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The Key to Rebecca
by Ken Follett
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval (1999-09)
ISBN: 0613218523
EAN: 9780613218528
Dewey Decimal #: 823.914
Binding/Media: School & Library Binding - 400 pages
SKU: 080611001
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: This copy is in very good condition. No visible markings, highlights, underlining, tears to text. Tight spine. No Dust Jacket. Clean Hard Cover with tiny scratches to front/back. Pages are lightly sunned. Light/minimum, shelf/edge wear. This is a must read copy, worth having at an affordable price. (L8-36)
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Set in North Africa, summer 1942, during Rommel's campaign against the British. This is the story of Alex Wolff, master spy, who treks across the Sahara and covertly enters the plot-ridden streets of wartime Cairo. And of Major Vandam, the British officer who is on Wolff's trail, sworn to destroy him. Wolff's mission is to steal British military plans and send them to Rommel, using a code whose key is buried in the pages of Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca. As Rommel's troops come closer to victory, Vandam edges closer to Wolff and the crucial key. There are incredible chase scenes: a motorcycle hurtling through blacked-out Cairo; the flash of a knife, a gush of hot blood, and the fleeting shadow of an escaping assassin; a harrowing race against death and a speeding train. Follett builds tension and suspense to a screaming pitch as he follows the adversaries across the internal desert to a confrontation as startling as it is explosive.
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Customer Reviews
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Great novel to lose yourself in.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-08-10
I like Ken Follett's style of writing. He introduces us to the characters and has a wonderful way of rounding them out by giving us an idea of why they think and feel how they think and feel.
This novel is set in British occupied Egypt during the early days of world war II. We have the Nazi spy and the British officer who battle it out in a head game with a supporting cast who's allegiances to both are carved in history.
It's great cloak and dagger stuff that puts the very outcome of the war in the hands of the two men Van Damme (Brit) and Wolff (Nazi). Van Damme always seems one step behind Wolff who, code named "Sphinx", is reporting directly to Rommel. The Afirka corps under Rommel is acting on Wolff's information as they move towards Egypt and ultimately liberation from the British.
Standing between Rommel and victory is Major Van Damme the British intelligence officer who, despite little support from his superiors, is going after Wolff with spirit. Along the way Van Damme meets a woman who he gets to work for him and eventually falls in love with.
The story itself and especially the climax moves with such good pace it's hard to put it down.
Another Follett classic which I recommend to novel lovers.
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A classic novel repackaged badly
Rating  (3)
Date: 2010-08-09
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a great book. Follett took a real life story of espionage and fleshed it out into an exciting novel of action and suspense in World War II. I agree that some of the characters were probably a bit of a caricature, and a few scenes were quite contrived, but this did not take away from my enjoyment of this book. I do think as a story that Eye of the Needle was superior, but this one is still one of my Follett favorites. Wonderful descriptions of wartime Egypt and colonial British empire.
My three star rating is for the Kindle format. It was laughable at times - like the incident mentioned of turning an "m" into an "r" and "n" - turning a character's name into a bit of a joke. Paragraphs seemed off at times and there were hyphenated words in the middle of the sentence. I agree with the previous reviewer that AMazon has to improve the transition from written to electronic word better, though these mistakes do not appear to deter many people from purchasing a KIndle. I still really like the Kindle, but I think that a little more effort could be put into executing a better product.
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Great Book-Bad Kindle Conversion
Rating (3)
Date: 2010-07-31
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Don't get me wrong, Key to Rebecca is a very good Follet novel. However, I read it on the Kindle digital format and found the conversion from print to digital to be very poor. Some words were blended together, such as an "r" and "n" forming an "m" and other words were repeated. While I could generally figure out meaning through context clues, it was distracting at best. If Amazon is going to market the Kindle as being superior to print, or at least as good, it needs to work out some of the kinks on the digital conversions.
Back to "Key to Rebecca"- very good suspense book. Other Follet recommendations would be "Pillars of the Earth", "Word Without End" and "Eye of the Needle".
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My third foray into Ken Follett and he's yet to disappoint.
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-04-20
Starts a bit slow what with the exposition of the central characters: Alex, the ruthless German spy sent to Cairo, Vandam (yes, really), a 40-something major in the British Staff Intelligence, Elene, a beautiful Jewish woman who's had a string of bad luck with men, Sonja, a renowned dancer in Cairo with a strange sexual fetish (but, more importantly, an Anglophobe), and several others.
But the pace steps up when Vandam gets intrigued with the case of murder by a European named Alex Wolff who seemingly vanished into thin air. Soon enough, things take a turn for the worse when he realizes that Wolff is a spy for the Nazi. Then it becomes a cat-and-mouse game. Vandam becomes tenacious on Wolff's scent and the spy recognizes a worthy adversary.
The beauty of thrillers such as this is the coming together of events and people in so `innocent' or at least inconspicuous moments that would later have shattering effects. What's more, Follett was able to sustain it all throughout. And his portrayal of the characters leaves no room for any perfect personas: all of them are flawed and constantly stumble into mistakes.
Thru providence and the sheer gullibility in the part of a British officer, Wolff was able to get highly confidential information, resulting in resounding defeats for the British. As the trail of Wolff almost always leads to the discovery of the English novel "Rebecca", Vandam begins to put two and two together as to how Wolff operates. And as the looming force of the German army advances ever closer to Cairo, Vandam has to work quickly to catch this spy in his own game, even if it meant using Elene as bait, the woman Vandam is rapidly becoming attracted to.
This is a real take-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat race for time. By the third quarter, I was regularly quietly blurting `dammit!' whenever a new twist comes around to thwart Vandam's plan. I was glued to the pages.
A real treat. The ending *ending* was a little too soppy for my taste, but it's negligible. Wolff is not as compelling (nor as scary) as 'Die Nadel', but the story is still gripping.
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Another good Follet Read
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-04-07
I have read several of Ken Follet's books and he has become one of my favorite authors. While this book is not on par with Eye of the Needle, or Pillars of the Earth it is a very enjoyable read. It has all the elements a good Follett book has which is a romance, some thrilling moments and characters you can't help but to feel for, root for and keep reading to see what happens. I definitely recommend this if you like any of Ken Follett's other books and if you like World War II espionage novels.
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