The Afghan - Frederick Forsyth (Audiobook)

Performed by Robert Powell

Penguin Audio, 2006

ISBN: 978-0143059165

Listened to: April 2011 (at age 33)

This was a bit of an odd book – part history lesson, part political thriller, but there really wasn’t much tension in the book.  So I don’t know what to call it.  I don’t know what to make of it, really, at all.

Publisher’s blurb: 

"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 at Guantanamo 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 he is about to enter. Or for the terrible things he will find there.

I’m not really sure what to make of this book, so I’ll just put up some thoughts arising.  No spoilers.

Rating: 3

• The story was interesting, but not really engrossing, and not particularly exciting.  The whole book had a feeling of inevitability about it, as if the events had already occurred, and a dispassionate observer or observers were reporting what had happened. 

• The largest part of the book dealt with why the Islamic terrorists do what they do – what led up to 9/11, what leads up to the later threats and the “war on terror”.

• It was certainly not a character-driven story.  The characters were pretty much just eyes and ears to let the narrator talk about different things.  As a result, I really didn’t care about any of the characters – they were used more to illustrate a point or event, rather than to influence the overall story arc.  Characters popped in and back out of the book, never to be seen again.  They all (even our putative hero) stayed off-camera often enough and long enough that I never developed an attachment to any of them.

• It read kind of like Space (Michener), I guess, in that the Story is the thing, and the characters aren’t really important.

• The characters were all believable.  I bought into each character doing his job, being good at it, etc.  They behaved like people.  However, they were such a small part of the book that it didn’t really matter. 

• I can’t vouch for the accuracy of any of the novel, but it seemed reasonable.  The little details that I do know about were accurate, and the whole felt right.  That’s the most important thing in a work of fiction, anyway. 

• The audiobook reader did a good job, in my mind.  He handled a variety of accents well enough for me to have a feeling who was talking at any given point.  The American accents sounded forced, and not too accurate, but everything was clearly understandable.

Other Opinons:

Not many opinions out there.  Here's one.  Let me know if you find any more. 

Jabberwock (dead tree edition review)

Pretty similar read to mine, I think.