I probably wouldn’t have read this if I hadn’t quite enjoyed Goodnight Mister Tom, but I’m glad that I did pick it up. It follows a similar pattern, chronicling the trials and tribulations of a boy as he learns the world around him is a little bit different than he first imagined.

The third and final book in a collection of three Ken Follett war time spy thrillers focused on another allied country - this time, Denmark. With Germans occupying the Danish territory, a fledgling resistance network takes shape, and this story follows the boy who tries to save the day, and the policeman trying to stop him.

The previous Ken Follett wartime thriller I read was all about Brits trying to catch a German spy in their midst, across the English country and up in to Scotland. This time, it was about plucky Brits infiltrating German-occupied France, which almost makes us the bad guys considering the setting of the book.

I’m a fan of Ken Follett’s work and jumped at the chance to buy a collection of three of his early thrillers for the Kindle. This was the first and introduced me to the adventures of World War Two spying and those trying to catch them. The novel spends half the time in the company of a German spy trying to get some important photographs out of the country. The rest is with those who are half a step behind, and have to stop him to save the war.

At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. The introduction gives away a lot of what Victor has done during his life, and I was worried it was going to be an improbable mass of incidents, talked up to seem interesting. It was nothing like that. The book focuses on the army years of Victor’s life for the first two thirds, and then the final third is what happened to him afterwards.

Really enjoyed this one. I didn’t really know the story at all well, although have vague images in my head of the TV adaptation. I thought the gruff old man was going to be more scary but actually he was an absolute darling. What was scary was the level of child abuse that was detailed in the story. I couldn’t quite believe parts of it, but it was such a great journey seeing Willie become Will and be brought out of his shell.

I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed the book, but there were bits of it I liked. Just like the concept of Catch 22 itself, Joseph Heller’s writing was repetitive and full of riddles. Sometimes I wasn’t sure I knew what was going on, and I’d have to read a conversation several times to make sure I could follow it. Other times it was easy to keep up.

Going back to the book, though, I did find it tough going. I think it was another one of those issues where I couldn’t relate to this 13 year old girl who dreamed big. She was so full of thoughts about politics and the future. When I was 13 I thought about pop music and bubblegum. I feel terrible about this. Still, I did manage to read it all the way through this time, which is something to note, as I believe I have tried and failed a couple of times before.