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Book summary and reviews of The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth

The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth

The Afghan

by Frederick Forsyth

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  • Published:
  • Aug 2006
    352 pages
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Book Summary

When British and American intelligence catch wind of a major Al Qaeda operation in the works, they instantly galvanize- but to do what? They know nothing about it: the what, where, or when. They have no sources in Al Qaeda, and it's impossible to plant someone. Impossible, unless . . .

The Afghan is Izmat Khan, a five-year prisoner of Guantánamo Bay and a former senior commander of the Taliban. The Afghan is also Colonel Mike Martin, a twenty-five-year veteran of war zones around the world - a dark, lean man born and raised in Iraq. In an attempt to stave off disaster, the intelligence agencies will try to do what no one has ever done before - pass off a Westerner as an Arab among Arabs - pass off Martin as the trusted Khan.

It will require extraordinary preparation, and then extraordinary luck, for nothing can truly prepare Martin for the dark and shifting world into which he is about to enter. Or for the terrible things he will find there.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Set in the very near future, veteran Forsyth's latest isn't quite up to the level of The Day of the Jackal or his more recent Fist of God, but it's a cut above most other post-9/11 spy thrillers." - Publishers Weekly.

"Typical of Forsyth's work, this is a tense story of technology vs. evil, the latter in this case a mind-numbing degree of fanaticism. Even though it starts slowly, it builds to an exciting climax that makes the read well worth it." - Library Journal.

"Gun-club porn-packed with stodgily accurate descriptions of weapons and acronymic slang. Hardly subtle, just bang-bang galore." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about The Afghan was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Frederick Forsyth Author Biography

Frederick Forsyth is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan,The Cobra and The Kill List.

He has packed a tremendous amount of action into his life and frequently drawn on his experiences to lend verisimilitude to his fiction. At the age of 19, he became the youngest pilot in the Royal Air Force, but then decided to follow a journalistic career. After three years as a provincial reporter, he joined Reuters and spent the next four years in Europe.

In 1965 he joined the BBC and was sent to Biafra to cover the war that was raging in Nigeria. What he saw of this brutal and cynical ...

... Full Biography
Link to Frederick Forsyth's Website

Name Pronunciation
Frederick Forsyth: fred-rick

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