Just finished reading Frederick Forsyth’s latest novel The Fox. This is the first Forsyth book that I have read. Had read quite a bit about Forsyth and his thrillers, but never really had the opportunity to read his novels. This time, the isolation after a Covid-19 infection gave me a chance to read as I please and I chose Forsyth’s The Fox.

The Fox is the latest (2018) novel of Frederick Forsyth and in line with his earlier thrillers, tells the story of checkmates in the game of espionage played on the stage of international politics. The novel begins with a raid of the British security forces on a house in Luton, England where a family of a suspected hacker who has managed to hack the supposedly impenetrable US military database at Fort Mede lives. The hacker eventually turns out to be a shy teenager called Luke Jennings having Asperger’s syndrome. He has unparalleled and incredible skills for hacking and it turns out that he has just casually hacked one of the most secure databases in the world. A British veteran spy spots the talent of the boy and manages to get him to work for the UK and USA saving him from a possible jail term in USA. The talent of the boy is leveraged to the use of the allied powers and he manages to hack robustly secure Russian, Iranian and North Korean security systems- thereby neutralizing potential threats to the West and the rest of the world from these ‘rouge’ states.

The novel has a thinly veiled story and most of the characters are from the real world. Only a select few have been not been mentioned by their names or imaginary names have been used for them, but most of the people and events are real and easily identifiable. The plot of the novel is very tightly and skillfully woven. There are no unnecessary details. However, the book is replete with lots of relevant details – historical, geopolitical and technological. What we enjoy in the novel is a series of moves and counter-moves in the field of espionage where there is always an urgency and eagerness to anticipate the move of the other side and score over it. Forsyth’s novels are stuffed with rich and very well researched details and this one is no exception. One is always amazed by the amount of research and detailing that goes into his novels.

The Fox is not just a piece of fiction. After reading it, one feels rich as one happens to know a lot of details about international politics, espionage, covert operations, intelligence agencies, modern warfare and weapons. The portraits of the key players on the stage of international politics are very vividly and accurately drawn.

What happens to the genius hacker and how the entire exercise ends, is something to be read and enjoyed. Forsyth’s first-hand knowledge of intelligence operations, his long stint as a journalist and his exceptional ability to weave a plot and tell the story make him the most popular storyteller of our times.