A Dangerous Fortune

I grabbed this as a way in to Follet while not having to sit through 50 hours of Pillars of the Earth. I was not disappointed. The story is masterfully crafted and keeps moving with the two main plots being whether or not Hugh and Maisy will get together and when or if the bad guywill get his due deserts. Great story, great characters and an unusual but satisfying, fitting end.

I loved it and fear I will have no choice now but to take the plunge and get Pillars of the Earth!

I have to say, I love Ken Follet, I've read most of his books and The Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favourites. I already read this book 15 years ago but it was nice to listen to again. I did not remember all the plot twists and was excited to see how it would all end.
It is written in his laid-back style and you can't wait to here what is going to happen next. Its also a very nice portrayal of the time, with intrigues in the financial world.
Book is also remarkably up to date with all the banks that are crashing at the moment, history repeats itself...
The readingby Michael page is also very nice, with good accents and pauses at the right moments.

Love it. Great read.

Both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this terrific book. Superbly researched, excellently read and a real gripper from start to finish. I can certainly recommend this to all Follett fans

I usually read the comments from readers before I buy a book, and these generally confirm the fact that reading taste is a totally individual thing - books I love some people can't finish and vice versa. Readers I enjoy are irritating to others and so on. However, whatever criticism I read of Ken Follett I'd probably ignore because the books he writes are usually well researched and the subject matter interesting. Not this time, though. All the people in it are horrible and their lives tawdry and I'm limping on to the end because I don't like to give up. I suppose it does point up the morals and social differences of the 19th century but says nothing original on the subject. After the blockbusters on the 20th century that he's written, this is a sad disappointment.

It moves at a great pace throughout and is an excellent story. As with previous books by this author one needs to be prepared for some graphic detail and colourful language which I could personally do without, but that said, his storytelling is fantastic.