Good but not his best!!!. Review on ICON - Frederick Forsyth

I have read Sir Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, The Negotiator, The Dogs of war, The Odessa File..... and I like them in that order. And since I am a great fan of sir, I decided to read the next in his series, Icon.

Sir Frederick Forsyth actually wrote Icon in 1996 and set it in the Russia of 1999, a country he projected would be plagued by a vast criminal underworld, increasingly disillusioned with the new democracy and capitalist systems, and subject to a return to Communist and other totalitarian rule.

Igor Komarov, sure to win the presidential election in Russia, is thinking of emulating Hitler. He has written all his plans in a top secret document later to be known as 'The Black Manifesto'. Since Komarov is far ahead in the polls, and his Manifesto espouses both military aggression against surrounding countries and genocide against certain Russian minorities, the Brits are understandably worried.

The Jason Monk character is one of Forsyth's more memorable ones, and he is developed a little differently than the norm with the way the book is written in two parts. There is also a reappearance of some characters in previous Forsyth books(Sir Negel Irvine), something which works well in Icon but is not something which Forsyth often does.

Icon isn't quite at the level of Forsyth's best work, but it is certainly good enough to demonstrate his ability to tell a good story and spin an entertaining yarn involving international intrigue.

The first half of the book is really good. It describes a real life traitor, Aldrich Ames and CIA hero Jason Monk, and all the events which set up for a thrilling second half. You come to know about how the traitors surface.

Over time, Monk watches helplessly as his agents are betrayed by the real-life CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, and subsequently captured, tortured and executed by the sadistic KGB Colonel Anatoli Grishin. 'Jason Monk and Grishin' rivalry is top class.

Forsyth slowly sets up the principal story with a nice sense of balance, nuance, and loving detail and you are bound to think Is it real? Forsyth unfolds the events in the book's first half by switching back and forth between two timelines and that is very impressive.

I would place this book equal to The Dogs of war and the Odessa file. let me say in this way, The day of the Jackal is top. Next level comprises of The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, The Negotiator. The next level comprises of The Dogs of war, The Odessa File and Icon. Well these are all the forsyth's books I have read so far, so I cannot comment on his other books.

Just go and grab a copy, they are all great books!!!