Posted: August 9, 2021
Triple
This novel is both a thriller and a snapshot of the cold war relationship between Israel, the West, and the Arab world.
"Triple" is about Israel's race to arm itself with atomic bombs before the Middle East could do so as well.
At the center of this novel is Nat Dickstein, a World War II veteran, Holocaust survivor, and a top Israeli field agent. Dickstein is charged with both planning and running the operation to get the essential uranium needed for Israel's nuclear weapons program.
Arrayed against him is Rostov, a Russian KGB officer, and Hassan, whose family has been displaced by Israel's take over of Palestine. The third man who makes up the triple threat to Dickstein is Professor Ashford, an Oxford don who sympathizes with the Arab cause.
It's mission impossible but Dickstein hurdles each challenge until something happens to him that he didn't expect: He falls in love with Susa Ashford, Professor Ashford's daughter.
The book takes us from the circumstances necessitating this ambitions plan, to the conception of the plan, and to it's ultimate denouement. The latter being, as expected, a thrill-packed roller coaster ride.
Easy to read, fun, exciting, gripping. "Triple" is everything you would want in a thriller. In its scope this novel strikes me as being more expansive than the two previous Follett novels I've read: "Eye of the Needle" and "The Key to Rebecca". It takes us from Egypt to Israel, to Palestine, to Russia and to Buffalo, New York. We learn a bit about the Middle Eastern political situation at that time - the period being 1968.
After reading the last page and putting the book down it occurred to me that the book can be read allegorically with Dickstein being Israel, Hassan being Palestine, Rostov would be the U.S.S.R., Ashford the U.K. and an Italian-American named Cortone being the U.S. I found this allegorical aspect to be a delightful revelation that enhances the appeal of the book.
"Triple" is not one of Follett's most famous works. In fact I took a chance on this and discovered a sleeper of a thriller. If your in the mood for a fast-paced, immersive espionage book set in the Cold War years, "Triple" will not disappoint.