The Afghan - Review

Back from a breezy prose by John Grisham, I stumbled on quite a few long and winding sentences employed by Frederick Forsyth in "The Afghan". But once you get a hang of his writing style, the content is absolutely gripping. Forsyth takes you on an educational primer on Islam, Wahhabism, the first four caliphates, Taliban, Al Qaeda and the like. For someone like me who is abysmally ignorant about these matters, it was piercingly insightful. However, I will have to agree with most others that are holes in the plot some even bordering on blunder. For example, it was not all sensical that the afghan after having infiltrated the fanatics, was immediately decreed by the chief himself to participate in the ultimate journey - Al Isra. There were other goof ups but were more of nitpick sorts that shows the author's research in poor light.

I, on the other hand forgave all the unnoticeable blemishes (the truth is I was naïve enough not to spot them!) and thoroughly enjoyed the novel. I particularly likened the rich detail used to describle the islands of the United Arab Emirates and seas and straits and canals that surround them. The final plot by Al Qaeda itself did not live up to the massive expectations set by the author in the first 300 pages so it was rather bleak and unfussy. I though am impressed and will be reading more of Forsyth as part of my fiction marathon.

With regards...