Finished: Eye of the Needle (Follet) Another very good page turning book by Follet, and he wrote it when he was only 27!! It's a story based on a set of real life events that took place in World War II...the deception used by the Allies to trick the Germans into thinkng that the coming assault by the Allies (one whose success or failure would alter the outcome of the war) was going to take place in Calais and not in Normandy! I didn't know about this history so even though the book was fiction, it was based on real life events that were fascinating. Apparently the U.S and Great Britain staged a huge fake army, complete with troop barracks and cardboard fighter airplanes, that when reconnaissed from the air by the enemy would look like a huge military presence was building  closer to Calais than Normandy. That trickery, along with carefully faked and "intercepted" messages stating the Allies' intentions did, in fact, end up tricking Hitler, keeping him from sending the necessary  troops to defeat the Allied troops landing at Normandy. In Eye of the Needle there are three main characters: Faber, Lucy and Professor Percy Godliman. Faber is a cold-hearted, dangerous, methodical  spy for the Germans who has been ensconced in England. His mission is to find out whether there really is such a huge military presence headed to Calais, or whether it's a ruse, and report back to Hitler himself. None of the American or British intelligence members have ever seen his face. He is known simply as Die Nadel (the Needle) because of the stiletto knife he uses to kill. Hitler's entire decision about where to place his troops rides on Faber getting the info and then making a rendezvous with a German submarine off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. Percy, the professor, is a retired British agent with MI5 and is one of the best. He's called back into service to work with Scotland Yard's young lieutenant Fred Boggs. Together they stay right on the tail of Faber, who HAS now acquired photos of the sham barracks and airplanes. As they close in on The Needle, the normally unflappable spy makes two mistakes. First, he takes a fishing boat out in a stormy, raging North Sea to try and rendezvous with the submarine. Second, when he crashes, near death on Storm Island, ten miles out to sea he develops an uncharacteristic soft spot for one of its four inhabitants, Lucy Rose. Lucy and her husband live on the island with their three year old son, Jo. Married only four years before and unknowingly pregnant before their wedding day, Lucy lives with her cold, distant, sometimes cruel husband, David, who suffered  the loss of both legs on their wedding day in a horrific car accident. He had been all set to leave to be a fighter pilot in the British air force  the next day. His life shattered, his father sends him and his family to recuperate in one of the two cabins on Storm Island. David develops great upper body strength, learns to drive his special made jeep and befriends and works with the only other island inhabitant, old Tom, the sheephearder, whose purpose  on the island is to operate the one radio and be a first lookout for any enemy activity that may threaten Scotland. When Faber stumbles to Lucy and David's cabin door, there is an instant attraction between them since Lucy has neither been loved or made love to by her husband in four years. Lucy nurses Faber back to health, and he cleverly finds out that there are only four people  he'll have to deal with on the island a woman, a cripple, a toddler  and an old man....an old man who has the only radio...one Faber will use to call the submarine  and transmit his info to Hitler. Faber seduces Lucy but ends up developing  that soft spot for her so he doesn't kill her He does end up killing David and old Tom. When Lucy figures out what's  going on, she actually seduces Faber one last time and while he's sleeping afterward, takes Jo and her husbands liaded gunsm and high tails it to old Tom's  cabin. She finds Tom dead, but she also find a the radio! She can only manage to get off an SAS before Faber, who has now figured out that she's  on to him, makes his way there too kill her and send his message. The SOS does manage to alert Percy and Lt. Boggs who rally the coast guard and helicopters. Until they arrive, though Lucy is on her own! She manages to keep Faber at bay with the guns and an ax...even chopping off some of his fingers. When he finally gets the best of her, he dashes upstairs to send his message. Tough as nails Lucy unscrews the kitchen light bulb and puts  her hand in the socket, shorting  the whole house and causing  herself to pass out. She's  also prevented Faber from contacting  his submarine.  He comes downstairs  ready to kill her but he can't....he finds her to be too extraordinary. He decides instead to run for the cliffs, make his way down and swim for the submarine. However,  Lucy follows and throws a huge rock at him causing him to lose his balance and crash to his death on the rocks below! Lucy has killed the infamous Die Nadel!!! Of course, then all the help arrives. The MI5 sends a fake message to Hitler from Die Nadel telling him that reports of a huge presence near Calais are true, and the rest is truly history! :-) A really good book!