Lie Down With Lions

An entertaining and suspenseful read. Interesting hijinks in the world of espionage but occasionally too much of a pot-boiler. Character development was well done and the backstory slid into place very adroitly.

This a love triangle with a background of the Afghan war, further complicated wit the men on opposing sides. It is well written with exceptional work on the lives of women in an Afghan village where our main character uses her wiles to survive. I did get tired with the continual emphasis on breast feeding. This was the least of my problems, when half-way thru the book I thought it had changed to a porn novel. I found this section an unnecessary addition to the book. The story seemed to have lost its purpose. After that wasted section the book was back on track with a great ending.

Good page turning thriller, albeit not one of Follett's best. The descriptions of Afghanistan as a war torn and very primitive country are very evocative and the inhabitants are well depicted as individuals with differing drives and views of Russia and the West.

Set in the 1980s during the opening stages of the Afghan-Soviet war when the Soviet Union was largely unopposed Lie Down With Lions follows the interactions between two spies, one a professional, the other a sleeper.

In the start of the book the men are in France and encounter each other and the sleeper identifies the professional to the Russians so they can attempt to kill him, after this the sleeper marries a woman who the professional had been seeing and together the woman and sleeper go to Afghanistan. Unbeknownst to the woman, it is for the sleeper to spy on the Afghans and report intelligence to the Russians.

With America taking more of an interest in humiliating Russia on the world stage the professional is sent to aid the Afghans show more and obtain their agreement to join tribal forces in exchange for American military aid. It's here where the men encounter one another, the sleepers cover is blown and once again he fingers the professional to the Russians who move in to try and capture him as a political coup. The result? A nail biting chase through the mountains to Pakistan as the professional tries to flee with the Russians hot on his heels. There's a juicy romance sub plot to go along with that, that whilst far fetched doesn't detract from the greater story itself.

I quite enjoyed it and would recommend it for those who enjoy action/adventure and/or spy thrillers. show less

Las escenas de acción se pasan de entretenidas , como de costumbre .

Lo demás ... Meh ...

Dado que es un libro escrito en los '80 , el enemigo natural son los rusos , así que esa trama no me va ni me viene .

La muchachita es este caso es bastante odiosa (algo sorprendente , ya que Follett nunca decepciona con sus heroínas feministas ) y las escenas de sexo me dieron un poco de asquito (muchas menciones a la lactancia ... creo que el autor tiene un fetiche ahí ) .

Divertido para los que disfrutan del cine de acción yanqui de los '70 y '80 .

Quite well-written as expected from Follett, but really slow. Takes 200 pages with just a short bit of action to finally get underway.

Well researched story set in early 1980s during Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when rebels weren't well organised and before US support. Jane and her French communist husband, Jean-Pierre are living with fighters providing medical care to locals when Jane's former lover Ellis, a CIA undercover operator, arrives to try to organise the rebel factions in return for US weaponry. Exciting plot as Russians try to find Ellis before he can organise the rebel factions.