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    The Fox
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    The Fox
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    The Fox
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Fox

    Written by Frederick Forsyth

    Narrated by David Rintoul

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The #1 New York Times-bestselling master of international intrigue takes readers into the bleeding-edge world of technological espionage in a propulsive thriller that feels chillingly real.

    Former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service Adrian Weston is awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call from the Prime Minister. Her news is shocking: the Pentagon, the NSA, and the CIA have been hacked simultaneously, their seemingly impenetrable firewalls breached by an unknown enemy known only as "The Fox." Even more surprisingly, the culprit is revealed to be a young British teenager, Luke Jennings. He has no agenda, no secrets, just a blisteringly brilliant mind. Extradition to the U.S. seems likely—until Weston has another idea: If Luke can do this to us, what can he do to our enemies?

    After conferring with both the American President and the Prime Minister, Weston is determined to use "The Fox" and his talents to the advantage of the two nations. But doing so places the boy on a geopolitical minefield. Adrian must stay one step ahead of multiple invisible enemies, all while finding a way to utilize the most powerful—and most unpredictable—weapon of all.

    With his trademark research and deep knowledge of the rules and practices of international intrigue, Forsyth takes on tomorrow's threats in this race-against-the-clock thriller.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 23, 2018
    ISBN9780525642701
    Unavailable
    The Fox
    Author

    Frederick Forsyth

    Frederick Forsyth (b. 1938) is an English author of thrillers. Born in Kent, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1956, becoming one of the youngest pilots to ever fly in Her Majesty’s service. After two years in the RAF, he began working as a journalist. He later turned his journalism skills to writing fiction, and his first novel, The Day of the Jackal (1970), was a great success. Forsyth continued to use real figures and criminal organizations as inspiration, writing popular books like The Odessa File (1972) and The Dogs of War (1974). His most recent novel is The Cobra (2010).  

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    Reviews for The Fox

    3.5/5

    122 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      In April 2019, seventy-year-old Sir Adrian Weston, the former Deputy Chief of MI6 (the British Secret Intelligence Service), is enjoying his retirement in Dorset, with occasional visits to London. One night, he receives a call from England's Prime Minister, Marjory Graham, who requests his presence at an early meeting with the American ambassador. Someone has hacked into the supposedly impenetrable computer systems of the Pentagon, NSA, and CIA. A search was launched to identify the individual or individuals behind this breach, and those in the know are shocked to learn that an eighteen-year-old, Luke Jennings, did the deed, albeit with no malicious intent.

      Luke is a shy young man with Asperger's Syndrome who lives in England with his parents. He has a particular genius for finding gaps in the strongest firewalls. Dr. Jeremy Hendricks, of the British National Cyber Security Centre, becomes Luke's friend and mentor, and under his direction, Luke uses his uncanny abilities to help the West in its undeclared war against Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Frederick Forsyth's "The Fox" is an entertaining thriller in which the author impresses us with his mastery of the intricacies of British intelligence agencies; familiarity with the world of spies and their handlers; and use of real-life political figures and events that lend heft and relevance to his intricate plot.

      The author's writing is, for the most part, lucid, spare, and fast-paced, although the dialogue is somewhat stilted and most of the characters are thinly drawn. A notable exception is the impressive Sir Adrian, who is savvy, intuitive, a master of deception, and an expert in the complexities of espionage, sabotage, and financial skullduggery. "The Fox" has formulaic elements, but Forsyth compensates for the book's flaws by providing a behind-the-scenes look at the ways in which such countries as the United States, England, China, Korea, and Israel try to protect their secrets. At the same time, they do what they can to uncover their adversaries' hidden agendas and monitor their clandestine activities. Frederick Forsyth warns us that, with the omnipresence of computers in modern life, malicious hackers are likely to become even more brazen, dangerous, and destructive.
    • 2/5
      “The Fox” is a geopolitical fantasy centering on the worldly ability of a Luke Jennings, an autistic teenager, to penetrate state-of-the-art computer firewalls that require a jumble of letters, figures, symbols, and hieroglyphs in exactly the right order. This ability permits him to gain access to databases that are vital to the safety and security of the major world powers. Upon learning about his ability, the security services of the United Kingdom decide to take advantage of Luke’s skill to sabotage Russian, Chinese, and North Korean programs designed to subjugate the NATO powers and Israel. Despite the vicarious satisfaction offered by “The Fox,” numerous shortcomings are apparent in this weak offering by Forsyth. The plot is too thin to sustain a full-length novel, Forsyth relies almost exclusively on narrative to “tell” readers what the characters are thinking and feeling, and the protagonist’s abilities to deal with the issues they confront are never explained. The story begins with an initial action scene in which Luke and his family are taken into custody. After that Forsyth engages in a lengthy, languid backfill during which nothing much happens. He takes four pages to say how easy it is to pocket a thumb drive containing millions of digitized records that would fill a fleet of trucks. Another boring, multi-page discourse on cybersecurity could have been summarized in a single sentence. In these instances, and throughout the book, Forsyth’s slow, methodical build-up to a brief scene comes across as obsessive. Tedious, boring, and mildly insulting are reactions that came to mind. It seems unlikely that Forsyth is so out of touch with contemporary readers that he thought it was necessary to explain information that is now common knowledge. More likely is that the excessive detail was necessary to expand what is essentially a novella to book length. “The Fox” relies almost exclusively on narrative, opting to “tell” readers the character’s thoughts and motives instead of “showing” them. An example is the explanation of the intricate cognitive process used by Sir Adrian Weston to indentify a traitor in the British government. The explanation was interesting, but the brief narrative would have been more riveting if shown. Forsyth’s approach results in two-dimensional characters.“The Fox” lacks dramatic tension because a valid threat never materializes. Numerous Russian, Chinese, or North Korean menaces are presented, but Luke quickly provides the key needed to invade the hostile computer systems and sabotage the process. Forsyth never explains how Luke is able to hack into these complicated systems, so no matter how threatening the menace or complicated the defensive firewall, readers know that Luke’s mysterious talent will prevail. Forsyth also invokes a magical “sixth sense” at critical points to explain why the plans and plots of the villains fail at critical junctures. These shortcuts permit Forsyth to create complicated schemes without having to come up with a realistic way to avoid them.In short, “The Fox” is a flawed effort that would have benefited from an insightful revision that rectified these and other lesser shortcomings.
    • 3/5
      It is almost fifty years since Forsyth’s “Day of the Jackal” was published. What a great story. Here was a book which focused not on the good guy, but on an assassin. It traced, in great detail, his recruitment, his preparation, steps he took to eliminate any trace of his identity. Meanwhile, the good guys were fumbling. Clues seemed to come their way despite themselves; somehow as they continued to bungle they managed to draw closer to their unknown target. But so too the Jackal. Then stories emerged that the plot was loosely based on a real life Jackal; the rumors clearly did not hurt book sales. Readers found themselves pulling for the Jackal – would he succeed in his mission? As I reflected a bit on history of the times, this too was a rather remarkable twist. After all it was still less than a decade after JFK’s assassination, and while De Gaulle was no JFK…. “Day of the Jackal” spawned dozens and dozens of new thrillers over the intervening years, and one very good follow-on movie. I have read the book at least twice more since its debut, and enjoyed it thoroughly each time.So now, twelve books later we have “The Fox”. In the intervening years, I tried two or three other Forsyth’s and was disappointed in all. None came close to the tension and reader pleasures of the Jackal. Despite all the disappointments, I was intrigued by blurbs of “The Fox” plot. A teenage genius can somehow uncover access codes to enemy super computers. He wreaks havoc amongst all the evil empire enemies – Russia, North Korea, Iran, China. And now they’re out to get him. Will they succeed? Well, Luke has a protector, an old guy, semi-retired, buddy to the PM……There is every emergency known to man from NK missiles to Iranian centrifuges and a few new ones mixed in. Interesting stories, maybe a bit too much in the way of technical detail (“The Orsis T-5000 is a remarkable weapon capable of blowing away a human skull at 2000 yards with its .338 Lapua Magnum rounds”.) But surprisingly after the first half of the book, there’s little tension, it feels like things are on auto-pilot. And there is very, very little character development. And a rather improbable ending. There is one very nice little passage following the rescue of a hostage. Too little, too late. I don’t think a movie will be made of this one. Sadly I will finally add Forsyth’s name to my list of masters whom I enjoyed years ago, (including LeCarre) but whose new books I will pass up.
    • 5/5
      This was a tough book to put down. It is the tale of an autistic teenager in England who finds purpose in the world of the Internet. It appears he has a gift that is not explainable - he is a super hacker. When the U.S. government finds he has hacked into their secret intelligence agencies, at first they are furious, but then they work with the teen to cause trouble for our enemies - particularly Russia and North Korea. It is a fast paced thriller filled with tons of fun. I loved this book!
    • 1/5
      Brain dead wish fulfilment fantasy. The British flicking everyone's noses. The hacking is dumber than in the dumbest Hollywood film. And everyone lived happily ever after.