trust in not telling her of his involvement with the CIA, and, in a fit of pique and anger, marries Jean-Pierre. They go to Afghanistan to work as a medical team for the locals in a hill top village, where ,unbeknown to Jane, Jean-Pierre works as an informer for the Soviets, reporting on the actions of the local freedom fighters. Ellis is sent to Afghanistan to negotiate an arms deal with the local fighters and becomes once again, attracted to Jane who reciprocates when she learns the extent of her husband's treachery to the very villagers he purports to be helping. It's a fast, exciting read and would make a great action movie, if it hasn't already happened.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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found this one hard to get into
i'm a huge fan of follet..some of his books are amongst my favorites by any author (dangerous fortune, place called freedom, code to zero, and of course the majestic pillars of the earth), but I just couldn't get into this one.
It's not that I didn't like the characters. I liked the protagonist as well as the 'villains' of the book. I didn't like the setting much though.
It takes place in Afghanistan during the early 80's when the locals are fighting against the russians for their freedom. I'm not really interested in the area or the setting so maybe that had something to do with it.
I hate to say it but I had a hard time getting through this one. The chapters were very long which didn't help much either.
There were some bright points to the book (as with all Follett books of course) but they didn't outweigh, what was to me, the boring story.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Not my favourite....
This is the first book I have ever read by Ken Follett, and it does not leave me begging for more. Seriously, this is one of the worst, most shallow, cheap-action-packed novels that I have ever read. The realness of this novel is ridiculous. It`s the same old American good guy/bad guy story all over again, and to me it is not that appeling. If this book ever made it to the movies ,then I`m sure that James bond would play the main character. I`m mean...who else could beat up five menn inside a helicopter while they are cuffed on both hands?
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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A spy adventure, par excellence, with erotic romance
A spy adventure, par excellence, with erotic romance -- vintage Follett.
If you like your thrillers spiced with spies, a chase scene, atmosphere, non-stop action and a good dose of romance then this is your "beach read"
However, 'Lie Down with Lions' will inform you as well as entertain you. This week on the radio I heard the statement, "good fiction should not be didactic". Ken Follett, as his writing demonstrates, strongly disagrees with this statement. His informative insight into the old KGB, the CIA, the mind of a terrorist and the brutal and barren world of Afghanistan are more than entertaining, they are enlightening.
I have physically trekked through the remote worlds that Follett writes about. I have felt the same exhaustion and despair that Follett brilliantly captures in his hero and heroine as flee the wrath of the KGB across the snow bound Khyber Pass. Because of my work, I have known the joys and sorrows that Follett's pen elucidates, as he sets his novel in the world of international humanitarian medical care. I marveled how well he captures the essence of this work.
'Lie Down with Lions' is one of Follett's best crafted reads. A solid love story, with larger-than-life characters, wrapped in suspense and tension. KUDOS. Highly recommended 4.5stars
3 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Exciting read
If you like excitment and action you will love this book. Believable characters lead into a plot of mystery and action in a stark landscape. Betrayal, love, and survival pit a young woman aganist harsh realities and difficult choices. Yet, the heroes retain their humanity. It's a good story.
3 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Once you start you can't stop till the last page
I thought this book was excellent. The author took you on a journey through war torn Afghanistan, and made you feel like you were there. Very descriptive, always moving. One of the best works of word painting I have ever read.