Night over Water

By: Ken Follett

Narrated by: Tom Casaletto

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

On a bright September morning in 1939, two days after Britain declares war on Germany, a group of privileged but desperate people gather in Southhampton to board the largest, most luxurious airliner ever built - the Pan American Clipper - bound for New York.

The passengers include a fascist English aristocrat fleeing with his family and a fortune in jewels; a German scientist escaping from the Nazis; a murderer under FBI escort; a beautiful young woman heading for a new life; and a handsome, charming, unscrupulous thief.

They will be in the air for 30 hours, soothed by the carpeted lounges, the curtained beds, the gourmet dining room, and the endless champagne. But once inside the flying palace, there is no escape. Over the Atlantic, the Clipper's passengers are gripped by mounting fear and tension as their journey reaches the point of no return.

©1991 Ken Follett (P)1991 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Follet soars to a thoroughly satisfying ending with aeronautical precision." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Tom Casaletto's glib performance makes this seemingly endless journey fly by with ease. His many accents are first-rate." ( AudioFile)

Really fun and enjoyable! Highly recommend!

Laughed out lioud. Couldn't stop listening. Very well written! Best book I've read in a long time!

Mediocre

Silly at times - plot typical of Follett - too much detail trying to convince reader of the implausible. Entertaining - but not believable.

A thriller well told

A thriller well told. It is what you expect to get from the author. The story builds all the way through to a terrific conclusion.

Great story!

Ken Follett is one of my favorite authors and this book does not disappoint, with great details and interesting characters.

Enjoyable And A Tad improbable

I enjoyed the book very much But it was a little too improbable a deus ex machina ending.

Great story and wonderful history of the clipper!

At first I was a little confused by the multiple plot lines but then got into it and particularly enjoyed all the details of the Clipper flying boats. The underlying stories of intrigue involving gangsters, fascists, nobility, and high end jewelry were added interest. I enjoyed this immensely, as I do most of Follett’s work.

I really enjoyed Night Over Water … takes a bit to pull you in

I so enjoyed this work - albeit somewhat of an unusual story - and a lot of technical detail - which other critics complained about - but I enjoyed it… The interwoven stories of these characters I found so fascinating and enjoyable I found it more and more irresistible…. I loved the narration - great job. Insightful with lots of unexpected twists and turns….
Thank you Ken Follett for so many great novels and i do love a great narration on Audible …

Fun Listen

Follett weaves another fine yarn!

This book is written from the perspective of a handful of different characters who all end up on a transatlantic flight together.

As a master story teller, he weaves it all together exceptionally well, combining action, romance and intrigue.

The conversations and actions near the end get a little cliche' and campy but I think Follet was just trying to capture how people really spoke in 1939 as opposed to sounding a little hokey at times.

The narrator was good.

Of his recent Audible releases, I would rate this one the second best behind "A Dangerous Fortune", which was terrific. The Needle, Triple and Lie Down with Lions are decent but not as good.

I teetered between a 4 or 5 star and rounded up :)

It was a long flight

Very interesting premise. Mediocre execution. Follett is a very good writer and I can see him getting the idea for this book and thinking "I MUST write this" and then even after it was clear it was not to be a great book, he thought "I must FINISH this." Therein lies his mistake.

I'll make three points:
1. I don't "look ahead" when reading a suspense novel like this. I don't try to figure out what will happen next. Instead, I prefer to let the story teller do their job and just let it come to me. In this book, I could not help but see the obvious. I won't say there weren't any surprises, but the few unexpected turns were contrived and hard to believe.

2. Readers can make a story better or worse than it really is. In this book, I can't tell whether Tom Casaletto had any impact, but I won't look for any other books he's voiced.

3. SEX. Yes, there is sex in this book. Unfortunately, listening to it described here is like listening to your sainted grandmother give an account of her first experience. In most cases, the anatomy is referred to by it's proper name and with about as much passion as a role call. I literally had to skip the last sex scene because it was too painful to bear.

If you decide to get this book just remember one thing--once the Pan Am Clipper takes off, it's a long flight.

" Dickens Like "

I denied myself sleep last night as this book wakes all that is beautiful in this earthly realm, along with the ugliest of emotions and we cannot forget the word " Ego " which always is the precursor of Evil. I do not believe in telling you what the book covers as you can read the summary for that purpose but I can tell you this book will line library shelves until all of the above destroys humanity itself. I strongly urge you to watch ordinary folks react with the evil forces and the finished cake? Well, That's your call.