Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Nov 2021, 816 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2022, 816 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Kim Kovacs
Buy This Book
The new must-read epic from master storyteller Ken Follett: more than a thriller, it's an action-packed, globe-spanning drama set in the present day.
"Every catastrophe begins with a little problem that doesn't get fixed." So says Pauline Green, president of the United States, in Follett's nerve-racking drama of international tension.
A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country's secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis.
Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world war are a young woman intelligence officer; a spy working undercover with jihadists; a brilliant Chinese spymaster; and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next presidential election.
Never is an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and a delivers a visceral, heart-pounding read that transports readers to the brink of the unimaginable.
Chapter 1
Seen from a plane, the car would have looked like a slow beetle creeping across an endless beach, the sun glinting off its polished black armor. In fact it was doing thirty miles per hour, the maximum safe speed on a road that had unexpected potholes and cracks. No one wanted to get a flat tire in the Sahara Desert.
The road led north from N'Djamena, capital city of Chad, through the desert toward Lake Chad, the biggest oasis in the Sahara. The landscape was a long, flat vista of sand and rock with a few pale yellow dried-up bushes and a random scatter of large and small stones, everything the same shade of mid-tan, as bleak as a moonscape.
The desert was unnervingly like outer space, Tamara Levit thought, with the car as a rocket ship. If anything went wrong with her space suit she could die. The comparison was fanciful and made her smile. All the same she glanced into the back of the car, where there were two reassuringly large plastic demijohns of water, enough to keep them...
What makes Never a standout is how brilliantly Follett captures that slow, almost invisible preamble to war. Small actions lead to larger ones, treaties obligate countries to intervene, personal biases influence decisions. The author's skill in depicting that build-up makes the novel utterly terrifying, and the actions he describes, taken by seemingly reasonable people, are incredibly plausible. Although the book is ultimately a high-octane page-turner, it takes a long time to get there. I absolutely couldn't put it down from about the halfway point on, but the first section was a struggle. I'm glad I persisted, but at over 800 pages, it could have used a little judicious editing...continued
Full Review
(659 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary
A compelling story, and only too realistic.
Much of Ken Follett's novel Never is set in present-day Chad, a landlocked nation located in north-central Africa. Officially known as The Republic of Chad, at 496,000 square miles, the country is the fifth largest on the continent.
Chad has a long and complex history; it's one of the areas scientists believe may have been the cradle of humanity. The 2001 discovery of a 6- to 7-million-year-old hominid skull, from a primate known as Sahelanthropus tchadensis, supports this theory. It's believed that modern humans began continuously inhabiting the area around Lake Chad starting roughly 10,000 years ago, and there's evidence of a trans-Saharan trade route running through this location from around 3000 BCE. In addition, archeological ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked Never, try these:
by Mark Helprin
Published 2024
Mark Helprin, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War, presents a fast-paced, beautifully written novel about the majesty of the sea; a life dedicated to duty, honor, and country; and the gift of falling in love.
by Denis Johnson
Published 2015
Denis Johnson's The Laughing Monsters is a high-suspense tale of kaleidoscoping loyalties in the post-9/11 world that shows one of our great novelists at the top of his game.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
