Historical fiction thriller with some characters to really root for. Threads of plot tangle and untangle beautifully. The sensual scenes are all consensual scenes.

A minha estreia com Follett.
Os livros dele intimidam, confesso. Mas andava curiosa.
Gostei mesmo muito da escrita dele, e apesar de grandote, manteve-me sempre interessada.
Vou querer ler mais

Not very well written, full of unconvincing, stereotypical characters and the plot got more and more unlikely as it went on.

Has all the makings for a great story; love, mystery, sex, thriller. Loved it.

Will have to read this myself as narrator was too annoying on audio book!

Mais um excelente livro ;)

Igazi utazós, tengerpartos, vagy éppen buszra várós laza kikapcsolódás. Se nem túl mély, se nem túl nagy szám, viszont már ez is hozza a később tökélyre fejlesztett Follett-i történetvezetést.

A gengszter-szálat én végtelenül bugyutának találtam, így a könyv végkifejlete is legfeljebb érdektelen tudott lenni számomra. Pont emiatt majdnem lecsúszott 3 csillagra nálam a könyv, viszont mivel valójában egy ilyen könyvet a hangulatáért olvas az ember, nem pedig a hatalmas karakterfejlődésekért, és ezt maximálisan hozta nekem az Alattunk az óceán, kategóriájában jár neki a négy csillag.

(Azért örülök, hogy elsőként az évszázad trilógiát olvastam Folletttől, és az rám tette az első benyomást.)

Night over Water is an amazingly well paced suspense novel with a traditional noir feel. It is loaded with well-timed action, typical intrigue, and indulgent sex scenes with every woman desperate for a man and every man reluctant, but passionate, toward a woman.

Honestly, that is the predominant crime here. It feels and moves very predictably and along all the expected tenants without deviation. It is not a brave book, and the author's choices feel too safe to deliver any depth or surprises. This book lacks metaphor or character arcs of value.

What I've written thusfar would give it three stars, but it loses a star for another sort of crime: over sexualization of its female characters. Ken Follett makes certain we know each woman's cup size and we can't escape that this is a man writing women. Whereas his female characters were fantastic in World without End and Pillar's of the Earth, here they are merely stock and act as golden pots at the ends of the male character's rainbows.

Yeah, that last analogy was reaching, but I did my best. The book is fairly forgettable and indulgent.

This isn't great literature, but Follett is a master storyteller and you always feel engaged reading his books. You also get some background here about the historical period and about a long-lost travel method that I for one had no idea about. Good flight read, passes the time and grabs you thoroughly.

I'm giving this 3 stars, but only due to the author's capturing the mood of the time period, especially what was involved in Trans-Atlantic flights at the time, and this plane model in particular. Other than that I kept thinking as I was reading the story that I was watching a 1970s film with an all-star cast of past their prime A-list stars and wanna be big someday ones. I found the cast to be a list of stereotypes, and the the situations almost predictable. When the plane made its final landing I even skim read to the end, sensing what was about to happen. I could almost hear the film score crescendo in my head at the final scene. Disappointed overall.

I can't believe that a writer with Ken Follett's reputation wrote something as poor and cliche as this. I haven't read any of his other books but going on this, I don't think I ever will. The style is naive - single, short sentences that aren't developed in any way whatsoever so that there is no literary skill or attempt to grip the reader - unless Follett thinks that the amazingly poor storyline will do it all for him. It reads (or at least the first few chapters read) like some rushed detective pulp fiction full of cardboard characters that escaped from a poor 1940s movie.
I am genuinely saddened at the paucity of the writing and story-telling here.

Ken non delude davvero mai!
Ho letto quasi tutti i suoi libri e a parte “Il terzo gemello”, mi sono piaciuti TUTTI! Il suo stile di scrittura è unico, ed è così bravo a scrivere che spazia in vari generi (avventura, guerra, spionaggio, narrativa romantica) risultando sempre credibile e coinvolgente.

Questo romanzo ha tantissimi personaggi, descritti così bene che ti sembra di conoscerli e di essere sul Boeing con loro.. anche se le descrizioni sono lunghe e i vari capitoli siano dedicati ognuno a un passeggero diverso, la lettura non annoia e non confonde mai, anzi rende il tutto più interessante. Questa abilità l’ho riscontrata solo nella Christie oltre a lui, gli altri ci provano ma creano confusione.

Se proprio devo fare una critica il finale è un po’ troppo rocambolesco, ho dovuto rileggere alcuni punti perché mi ero persa dei passaggi.. succede tutto così in fretta! Forse avrebbe potuto dedicare qualche pagina in più x spiegare con calma il susseguirsi degli avvenimenti, però è una cosa passabile, mi sono comunque assolutamente goduta la lettura di questo bellissimo romanzo!