
The Outsider
My Life in Intrigue
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Narrated by:
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Robert Powell
About this listen
Frederick Forsyth has seen it all. And lived to tell the tale.
We all make mistakes, but starting the Third World War would have been a rather large one. To this day I still maintain it was not entirely my fault. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
During the course of my life, I've barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, been strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian civil war, and landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau.
The Stasi arrested me, the Israelis regaled me, the IRA prompted a quick move from Ireland to England, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent - well, her actions were a bit more intimate. And that's just for starters. All of that I saw from the inside. But all that time I was, nonetheless, an outsider.
Trained first as a pilot then as a journalist, Frederick Forsyth finally turned to fiction and became one of the most lauded thriller writers of our time.
As exciting as his novels, Forsyth's autobiography is a candid look at an extraordinary life lived to the full - a life whose unique experiences have provided rich inspiration for 13 internationally best-selling thrillers.
©2015 Frederick Forsyth (P)2015 Random House AudioBooks (UK)Listeners also enjoyed...
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The Fox
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The number one New York Times best-selling master of international intrigue takes readers into the bleeding-edge world of technological espionage in a propulsive thriller that feels chillingly real. Former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service Adrian Weston is awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call from the prime minister. Her news is shocking: The Pentagon, the NSA, and the CIA have been hacked simultaneously, their seemingly impenetrable firewalls breached by an unknown enemy known only as "The Fox".
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Modern Story with Classic Prose
- By stuartjash on 10-24-18
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Avenger
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Eric Conger
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Attorney Calvin Dexter hangs his shingle in a quiet New Jersey town, has a reasonably successful practice, and takes the hills strong while triathlon training. But Dexter is no ordinary lawyer. On Sundays, he reads the paper and shuffles around his dark, empty house, trying to forget about a life he has lost forever. Until, of course, Dexter reads something in the papers that sends him the necessary signal. Until one of the handful who know of Dexter's other life tries to contact him. For in a world that has forgotten right and wrong, few can settle a score like Cal Dexter can.
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MASTERFULL
- By James on 11-03-03
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The Day of the Jackal
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One of the most celebrated thrillers ever written, The Day of the Jackal is the electrifying story of an anonymous Englishman who in, the spring of 1963, was hired by Colonel Marc Rodin, operations chief of the O.A.S., to assassinate General de Gaulle.
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Tour de montagnes russes (roller coaster ride)!!!!
- By X on 03-26-11
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The Veteran
- Five Heart-Stopping Stories
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Patrick Macnee, Bruce Boxleitner, Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Justice does not always come easily, and it comes in many guises. On the seedier side of London, a shopkeeper witnesses a brutal beating in “The Veteran” (read by Patrick Macnee). In a better neighborhood, a famous London auction house is scammed in “The Art of the Matter” (also read by Macnee).
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Here is the index to the five stories
- By Hadassah on 09-13-20
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The Fourth Protocol
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Plan Aurora, hatched in a remote dacha in the forest outside Moscow and initiated with relentless brilliance and skill, is a plan within a plan that, in its spine-chilling ingenuity, breaches the ultra-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a jigsaw of devastation.
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As usual, Forsyth is Fantastic
- By Thomas Burch on 02-27-11
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No Comebacks
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Nigel Davenport
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Deception, blackmail, murder, revenge - these are themes of stories that move from London to the coast of Spain, from Mauritius to Dublin. Whether his subject is assassination by stealth, gun-smuggling or the cruel confidence trick Forsyth is never less than compulsive.Here are eight stories with the Forsyth touch - a brilliant and original collection by an incomparable craftsman of suspense.
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Some excellent stories
- By Christopher on 08-05-12
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The Fox
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The number one New York Times best-selling master of international intrigue takes readers into the bleeding-edge world of technological espionage in a propulsive thriller that feels chillingly real. Former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service Adrian Weston is awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call from the prime minister. Her news is shocking: The Pentagon, the NSA, and the CIA have been hacked simultaneously, their seemingly impenetrable firewalls breached by an unknown enemy known only as "The Fox".
-
-
Modern Story with Classic Prose
- By stuartjash on 10-24-18
-
Avenger
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Eric Conger
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Attorney Calvin Dexter hangs his shingle in a quiet New Jersey town, has a reasonably successful practice, and takes the hills strong while triathlon training. But Dexter is no ordinary lawyer. On Sundays, he reads the paper and shuffles around his dark, empty house, trying to forget about a life he has lost forever. Until, of course, Dexter reads something in the papers that sends him the necessary signal. Until one of the handful who know of Dexter's other life tries to contact him. For in a world that has forgotten right and wrong, few can settle a score like Cal Dexter can.
-
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MASTERFULL
- By James on 11-03-03
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The Day of the Jackal
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most celebrated thrillers ever written, The Day of the Jackal is the electrifying story of an anonymous Englishman who in, the spring of 1963, was hired by Colonel Marc Rodin, operations chief of the O.A.S., to assassinate General de Gaulle.
-
-
Tour de montagnes russes (roller coaster ride)!!!!
- By X on 03-26-11
-
The Veteran
- Five Heart-Stopping Stories
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Patrick Macnee, Bruce Boxleitner, Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Justice does not always come easily, and it comes in many guises. On the seedier side of London, a shopkeeper witnesses a brutal beating in “The Veteran” (read by Patrick Macnee). In a better neighborhood, a famous London auction house is scammed in “The Art of the Matter” (also read by Macnee).
-
-
Here is the index to the five stories
- By Hadassah on 09-13-20
-
The Fourth Protocol
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plan Aurora, hatched in a remote dacha in the forest outside Moscow and initiated with relentless brilliance and skill, is a plan within a plan that, in its spine-chilling ingenuity, breaches the ultra-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a jigsaw of devastation.
-
-
As usual, Forsyth is Fantastic
- By Thomas Burch on 02-27-11
-
No Comebacks
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Nigel Davenport
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deception, blackmail, murder, revenge - these are themes of stories that move from London to the coast of Spain, from Mauritius to Dublin. Whether his subject is assassination by stealth, gun-smuggling or the cruel confidence trick Forsyth is never less than compulsive.Here are eight stories with the Forsyth touch - a brilliant and original collection by an incomparable craftsman of suspense.
-
-
Some excellent stories
- By Christopher on 08-05-12
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The Kill List
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Northern Virginia, a secret agency named TOSA (Technical Operations Support Activity) has one mission: To track, find, and kill those so dangerous to the United States that they are on a short, very close-held document known as the Kill List. Now a new name has been added: A terrorist of frightening effectiveness called the Preacher, who radicalizes young Muslims living abroad to carry out assassinations. Unfortunately for him, one of his targets is a retired Marine general, whose son is TOSA’s top tracker of men. The Preacher has made it personal - and now the hunt is on...
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Good, But Not Forsyth's Best
- By Tim on 09-13-13
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The Cobra
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What if you had carte blanche to fight evil? Nothing held back, nothing off the table. What would you do? For decades, the world has been fighting the drug cartels, and losing, their billions of dollars making them the most powerful and destructive organizations on earth. Until one man is asked to take charge. Paul Devereaux used to run Special Operations for the CIA before they retired him for being too ruthless. Now he can have anything he requires, do anything he thinks necessary. No boundaries, no rules, no questions asked.
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Another Good Read by Forsyth
- By Tim on 08-27-10
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The Afghan
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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. Or is it?
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Somewhere In Between
- By Johnnie Walker on 10-29-06
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Icon
- A Novel
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Stephen Lang
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is summer 1999 in Russia, a country on the threshold of anarchy. An interim president sits powerless in Moscow as his nation is wracked by famine and inflation, crime and corruption, and seething hordes of the unemployed roam the streets. For the West, Russia is a basket case. But for Igor Komarov, one-time army sergeant who has risen to leadership of the right-wing UPF party, the chaos is made to order.
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Great Book
- By Matt on 07-25-04
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The Shepherd
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: James Konicek
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is Christmas Eve, 1957. Flying home, on leave from Germany, he is alone in the cockpit of the Vampire. Sixty-six minutes of flying time, with the descent and landing - destination Lakenheath. No problem, all routine procedures.Then, out over the North Sea, the fog begins to close in. Radio contact ceases and the compass goes haywire. Suddenly, out of the mist, appears a WorldWar II bomber. It is flying just below the Vampire, as if trying to make contact.
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Very very well done!
- By tomasz brymora on 05-10-13
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The Evening and the Morning
- Kingsbridge, Book 4
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 24 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined.
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I was really waiting for this book!
- By Firebolt on 09-20-20
By: Ken Follett
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The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
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Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
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Eye of the Needle
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
His code name was “The Needle.” He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence - a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history.... But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom - and win the war for the Nazis....
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All-time great thriller, great reader, great idea
- By Glenn Hopp on 03-14-21
By: Ken Follett
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The Spy and the Traitor
- The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.
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John Lee is GREAT!
- By David on 09-21-18
By: Ben Macintyre
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Hornet Flight
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies, indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler.
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An Outstanding Spy Novel
- By C. McCoy on 03-13-05
By: Ken Follett
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The Man from St. Petersburg
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
His name was Feliks. He came to London to commit a murder that would change history. A master manipulator, he had many weapons at his command, but against him were ranged the whole of the English police, a brilliant and powerful lord, and the young Winston Churchill himself. These odds would have stopped any man in the world - except the man from St. Petersburg.
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Riveting historical fiction
- By Thomas P. O'Connor on 04-14-21
By: Ken Follett
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Never
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 23 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Never is an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heart-pounding story that transports listeners to the brink of the unimaginable.
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I'll NEVER get through this one
- By Georgia on 11-11-21
By: Ken Follett
What listeners say about The Outsider
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Jean
- 09-30-15
Riveting memoir
Forsyth writes in an intimate manner and made me feel as if I was sitting in his living room over a cup of tea discussing his life. The book is well written, concise with adventure, intrigue and humor.
The first part of the book he tells of his youth and his desire to fly planes. I was impressed that his father sent him to live with a family in France each summer when he was a child to learn French; then as a teen he sent him to live with a German family to learn German. Just before he went into the RAF he spent time in Spain living with a family to learn Spanish. He also learned Russian but via an academic method. A good part of the beginning of the book he discusses the techniques and importance of research to be a good author. He points out that a writer is an outsider as he is an observer of society and then works in solitude.
The remainder of the book is about his life as a journalist for the BBC, Reuters and as a free lance reporter. He discusses various wars in Africa and events such as the attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle that he covered as a reporter. Forsyth reveals how his ability to speak like a native helped him as an investigative reporter. He then details how these events and his investigative reporting provided the basic information that gave him the bases for his novels. I have read most of his books over the years and could relate to events in his life that he worked into his stories.
The book provides an insight into the mind of a writer. The story shows how much Forsyth liked to travel and enjoyed his desire for adventure. Robert Powell does a good job narrating the book.
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