An old-fashioned tale of ordinary people thrown into the drama and danger of war, Hornet Flight is a rippingly good read. The time is 1941, and British bombers attacking Germany are being blown out of the sky in horrific numbers. How do the Nazis know they're coming? The answer is an infant technology called radar, and the Brits--with help from the Danish Resistance--must figure out how and where the German radar stations operate.

Follett, an old pro at World War II storytelling, vividly evokes the period, creating a sense not of historical re-creation but of urgently unfolding news. His cast of characters is memorable, including Harald Olufsen, a brainy 18-year-old pulled into the Resistance half against his will, and--typically for Follett--several central, well-drawn women. The plot does have some predictable elements: for example, from the time Harald first encounters a tiny wood-and-linen biplane called a Hornet Moth, half-rotted and stored away in a Danish barn, we know that it will heroically take to the skies. Then, when the very outcome of the war begins to turn on Harald getting a certain roll of film from Denmark to England, well... you can see where things are headed. But it's great fun to watch them develop, and Follett throws in just enough unexpected shocks to keep you off balance. Though it lacks the intensity of Eye of the Needle, Follett's finest and best-known book, Hornet Flight offers generous helpings of suspense and a climax that could hardly be more satisfying. --Nicholas H. Allison

From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling Welsh author Follett has made a career out of the WWII suspense thriller (Eye of the Needle; Jackdaws), and he hits the mark again with this dramatic and tragic tale of amateur spies pursued by Nazi collaborators in occupied Denmark in 1941. Harald Olufsen is an 18-year-old physics student who stumbles into espionage when he accidentally discovers a secret German radar installation on the island where he lives. The British do not know the Germans have radar and cannot understand why British nighttime bomber losses are so high. When Harald learns there is a fledgling Danish resistance group called the Nightwatchmen, he becomes involved through his older brother, Arne, a happy-go-lucky Danish army pilot. Harald photographs the secret radar site, but the spy group quickly unravels under the pressure of Danish police detective Peter Flemming, an officious, ruthless, and arrogant cop who hates the Olufsen family for a public humiliation his father suffered years before. The amateur spy network underestimates the police with tragic and deadly results, and soon Harald and his Jewish girlfriend, Karen, must plan a desperate aerial escape to get the photographs to England. Follett starts out fast and keeps up the pace, revealing how ordinary people who want to do the right thing are undone by their own enthusiasm and inexperience. He also paints a vivid and convincing picture of life in occupied Denmark, of easy collaboration with the Nazis and of the insidious, creeping persecution of the Jews. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Have the Nazis perfected radar? Intelligence analyst Hermia Mount thinks so, but a Danish teenager named Harald Olufsen has proof. If only he could figure out how to fly the creaky old Hornet Moth biplane to England. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This is truly everything one would want in an audio presentation. Suspenseful writing by Follett and a superb delivery by Byron Jennings combine with a sophisticated background orchestra that unobtrusively adds emotion, intensity, and texture. Follett writes this novel of spies and intrigue in Denmark following the country's capitulation to Hitler. Harald Olufsen is unintentionally drawn into the resistance movement when he discovers a secret German radar installation that enables them to strike down the nighttime British bombers. Jennings thoughtfully portrays personal moments that complement the main storyline. Strong female characters and the enthusiasm of youth add to this fast-paced story of ordinary people facing the adversity and struggles of wartime. F.L.F. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Popular suspense writer Follett understandably gravitates to the inherently exciting world of international intrigue that all of Europe devolved into as a result of Germany's over-land-and-sea aggression, which began in 1939. In all German-occupied countries, collaboration versus resistance was on the mind of everyone, from government official to provincial farmer. That life-or-death predicament is at the core of Follett's new novel, in which a vastly crucial military question is plaguing British strategists, including none other than Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The question is, Why are so many British airplanes being shot from the skies as they approach Continental targets? Digby Hoare, Churchill's assistant, has been assigned the task of finding out the answer. As Hoare states the difficult problem before him, "When we get to Germany, they're ready for us. They know we're coming." Hoare turns to Hermia, a young woman working as an analyst in charge of British intelligence's "Denmark desk." She was the founder of a small spy network in Denmark which passed military information to British intelligence. Hermia is engaged to a Danish fighter pilot grounded by the German occupation, and he has a younger brother still in school, preparing for college but seething with indignation over Denmark's quick surrender after the German invasion. The individual and collective roles these individuals play in supplying an answer to why Germany is aware in advance of British air raids are woven into the tense fabric of this consistently compelling novel. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Hartford Courant
Follett at his compelling best.

Entertainment Weekly
...zips along to an exhilarating climax.

Book Description
Ken Follett follows his bestsellers Jackdaws and Code to Zero with an extraordinary novel of the early days of World War II...

It is June 1941 and the war is not going well for England. Across the North Sea, eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande and discovers an astonishing sight that will change the momentum of the war. He must get word to England-except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in a ruined church: a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground...even if Harald knew how to fly it.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies - indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler." "But on a small Danish island across the North Sea, Harald Olufsen, a bright eighteen-year-old with a talent for engineering, stumbles upon a secret German installation. Its machinery is like nothing he has ever seen before, and he knows he must tell someone - if he can only figure out who." "With England preparing its largest aerial assault over, what Harald has discovered may turn the course of the war - but the race to convey the information could have terrible consequences for everyone close to him: For his older brother Arne, a pilot in the grounded Danish air force and already under suspicion of the authorities. For Arne's fiancee, Hermia, an MI6 intelligence analyst desperate to resurrect the foundering Danish resistance. And most of all, for Harald himself, because as the hour of the assault approaches, it will all fall to him and his friend Karen to get the word to England. And the only means available to them is a derelict Hornet Moth airplane abandoned in a ruined church, a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground." Pursued by the enemy; hunted by collaborators with almost no training, limited fuel, and no way of knowing if they can even survive the six hundred-mile flight, the two will carry with them England's best - perhaps only - hope to avoid disaster.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Bestselling Welsh author Follett has made a career out of the WWII suspense thriller (Eye of the Needle; Jackdaws), and he hits the mark again with this dramatic and tragic tale of amateur spies pursued by Nazi collaborators in occupied Denmark in 1941. Harald Olufsen is an 18-year-old physics student who stumbles into espionage when he accidentally discovers a secret German radar installation on the island where he lives. The British do not know the Germans have radar and cannot understand why British nighttime bomber losses are so high. When Harald learns there is a fledgling Danish resistance group called the Nightwatchmen, he becomes involved through his older brother, Arne, a happy-go-lucky Danish army pilot. Harald photographs the secret radar site, but the spy group quickly unravels under the pressure of Danish police detective Peter Flemming, an officious, ruthless, and arrogant cop who hates the Olufsen family for a public humiliation his father suffered years before. The amateur spy network underestimates the police with tragic and deadly results, and soon Harald and his Jewish girlfriend, Karen, must plan a desperate aerial escape to get the photographs to England. Follett starts out fast and keeps up the pace, revealing how ordinary people who want to do the right thing are undone by their own enthusiasm and inexperience. He also paints a vivid and convincing picture of life in occupied Denmark, of easy collaboration with the Nazis and of the insidious, creeping persecution of the Jews. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Have the Nazis perfected radar? Intelligence analyst Hermia Mount thinks so, but a Danish teenager named Harald Olufsen has proof. If only he could figure out how to fly the creaky old Hornet Moth biplane to England. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

Follett returns to familiar ground with a story of espionage and romance set in WWII Denmark. John Lee's performance gives a heightened sense of authenticity through skillful international accents that keep the narrative flowing smoothly. His confident delivery moves the listener rapidly from the pastoral Danish countryside to the real truth of German occupation and collaboration. Eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen discovers the secret of the Germans' incredible success shooting down English bombers, and it's up to him to make the desperate attempt to get the information to the Allies in a dilapidated Hornet Moth biplane. Good fun! D.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Spunky Danes spy and fly beneath the radar of their Nazi occupiers.

Follett returns to WWII (Jackdaws, 2001, etc.), where his patriotic newsreel style may be an asset, setting the proper black-and-white tone for a tale about a schoolboy who sticks a spanner in the Germans' early warning system. Harald Olufson is the mechanically gifted pastor's son whose dream of studying under countryman Niels Bohr looks impossible after he's booted from school for an anti-fascist prank. Harald's hardshell father pulls the plug on university plans and apprentices the boy to a creepy haberdashery, where he is to ponder the error of his ways. But Harald ditches the handkerchiefs and speeds off on his peat-powered motorcycle to find work on a farm near the little castle where beautiful Jewish Karen Duchwitz, promising ballerina and twin sister of a schoolmate, lives with her very rich mum and dad. Karen has had a few flying sessions with Poul, a chum of Harald's pilot brother Arne, but neither Karen nor Harald is aware that Poul is a member of the Danish resistance, organized from England by Arne's fianc￯﾿ﾽe Hermia. Hermia has been charged with finding out how the Germans have been able to render nearly useless the waves of bombers the English have been throwing against them. As it happens, Harald has the answer. He just doesn't know how important it is. Taking a shortcut through a secret German installation on the way home one dark and stormy night, he noted the interesting combination of three radar antennas and deduced correctly that the krauts had invented an efficient warning system. Getting the secret out of Denmark will cost several lives and involve the evil Peter Flemming, a man with adeep-seated grudge against the Olufsons and a deeper-seated admiration for the Germans. It will also require Harald's handyman skills to get the Duchwitz family's plane out of storage and into the air.